How to Stay Fit in London: Parks, Weather, Races and a Workable Week

How do Londoners stay fit around work and the Tube?

Londoners stay fit by fitting exercise round two kinds of working day: the commute day and the work-from-home day. On census day, 21 March 2021, 42.1% of London residents in work said they worked mainly from home, the highest share of any English region, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS cautions that the census fell during the pandemic, so that figure is a high-water mark, not today’s rate. The same census found 67.3% working mainly from home in the City of London and 58.8% in Richmond upon Thames.

The commute is the other half of the picture. In the 2021 census, 9.9% of working Londoners travelled to work by Underground, metro, light rail or tram, against under 1% in every other English region. A Tube commute eats the evening, so the plans that last in London are the ones that use the morning, the lunch break or the home-working day.

That split shapes what works. On an office day, a 6:30 AM session at home or a lunchtime run round St James’s Park fits; an evening class across town rarely survives a delayed train. On a home day, the mid-morning slot after the school run is the easiest hour of the week to protect.

Where can I run in London? Five parks with loops and gate times

London’s main running spaces are the Royal Parks and Hampstead Heath, and their gate times decide when you can use them. These are the figures the Royal Parks and the City of London Corporation publish, checked on 28 October 2026.

Richmond Park and Bushy Park: the long runs in south-west London

Richmond Park is where south-west London does its long runs. The Royal Parks describe the Tamsin Trail as just over 7 miles round the park’s edge, so two laps make a half-marathon training run with room to spare. Pedestrian gates are open 24 hours, and vehicle gates from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM, which matters if you drive in from Kingston or Putney. In the autumn rut the Royal Parks ask you to keep your distance from the deer and keep dogs on a lead.

Bushy Park, next door by Hampton Court, covers over 1,000 acres and is open to walkers and runners 24 hours a day. It is also where parkrun began: the first Bushy Park Time Trial ran on 2 October 2004 with 13 runners. Bushy parkrun now starts every Saturday at 9 AM, runs anticlockwise from near the Diana Fountain on paths and grass, and regularly draws over 1,000 people. Its record field was 6,204 at the 1,000th event on 31 August 2024.

Hyde Park and Regent’s Park: running in central London before work

Hyde Park’s pedestrian gates open at 5 AM and close at midnight. The lakeside paths round the Serpentine are the classic loop, and the Serpentine itself is home to what the Royal Parks call the oldest swimming club in Britain. Regent’s Park opens its pedestrian gates at 5 AM too, but on 28 October 2026 they closed at 5:30 PM, so it is a morning park in winter. Its Hub has what the Royal Parks call London’s largest outdoor sports area, with pitches for football, rugby, cricket and lacrosse.

Primrose Hill, just north of Regent’s Park, is the short hill climb Camden runners use for repeats. Check the closures first: during British Summer Time it shuts from 10 PM to 6 AM on Friday to Sunday nights, and from 30 October to 9 November 2026 it is locked every night from 10 PM to 6 AM for Bonfire Night.

Hampstead Heath: hills and cold water in north London

Hampstead Heath is north London’s hill training ground, with Parliament Hill’s climb and a web of paths between the ponds. The City of London Corporation runs three natural bathing ponds, the Mixed Pond, the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and the Highgate Men’s Pond, and the 60-metre Parliament Hill Lido. On 28 October 2026, the Lido and the Ladies’ and Men’s ponds were open as usual and the Mixed Pond was closed for the winter.

What is London’s weather like for training, season by season?

London’s weather is mild enough to train outdoors all year, and wet and dark enough that most people don’t. These are the Met Office’s 1991–2020 averages for its Hampstead station in north London.

Winter is the hard season, and not because of snow. Hampstead averages about 31 days of air frost a year, three-quarters of them between December and February, at 7.5 to 7.9 frost days a month. December averages just 54 hours of sunshine for the whole month. Icy paths in Richmond Park at 7 AM and a dark Tamsin Trail are what push London runners indoors, so this is the season for strength work at home.

October and November are the wettest months, at 78.6 mm and 75.7 mm on average, and March the driest, at 42.8 mm. Summer is the easy season: July averages a high of 22.7°C and close to 200 hours of sunshine. Over a year, Hampstead averages 722 mm of rain across 119.6 days with at least 1 mm, so about one day in three is wet.

Which London races should I train for in 2027?

The London Marathon is the race most of the city trains for, and in 2027 it changes shape. London Marathon Events says the race will run across two days, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April 2027, “the first and only time” it will do so, with 100,000 runners over 26.2 miles. If you have a place, late October is roughly six months out, which is when strength work earns the most.

The Royal Parks Half Marathon is the autumn target. Its organisers say the next race is on Sunday 10 October 2027, its 20th edition. For a weekly fixture, Bushy parkrun every Saturday at 9 AM is the original 5K.

1. 1

   October to December 2026: build the base

   Two strength sessions a week, at home or in the gym, plus easy runs on the Tamsin Trail or round the Serpentine. Strength first while the mornings are dark.

2. 2

   January to February 2027: add distance

   Your long run grows on Sundays; keep strength at two sessions, shorter and lighter. Icy days in February are strength days.

3. 3

   March 2027: the peak weeks

   The longest runs, with strength cut to one maintenance session a week to protect your legs.

4. 4

   April 2027: taper and race

   Short, sharp sessions only in the fortnight before 24 or 25 April. Your coach keeps you moving without tiring you.

How do I get the most from a building gym in Canary Wharf or Nine Elms?

London’s new-build towers, in Canary Wharf, Nine Elms, Battersea Power Station, Stratford and Wembley Park, often come with a residents’ gym. You pay for it in the service charge whether you use it or not. The trouble is rarely the kit; it is that nobody tells you what to do with it.

• Go at the quiet times. In a residents’ gym the after-work hour tends to be the busy one; 6:30 AM and the early afternoon on a home-working day both sit inside our session window.
• Check what is there before you plan. Note the heaviest dumbbells, whether there is a bench and a cable machine, and send the list to your coach.
• Use your phone as the camera. Prop it on a bench or a shelf about two metres away, side-on for squats and deadlifts, so your coach can see your back and knees.
• Ask the building about phones. Some blocks have rules about cameras in shared spaces, so check with the concierge before your first video session.

When can I fit a live training session into a London day?

MakeMyFitness sessions in London run from 6 AM to 2:30 PM UK time all year, and until 3:30 PM in British Summer Time. Our coaches are based in India, so there are no evening sessions. In practice that gives Londoners four windows.

1. 1

   6:30 AM, before the commute

   Train in the living room, shower and still make the 7:45 from Clapham Junction. This is the slot that survives Tube strikes and late meetings.

2. 2

   9:15 AM, after the school run

   Drop the children off, train before your first call. The quietest hour of a home-working day.

3. 3

   12:30 PM, the lunch break

   Book a meeting room or use the office gym in the City, Canary Wharf or King’s Cross, and be back at your desk by 1:30.

4. 4

   1:30 PM, the early afternoon

   For shift workers, freelancers and parents before the afternoon pick-up. The last start time that works in every month of the year.

A three-session week in London might be Monday at 6:30 AM, Wednesday at 12:30 PM and Friday at 9:15 AM, with a Saturday parkrun as the fourth. Sessions can be moved with 24 hours’ notice, which helps when a strike notice lands.

Is online personal training worth it in London?

Online personal training is worth it in London if your problem is time, travel or cost rather than equipment. A London trainer costs about £40 a session on average, according to Bark, and a live 45-minute MakeMyFitness session is £19, or £167 for 12. The detail is in our London personal trainer cost guide.

• It suits you if you commute by Tube and lose your evenings, work from home two or three days a week, have a residents’ or office gym you don’t use, or are training for the 2027 marathon and need strength work that fits round your runs.
• It suits you if you are coming back to exercise after your GP or physio has cleared you, and want an exercise coach for Rehab & Recovery at £31 a session.
• It doesn’t suit you if you want a trainer physically spotting heavy lifts. Find an in-person trainer for that.
• It doesn’t suit you if you can only train after 3:30 PM. Our sessions end at 2:30 PM in winter and 3:30 PM in summer, so an evening class at your local gym is the better fit.

For eating round your training, see healthy eating in London. Session times and programmes are on the London page, and the UK page covers the other cities we coach.