UK Active and ITN Productions will be releasing their co-produced programme, called Fitness for Everyone, on National Fitness Day – Wednesday 21 September.

The programme has been created for ITN’s Industry News – which works in partnership with associations in the UK, Europe and the US – and will be hosted by journalist Louise Minchin from ITN’s London studios.

Last year a record-breaking 22m people in the UK participated in an activity on National Fitness Day. This year, the theme is “Fitness Unites Us”, and the programme will combine documentary-style segments, case studies, news and storytelling to communicate the effect of physical activity on mental and physical health.

“Launching this new programme on National Fitness Day this year is important,” said Huw Edwards, CEO of UK Active. “This is one of the highlights of the physical activity calendar, which sees our members work hard to inspire communities across the UK to become more active and have a positive impact on the health of so many people.”

According to the NHS, one-third of adults and one-half of children do not meet current physical activity guidelines. Promoting the link between physical activity and health is key to reducing these numbers and to relieving the NHS from the economic impact of inactivity, such as obesity.

The majority of men and women in the UK are overweight and one-third are obese which converted into over 11,000 hospital administrations. Currently 10 per cent of NHS positions are vacant as the health service faces an ever-growing staff shortage.

Fitness for Everyone will help to spread the message across the UK that fitness is for everyone and emphasise the relationship between physical activity and good health.

“We are delighted to be partnering with UK Active to create a programme that raises awareness and understanding of the importance of physical activity on National Fitness Day and beyond,” said Nina Harrison-Bell, Head of Industry News at ITN Productions. “We hope the programme will provide a platform to help give people of all ages and professionals in the fitness and physical activity sector the tools to support and implement change.”

National Fitness Day is a positive way for fitness sector operators to promote their facilities and activities. UK Active’s members have previously reported that the day is one of their busiest days of the year. It can motivate people to try out new classes, go swimming, buy new equipment and renew their gym membership.

To support their members and help people find activities and leisure centres, UK Active has released a new Activity and Location Finder and a National Fitness Day marketing toolkit which provides tools and resources to help promote the day both in-club and online.

“The physical activity sector is uniquely placed to help the nation by supporting people’s physical and mental strength, which is why National Fitness Day is more important than ever,” said Edwards. “We want to shine a light on the incredible stories from our sector which show the importance of physical activity to the nation’s future health, happiness and productivity.

“The dedication of UK Active’s members makes National Fitness Day what it is. I am really looking forward to seeing what our members can offer to make this year’s campaign the best yet.”

Operators can register their location or activity at www.nationalfitnessday.com and all participants – whether a leisure centre operator or member of the general public – are encouraged to post their activities on social media, on National Fitness Day, using the hashtag #FitnessDay.