On the 6th day of the month, 17 Brent beauty's braved the icy rain for 90minutes. Ran a fierce 4K , dropped 200 leaflets and even had time to plyometric their their way through an adrenaline pumping fitness frenzie. Track attack but I should have work a rain Mac Just another average Monday for GG Brent. Pow Pow

Housekeeping to begin as always and to my delight another Welcominng of newbies was in order for the third week in a row. Not one but two new faces into the fold hurrah Stephanie and joining the ever increasing familia Ananda was push AKA Mum, brought along for the night too!!!

Another newness shout out came in the form of Our Big proud intro to the new lord of the GG Brent Twitter -Lucky Enrique, who would be sprinkling our goodcheer all over the socials for the next coming weeks YAY.

After announcements and a discussion on the best abs and core excersies to do (little did they know these were in store later ha ha ha ha ) the crew stepped up to the plate for task reveal time.

It was team effort all the way with seasoned Brent Goodgymer Eliza providing the deed for the night: Hand out the mighty big stack of leaflets for : Brent's affordable counselling service. So with all hands full, the paper chase was on & we were more than ready to rock, paper, scissor(kick) to track.

Stepping out into the night one word whistled through the air like a speeding train hurtling down a tunnel.... "Collllddd" omg was it cold and if that wasn't enough, no sooner had we ducked out, we were greeted by the biggest downpour of rain known to mankind and boy oh boy was it freezing too!! But completely and utterly unfazed (my crew is hardcore y'all) we rolled out regardless with smiles and laughter that lit up walm lane brighter than the street lamps themselves.

The 2.5k dash down to Willesden track took no time at all in the wake of our 'paper-trail' where passers by and Willesden-ites were both thrilled and dazed by the good vibes being flung at them, at every turn!!

Arriving at the track, with practically all leaflets handed out, YAY, the team reviewed the torrentials and absolute slip and slide of a track, with nervous anticipation ..... hummmmmm thinking on my feet, like any Goodgym coach would do I used my noggin and set up the plyometrics session under the blessed covering of the bleacher stands YAY!!!! It was the only way!!!!!! and to my delight, what was laid out in front of me to use - stairs!!!! Yessss!!! Stretching out to provide the perfect gradient level simulated track as an alternative option. Pow Pow!!

So without further a do, teams split in 2 and now the real work could begin: Team one began with: High knee runs up and down the stairs of the supporter bleacher seating, hitting every stair with their feet as they chopped and sped their legs at through 4 sets. Team two with me, got a lesson in plyometrics; Tuck jumps, explosive jump lunges and 2 feet to 1 explosive hops.

Now because i know you like the science part; Plyometrics, also known as "jump training" or "plyos", are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time, with the goal of increasing power, speed and strength. This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to a contraction in a rapid or "explosive" manner, such as in specialised repeated jumping. Although Plyometrics are primarily used by athletes, like sprinters and high jumpers to improve performance, they can also be incorporated into a cross training routine for an endurance runner too, to support conditioning of muscles and bonus time, act as a neat little fat burner as well.

After a minute of each split the teams switched and after a 4X repeats we all regrouped for some essential core work to finish. Using planks, split low legs and scissor kicks to blast the bods for one last effort as a united crew.

After the blitz in the rain the team wasted no time and with jackets zipped, hoods up we headed straight back out into the storm, to weather the last couple of km back to base.

Yes it was wet, yes it was cold, yes we welcomed newbies into the fold. But were we glum, highly strung? Think again, it was nothing but a Brent bonanza of fun fun fun!!!

See you next time!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

8 runners run 5km at parkrun and then did some litter picking for Rivercare

After a challenging run around the park with 3 loops around the castle, we convened to do a goodgym good deed. We welcomed Allen and Laura and made our way to the Ranger's station to pick up our equipment.

We covered the area from the east gate of Castle park to the poplar trees, and on the way we saw my nephew and Chris' family as well.

You can really tell the positive effect our partnership with Rivercare has had, because there wasn't a huge amount o f litter to collect. We only filled one bag. The most interesting find was some beer cans.

We'll be doing the same again after parkrun on 28th Jan Sign up here

Otherwise, join us for our weekly group run at Leisure World from 6:45pm on a Wednesday.

It doesn't get much better than 8 runners off on a lovely jog along the Thames, circuits and then farming & gardening amongst the lovely animals.

Our starter session drew half GoodGym veterans and half newcomers for a wonderful and wholesome morning at Surrey Docks Farm.

We started off with a nice warm up in the farmyard - the goats came to watch as well. Then it was off for a gentle jog along the Thames path chatting and slowly waking up after a week at work. With so many lovely green spaces to choose for a bit of strength work, we made two stops.

Every minute on the minute and feel the burn

For our first stop, a bit of leg work... 10 squats, a sprint out and back and then 6 split lunge jumps... go at your own pace but the quicker you do it, the more rest you get. After 5 rounds and some burning thighs, we then managed a quick sprint up some stairs back to the river and jogged to our second stop.

This time, the focus was on the core... again the minute is the magic time but with 40 seconds work and 20 seconds rest... plank with arm taps, single leg raises, russian twists, mountain climbers and the classic crunch. Time to chill with the animals.

We got back to the farm and Lucy who organises the green fingered work. She explained a bit to us about what they're trying to do ... permaculture: a horticultural movement where a garden or area uses sustainable energies, everything is edible and waste becomes used for re-growth. They are trying to educate the youth around Surrey Docks Farm about gardening and living from the land. It's ace to help get that going.

Lucy gave us a couple of jobs... unsure if we would finish them! I'll let you guess if we did...

We were levelling off the foundation for the herb spiral and collecting bricks to build the spiral and then clearing a load of japanese lanterns, onions and leeks and filling the raised bed back up with soil. We swapped half way through to make sure we all got an arm workout from the bricks.

We all got a turn with the wheel-barrow relay and there was even time for a donkey-stroking interlude as well as a chat with our favourite Calf!

We all said mega thanks to Lucy, did a final stretch after all of the lifting and then were free to enjoy the farm and the sunshine... Time to go to the farm shop for some freshly laid eggs and a bacon sarnie

Don't walk by the Pig pen though!

See you soon lovely Farm.