Stay Active in Bournemouth: The Best Student Sports and Fitness Options

Luke M. Williams

Three miles of sand sit at one end of your week, and a fully kitted-out gym sits at the other, five minutes from your lecture hall. That is the strange, brilliant thing about staying fit as a student in Bournemouth. You are never more than a short walk from either.

Stay Active in Bournemouth: The Best Student Sports and Fitness Options

Where Can You Get a Gym Membership in Bournemouth?

Start with SportBU, which looks after Talbot Campus’s two gyms and fitness studios and opens its doors to Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth students alike. A monthly membership gets you unlimited gym access and unlimited classes for £27 at last check, or you can test the waters first with a £10 day pass. Newer here than you’d like to admit? Claim the free one-day trial at the SportBU reception before you spend a penny. That same membership also opens the door to group fitness classes, nutrition advice, personal training and even massage and rehabilitation treatment if something starts to ache, all booked through SportBU’s own online system.

Where Do Students Go for Watersports in Bournemouth?

Branksome Dene Beach is the obvious answer. Shaka Surf teaches surfing and paddleboarding right there, hires out everything from a single board to a six-person paddleboard for a group of mates, and knocks ten percent off for Bournemouth University students and staff. It is roughly a 30-minute walk from Bournemouth Pier, and the paddleboarding season is at its best from April through to October, once the sea has lost its winter bite.

Prefer to learn alongside people from your university rather than the public? SUBU Surf Club meets near Bournemouth Pier from September to May, with weekly socials and trips further afield for its members. Pack a towel and a wetsuit (or at least a swimming costume), because the club won’t be supplying either.

What If You Just Want a Free, Simple Workout?

Nothing beats showing up at Kings Park Athletics Stadium on a Saturday morning for the free, timed 5k that starts on the grass behind the stadium, just past the skate park, at 9 am sharp. There is no entry fee at all. The only cost in sight is parking; the football club’s car park charges 50p for an hour or £1 for two. Though it’s highly unlikely many students will be driving here.

Bonus Tips

  • Ask Shaka Surf about its student discount directly rather than hunting for it online; it is not listed as a fixed price anywhere on the site.
  • If SUBU Surf Club’s email doesn’t get a reply, try the students’ union website rather than the main university pages, since that is where its contact details are kept.
  • Park on the roads around Kings Park, not in the football club’s car park, if you want your Saturday morning to stay completely free.

You don’t need to choose between the beach and the gym here. Pick whichever one fits your week, and let Mercury House, in the city centre, put you close to both.

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