Listen below to hear about the benefits of being active and resources available for Staff
B Active and B well – Donna Rooney: https://youtu.be/z7G2dJ4sOhE
Find out more about the role of Sustrans – the walking, wheeling and cycling charity
Fuel Your Journey – Sustrans: https://youtu.be/UvS7c5sG07U
Maps to explore green spaces in East and West Belfast
Calling all ladies, fancy doing something just for you this autumn, like getting back on a bicycle again?
Sustrans (the walking & cycling charity) offers a FREE Women into Cycling programme to rekindle the love, art and fun of cycling once again for leisure and commuting.
Regardless of age, ability, whether a wobbly wheeler or fair-weather cyclist, this programme is designed to cater to your every need. Led by passionate and knowledgeable Sustrans instructors, you’ll learn essential cycling skills, gain confidence on the greenways and road, and discover the joy of riding in a supportive and inclusive environment.
Over the course of six sessions, you’ll learn about bike maintenance, responsible road safety, group riding techniques, and more. Each session is packed with practical outdoor activities such as traffic free group rides, cycle training and fun activities to ensure an engaging and enjoyable experience for all.
Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded women, improve your cycling skills, and embrace the freedom of two wheels! Book your place now and embark on an unforgettable cycling journey. Bring your own bike or borrow one of ours.
Starts Wednesday 4th September 6.30pm-8.30pm. Book your place here
Madhuri Rao, an NHS worker living in Northern Ireland, now commutes with confidence after completing the Women Into Cycling programme
With the support of our Sustrans Active Travel Officer, Dianne Whyte, cycled Madhuri through the cross-city route to show her how to safely navigate rush-hour traffic, emboldened her to swap the bus for her bike.
“The whole experience was absolutely amazing. I’m not new to cycling, I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. But once I moved to Belfast, I noticed that the traffic was a bit intimidating, not very cyclist-friendly, which made me hesitant. Then I heard about the Sustrans course through my work in the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust.
“It doesn’t matter how much experience you have cycling, you learn about all the little things you don’t necessarily think of before you even get back on again, like how to properly check and maintain your bike.
“I never thought much about how to care for my bike. If it broke down, I brought it to a repair shop. But I learned to do so many things for myself, it was so enlightening!
I got to meet some nice people, have fun and learn about new routes.
The cherry on the top was when Dianne cycled to work with me, she showed me the routes which I thought was amazing. Otherwise I would not have had the confidence to take my work route. I appreciated that a lot, I’m really grateful.
It’s a journey of about 3.5 / 4 miles, parts on road with traffic and I would be nervous about how drivers behave around bikes, I didn’t feel like doing it on my own.
Dianne met me in the morning and I saw how she did it, and that gave me confidence. She also travelled back with me from work that day so I knew the route in both directions.
I’ve now started to notice other cyclists, seeing them riding in traffic gives me confidence so now I try to cycle to work about two or three times a week.
The journey takes me about 40 minutes each way, I don’t go fast but it’s still much quicker than before when I had to take two buses each way which took around an hour and a quarter.
I arrive at work energised and I feel the same way when I get home in the evenings. Before, it was a real struggle to make time for exercise with my commute and work taking up most of my day. Now I get two 40-minute sessions as part of my day which is a big, big plus.
The infrastructure in Belfast is getting better by the day but if I had a wish, it would be for drivers to be a bit more friendly to cyclists and for cycle paths to be better maintained.”
Kick Start your journey towards a fitter, healthier you by using some of these great tools.
Diabetes Type2 Physical Activity Referral Programme is a free 12 week programme of physical activity delivered in a range of leisure and community facilities across Belfast.
Cardiac Rehab Phase IV Programme is a 12 week circuit based program.
Health & wellbeing for those that champion ours 
The DoingOurBit platform is shining a light on prevention by championing health and wellness for the NHS and social care’s most precious commodity; its employees. Through the use of best-in-class technology combined with empathetic and thoughtfully curated content, the multi award-winning DoingOurBit platform is a free to participate, 24-7 one-stop shop for fitness, health & wellness, providing:
- On-demand video workouts
- In-person exercise & wellness classes
- Group activities, training buddies & community events
The workouts are suitable for all abilities and have been externally verified to ensure the highest level of safety, integrity and quality. They are made for you, by people like you. Dive in and take a look!
Get Started
Check out #DoingOurBit and enjoy free workouts at home
HERE4U ACTIVITIES ADVERTISEMENT Jan Apr 2022
Our staff are our greatest asset and we want to support them to stay active, feel good and have fun with their family.
We know that getting to the gym and enjoying regular exercise has been more difficult due to the lockdown and ongoing public health regulations. That’s why we’re delighted to announce that our staff can now access DoingOurBit – a free online fitness platform which offers an exclusive range of workouts from yoga to HIIT training, family fitness to relaxation sessions. Every workout has been donated by a qualified instructor exclusively for health and social care staff.
Not only is the #DoingOurBit platform an ideal way to get active, it carries no cost to staff. There is a variety of options so everyone is bound to find something they enjoy from their comfort of their own home.
To find out more watch our video about the initiative.
Staff can access #DoingOurBit by registering with their Belfast Trust email address at https://www.fit4thefight.org/nhs-members-area
Live workout sessions with PT Stephen Breenan for people with autism and their families. To access these workouts please click here: Autism NI | Facebook
Workouts are saved under video section and can revisit them in your own time.
DESK BASED EXERCISE
Click here
Do you sit at a desk all day?
Does your 9 to 5 leave no time for structured exercise …?
Staying healthy at work is easier than you might think. Try building the following desk-based exercises into your working day:
14 Minute Gentle Stretching Session:
https://youtu.be/SWSoZtp6U5c
5 Minute Desk Yoga Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAUf7aajBWE