More and more people are also making use of social media to help connect with other people who enjoy exercise.
Pia Carson-Moore, 31, from Ipswich, is a personal trainer and dance teacher who set up a women-only run club, external, using social media to connect members and organise runs across Suffolk each week.
“It’s really hard if you haven’t found your little group when you’re at school or you haven’t got a little group at work,” she said.
“It’s really rough out there… once I can encourage those people to get out and come along on their own and get chatting to someone else, then hopefully there’ll be an increase of people that they know, [they] start to be a little bit more social and don’t feel so scared to do things on their own.”
Miss Carson-Moore said she believed social media groups that promoted and led to in-person meet-ups could help people make new friends, but felt those that just promoted online talking would not.