Liverpool Health and Fitness Guide

It’s important to get registered with a local, term time doctor in the first week of university. Student accommodation is well known for its propensity to sniffles and bugs in the first few weeks, so it’s best to be prepared. Liverpool University offers an excellent GP service on campus, which is ideal for a term time consultant (you can register here as a student of any of Liverpool’s universities). Should you visit the Freshers fairs dotted around the city, you will also be in the receipt of condoms, which we here at Skiddle strongly recommend employing, should you engage in sexual activity. There’s also a sexual health service available at the Royal Liverpool hospital’s GUM clinic, should you need to get checked out, where appointments are not necessary. There is also a walk-in centre on Great Charlotte St for minor ailments/injuries.

Fitness

If the thought of the “freshers 15” (the 15 pounds freshers are said to gain in their first year) is making for sleepless nights in the build up to your first year of university, do not despair, help is at hand. Liverpool is ideally set up to keep those troublesome inches from appearing on that well-toned waistline of yours with a selection of gyms, parks and team sport opportunities throughout the city and surrounding areas.

Gyms

Gym memberships are notoriously expensive, with monthly memberships tying down keep-fit enthusiasts to year-long contracts. Not ideal for students, who may spend up to 4 months of the year away from their city of study. Fortunately, Liverpool University has a gym at their city centre campus which charges a flat £92.50 annual fee for its students, £120 for John Moores students. John Moores students can also use the facilities at IM Marsh campus in Aigburth for a small fee. There is also St Nicholas Sport and Leisure Centre, which offers monthly membership for just £12.50 a month with personal fitness sessions available for just £10.

Parks

If you’re someone who wishes to be at one with nature while working out, then Liverpool has no shortage of outdoor space for jogging, cycling or maybe to just take a brisk stroll. Sefton Park is one of the jewels in Liverpool’s crown and is often compared to New York’s Central Park for its grandeur. 640 acres in size and set in Aigburth’s leafy suburbs at the end of Lark Lane, Sefton Park also features a palm house and a boating lake, which make for picture perfect surroundings to work up a sweat around. The docks are also ideal for cycling, with many paths marked out specifically for cyclists.