HAPPY NEW YEAR GOODGYM WANDSWORTH!

We really started off 2019 with a bang - no less than 46 amazing runners ran 5k, smashed out a whole range of jobs for a community garden, and took on a tough fitness session all in the name of getting fit and doing good.

The January Challenge!

As some of you know, every year we take part in the January challenge. This is a bit of (friendly!) competition between GoodGym areas to see who can rack up the most good deeds and distance in the gloomiest month of the year - it's a really good motivation when it's a bit dark and cold outside. This year our goal is a biggie! We have no less than 220 good deeds to reach, and a whopping 3000 kilometres. We can do it! Just make sure you're connected to Strava so all your training miles are counted, and come along to as many group runs and missions as you can squeeze in - everything counts towards our target. Go team!

Well done to everybody who did races and parkruns over the festive season - don't forgt there is a parkrun every Saturday morning at 9am. It's a free, timed 5k and a great way to get fitter, improve your times and also to meet up with your GG buddies - wear your red tshirt with pride!

Need for Speed

After a quick intro and catch up in the BAC we headed outside for our warm up which got our muscles ready for the run ahead. We also found out about eachother's resolutions for 2019. There were a happy number of running and GoodGym goals (hurrah!) as well as promises to cut down on plastic, drink more, drink less, remain fabulous, eat less meat and read more books. You are an inspiring bunch!

Our task tonight was at Doddington and Rollo rooftop garden, a space which has been transformed from a neglected multistorey roof into an amazing community garden for local residents to grow their own fruit and veg. So after a stead run down there, stopping only briefly for some conditioning reps, we arrived to find the volunteers waiting for us with a list of jobs.

Tasks included cutting back vines, weeding, shifting heavy pots, sorting compost, turning over soil and we quickly divided up into teams to tackle them. It was incredibly seeing you all work so hard - looking round the garden is was a buzz of activity and so impressive to see what a big team of people can achieve in half an hour. That work would have taken the volunteers a significant chunk of time, so well done for making such a difference.

Tools down, we jogged over to Battersea Park for our fitness session. We kicked off the first one of 2019 with everybody's favourite/worst challenge - Sally Squats. This is a serious bit of thigh-burning conditioning, and we all found ourselves how blimming long Sally was going to be up and and down - was it the extended version? Was it on a loop? Finally it came to the end with everybody gritting their teeth and nobody giving up. If hat wasn't enough we then did a total body workout circuit, which sadly (I can tell you were devastated) had to be cut short because we ran out of time.

After a speedy run back to our starting point we paused at the bottom of the hill at the BAC for a final tough sprint before Danny kindly led us though our much needed stretches. What a brilliant way to kick off the year, team. Next week we're back doing the same and edging ever closer to reaching our January target! Hope to see you - until then, happy running!

We had a huge task ahead of last night - four tonnes of topsoil to shift - but that didn't put off the 32 intrepid GoodGymers that turned up ready to add purpose to their run!

News!

A massive welcome to Matt, Sam, Izzy and Joanne who all joined us for their first run last night - give them a cheer!

There is a community mission going on for Evolve Housing, a housing and support charity, this Friday. This is one you don't have to be DBS checked for - it's on at Roehampton Vale's Asda - keep an eye out on the GoodGym website's mission listings for the sign up page!

Helen, John and Emily are putting on a fundraising Christmas lights run on the 11th and 19th December, check out their page here to sign up for what will be a Christmas cracker of a run!

An absolutely huge well done to James who reached a colossal milestone lastnight - his 60th month group run streak! That is five years of GoodGym. James, we salute you and all the good you do!

Festive Fitness

Our task last night was for a community organisation called Bandstand Beds, a volunteer group which runs a community garden in the middle of Clapham Common, aiming to provide an area for the local community to discover the joys and benefits of growing and cooking their own food. They have started a wildflower project,which involves a lot of topsoil - four tonnes to be precise. They needed some serious help with such a big job, and so asked us to come and give them a hand.

So, after heading outside to warm up, we did a quick head count and discussed what our fav thing about the festive season is. We're all about the food and drink, it seems, as mulled wine, chocolate and all the food topped the list, along with Christmas movies, putting up the tree and parties (of course)!

We were meeting Adrian and David from Bandstand Bed by the community garden on the common, so after a brisk run and a - ahem - small detour, we found them with a four enormous bags of soil, wheelbarrows and spades. Our job was to spread the soil ready for planting.

Four tonnes is an absolutely huge amount of soil, but it is no match for the sheer grit of GoodGym, and it took under half an hour to clear the lot. Amazing effort GG! If that wasn't enough, it left us loads of time to do a grueling fitness session, which started with getting our heart rates up with a game of clusters. We then moved on to a really tough pyramid interval session which focussed on our speed, change of pace, and endurance. To finish the session off, we did our weekly plank - this time starting with 30 seconds on each side.

After all that, we took a steady run back to base to finish off with stretches. That really was an epic job, team, well done for putting in so much effort!

Next week we have not one, but two, tasks for you to choose from. Check out what's on offer here and go for your fave on the day!