A study of Brits aged 16 to 30 found that the average young person will cut their time spent keeping fit and active in half once they finish their GCSEs
New findings has shown that 70% of young adults are doing less sport and exercise now than they did during their school years.
Without childhood activities no longer supplying our young people with their requisite dose of weekly exercise, they can expect to go from spending more than 12 hours playing sport or being active over the course of a week to just four hours and 26 minutes over a seven day period. More than one third of the respondents described themselves as an ‘inactive’ person now. However, nine in ten admitted that they would like to be much fitter.
The study was commissioned by The Military Preparation College (MPCT) as it launches a new recruitment drive for 16-19 year olds who want to improve their life prospects by getting fit and motivated.
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Nathan Gibbons, Head of Physical Literacy at MPCT said: “This research shows that there’s actually strong desire amongst young people to be fitter, but few are doing enough about it once they leave school.
“That’s a great shame as we know that when young people get fit, they become more motivated, more confident and can achieve so much more in all areas of their lives.
“Interestingly, the study shows that only one quarter of the time spent keeping fit at school is from the structured lessons - most is from after school clubs and generally being active with friends outside of school.
“It's only when you leave school that you realise how much you're in control of your own fitness regime, it's your choice whether to keep it up of let it slip.”
Need some top get fit tips for your teens? Check out our advice for 11-20 year olds in our 100 years of fitness series .
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