Response: For many of us, the only great outdoors are dangerous backstreets - The Guardian 22nd May 2008

If you don't have a verdant park on your doorstep, gyms are a great way to stay healthy, says Andrée Dean Peta Bee is right to comment that there is no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" approach to fitness, and that the benefits to exercising in the great outdoors are vast (How I broke out of the gym, May 20). However, her condemnation of "gym culture" and its "cultish appeal" is based on several misconceptions. Bee's image of the "world outdoors" is far too idyllic: the idea of "yummy mummies" running with dogs and prams through verdant parks makes the prospect of an early morning run irresistible. But for much of the population, especially those in urban areas, the "green spaces ... packed with everyone from tai chi practitioners and inline skaters" are less of a mental and physical sanctuary than a wasteground or a piece of wishful thinking. Even if this were not the case, some 50% of the population are either moderately or profoundly inactive, making such activities simply impractical.

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