Nuffield Health is offering FREE fitness classes to address how hormonal cycles and social stigma costs young girls participation in sport.
The UK’s largest healthcare charity, Nuffield Health, has launched free fitness classes for 11–16-year-old girls nationwide, following research revealing that over half of parents of teenage girls worry their daughter does not get enough exercise.
As the Women’s World Cup officially ‘kicked’ off recently, it’s an ideal time to encourage teenage girls to get into fitness! With 40% saying they have fun when taking part in activities and almost one-third (32%) knowing it has a positive impact on their mental health – it’s time to increase excitement with these free, fun classes.
‘Move Together’ is made up of specially designed classes will build girls’ strength, confidence and get them moving. The initiative is backed by TV Personality and Personal Trainer Chloe Madeley!
The new research by Nuffield Health is based on a sample of 2,002 11-16-year-old girls and their parents and highlights how girls are more likely to report barriers to exercise than boys*, which is putting them at a huge disadvantage when it comes to their health, with a particularly concerning dropout rate due to periods.
In response to this data, Nuffield Health, the UK’s largest healthcare charity, has launched Move Together toget 11–16-year-old girls across the nation moving and more physically active. The free programme is available in communities across the UK all year round and will tackle the barriers that young girls face when it comes to exercise and fitness.
TV Personality and Personal Trainer Chloe Madeley is supporting the Nuffield Health Move Together initiative this year and comments: “Being a personal trainer and a woman myself, I know the huge benefits exercise can have on girls’ lives, both now and continuously as they age. It’s critical that we start removing the barriers that so many young girls face in this country when it comes to being active and try to encourage them to move more, which can dramatically improve both their physical and mental health.
We also need to start working to remove the stigma that surrounds talking openly and honestly about the menstrual cycle, not least because periods have been identified as one of the biggest barriers preventing girls from becoming more physically active. The sport and exercise landscape is still heavily skewed towards boys and men, and while it is changing, certainly from a sporting perspective, basic exercise should be far more encouraged than it is amongst young women. I want to ensure that when my daughter grows up, she and girls like her feel encouraged and inspired to move, use and appreciate their bodies.
Move Together is an incredibly important initiative that will encourage and inspire young girls to be more active, especially as it’s completely free to access, which is so important at a time when so many families are struggling financially.”
Hannah Maxwell, Group Exercise Manager and Personal Trainer at Nuffield Health, said; “Our aim is to get young girls from all backgrounds moving and loving exercise in safe and confidence-boosting environments outside of the school curriculum. If we don’t start knocking down the barriers faced by so many young girls now, we run the risk of this continuing into their adult lives, which will have a negative impact on both their physical and mental health and their relationship with exercise.
Being active throughout the menstrual cycle can be challenging for many young girls, especially as their body responds differently at varying points in the cycle. I was never taught this as a young girl, or as PT, and it’s time we helped girls understand what’s happening to their bodies, so it’s easier for them to manage and be more active. We’re working hard to encourage and inspire young girls with a full range of activities they can do with their friends for free, in convenient, safe spaces that will encourage participation over the summer and beyond boosting overall wellbeing”.
Hosted in local parks and community venues and run by Nuffield Health fitness instructors in the local community, the specially designed free classes will build girls’ strength, confidence and get them moving. It’s also the perfect opportunity to have fun and make new friends in a safe and secure environment.
Get moving and sign up your 11-16yr old girl to Move Together with Nuffield Health today to join a FREE class visit www.nuffieldhealth.com/movetogether
Research Methodology
Online survey speaking with 2,000 parents of female children aged 11-16 years old. One of the children within this age bracket was with the parent when answering the survey, so that the parent could select their answers on their behalf. We asked some questions directly to the parent and other questions directed to their daughter that the parent then read out loud (including the answer options). The survey was conducted by Atomik Research, who are MRS credited and abides to MRS code.
For more information contact:
MSL Nuffield Health Team – Nuffield_Health_MSL_TEAM_GBR@mslgroup.com
Georgina Carter (Nuffield Health Head of PR & Social Media) – georgina.carter@nuffieldhealth.com
About Nuffield Health
Nuffield Health is the UK’s largest healthcare charity. For the last 65 years, Nuffield Health’s experts have been working together to make the nation fitter, healthier, happier and stronger, all for the public benefit. We do this through outstanding day-to-day services in our family of 37 award-winning hospitals, 114 fitness and wellbeing centres, healthcare clinics, and workplace wellbeing services, and through our ‘Programmes For All’ to support communities by widening access.
What makes us unique is the breadth of our expertise to provide connected care spanning from personal training and health MOTs to supporting people on their fitness journeys, helping patients recover with physiotherapy or emotional wellbeing services, or providing hospital treatments for illness and serious conditions like arthritis or cancer.
But what also makes us different is our commitment to our free-to-access programmes to widen access, be that improving the lives of people living with the debilitating effects of long COVID, or by pioneering the world’s largest research project into how exercise can help men recovering from prostate cancer, or by partnering with schools to provide thousands of pupils with free timetabled programmes to improve their health and wellbeing.
Find out more about us and our pioneering models of care: https://www.nuffieldhealth.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
