Football vs Fat
Football weight management sessions for men
Impulse Leisure’s free ‘Football vs Fat’ programme is a football focussed fitness course for men in Thurrock. Ensuring physical activity is free or low cost, helps make it more accessible to residents during the cost-of-living crisis, supporting them to increase their activity levels and become stronger whilst losing weight.
Initially participants had a 20-minute consultation, where data was collected to help track the progress throughout the project. Hoping to bring like-minded men together from the local community, the programme wanted to create good habits to help change their lifestyle.
The 12-week programme was led by a fully qualified coach who held two sessions per week, offering a variety of skills, drills and matches. Basic nutrition advice was also offered, and regular weigh-ins were provided so that those attending could keep track of their improvements.
Impulse leisure ran the course at two locations; one in Aveley and one in Gray’s, which were both easily accessible with plenty of free parking. Held in the evening, the summer and winter programmes were delivered on grass and all-weather pitches. It was important to be flexible with the sessions, and to offer many opportunities to attend, to ensure there were no barriers in attendance.
The participants found the programme very beneficial to their mental health forming close friend groups, connecting on social media and touching base with each other via a whatsapp group. Despite a varied age range, it did not seem to have a major effect on the sessions, as it was primarily tackling weight loss.
