The cost-of-living crisis is making me fatter. My £35 monthly ClassPass fee used to get me into four or five of the capital’s best exercise classes each month. I’d supplement that with at-home yoga and the occasional run. It did the job; it kept me trim(ish) and sane. I now pay £40 and rarely make this stretch to more than two monthly workouts. I can’t solely blame inflation for my upwardly mobile dress size, but it certainly hasn’t helped.
A YouGov poll has found that 10 percent of the population — more than five million people — have had to cancel or are thinking about cancelling their gym membership due to financial pressures. It’s worse in London with a survey by London Sport showing that a third say the crisis has impacted their ability to be active. It gets grimmer still for ethnic minorities as 57 per cent say they are struggling to stay fit.
