Another great session, this time with Richard for his first climb. We had a long, leisurely time, warming up, touring the centre and trying out various bouldering problems, getting used to the different routes, blocks and grips. Richard bravely clambered his way up to the top of several walls and managed to maintain his grin and his grip! We wrapped up at the end with a snack in the veggie/vegan cafe.

As always, let me know if you want to try it out in the comments and I'll get in touch.

Eleven wonderful GoodGym Barnet members joined us on Tuesday evening for our first group run to Long Lane Pasture this year — and what a lovely return it was.

With longer evenings and kinder weather finally on our side, most of us gathered at the Phoenix Cinema for a warm-up involving kickbacks, knee-ups and a few brisk movements to get the heart rate up before the 1.5-mile run to the nature reserve.

After numbering up, we had a quick chat about famous relatives, unusual jobs and curious family histories. Among the ancestral highlights were general’s, repossession agents, wedding dress designers and several other unexpected occupations. Clearly, GoodGym Barnet has a rich and slightly suspicious gene pool.

Then we headed off, with George kindly back-marking, keeping everyone together as we made our way towards Long Lane Pasture. En route, we paused under the bridge for a group photo — naturally taken with everyone in a squat position, because why simply stand around when you can turn it into a thigh workout?

At the pasture we were welcomed by Donald, and the place looked absolutely magnificent: lush, green, peaceful and full of evening birdsong. We quickly got to work collecting woodchip and loading it into rubble bags, while others helped with litter picking and pruning to keep the paths clear and welcoming.

It really is a beautiful green space. As the sun began to set, we noticed several species of birds singing away, clearly approving of our efforts or possibly telling us to hurry up and leave them in peace.

Before heading back, we finished with a short moment of forest bathing, slowing everything down with some gentle breathing and arm movements. After the running, woodchip hauling, pruning and squatting, it was a lovely way to pause and properly take in the place we had come to help.

Then it was back to the Phoenix Cinema, with a few exercises on the return route to keep everyone together and gently remind our legs that the evening wasn’t quite over yet.

A big thank you to everyone who came along to run, laugh, help out and support this lovely local green space. Long Lane Pasture is looking wonderful — and we were very happy to chip in.

A great gathering of eight Goodgymmers showed up at the Phoenix for our group session. Our stalwart welcomers, Rachel and Beattie were there early, soon joined by long time Goodgymmer Richard and new regular Sheela, both getting into regular sessions this year.

We had an amazing three newcomers (is the Sky Ad working its magic?? At least one person saw it). Ben trekked all the way over from Colindale, arriving nice and early. James rocked up in good time, followed by Emma, who joined us mid-warm up.

Warmed up, and ice-broken - thanks to Beattie for the question about what we'd all been up to for the bank holiday weekend (general consensus: lots of walking!) - we jogged the short way over to Cherry Tree Wood. Inspired by Paul's absence, we had a quick exercise session with kick-squats and running in a circle. (I promised it was going to be lighter than one of Paul's attempts, but it turned out to be harder because everyone was so amazing!) Filip met us at the cafe - he's almost ready to earn his first t-shirt!

Then to the session. András, Roger and Joe set us to mulching the fruit trees. Ben took up shears, cutting the grass - Richard and I helped, using our hands. James and Emma grabbed shovels and jogged to the mulch pile near the gate, while Sheela and Beattie grabbed the wheelbarrows, to run them back and forth to the trees. Rachel and Filip helped Joe rip up the cardboard to lay over the cut grass, and a few took turns watering the cardboard and then the mulch.

As always, our amazing team effort covered twice as many trees as expected, so Rachel and Richard also had a go at sweeping the nearby paths, while James and Emma gave the mulch pile a bit of a tidy with the rakes. A great session very much valued by our hosts - András sent some before-and-after pics over as evidence of our hard work.

Tiny steps, big impact

On a lovely sunny day, we gathered at Stephens House and Gardens for a GoodGym Barnet starter session — a relaxed introduction to how GoodGym connects running, volunteering and local community spaces.

The aim of the session was simple: to give newcomers a flavour of what GoodGym does locally, using two great examples of our community activity — Stephens House and Gardens and the nearby Tiny Forest.

Stephens House and Gardens is one of Barnet’s much-loved green spaces, and GoodGym has helped there in many ways over the years, from gardening and planting to supporting the team with practical outdoor jobs. It is a brilliant example of how regular volunteering can help care for local community assets.

After numbering up and introducing ourselves, we had a fun opening chat about encounters with animals while out running. Needless to say, we won’t go into all the details here — but it certainly got everyone smiling.

We then headed off through the park and down towards the Tiny Forest. This is another fantastic local project where GoodGym has been involved, helping with planting, care and citizen science monitoring. At the forest, we carried out some simple measurements linked to carbon capture and biodiversity, using survey slabs to see how the site may be changing over time — including what is happening in the soil as the forest develops.

It was one of those GoodGym sessions that perfectly combined movement, purpose and community: a bit of running, a bit of learning, a bit of science, and plenty of fresh air.

Afterwards, we headed back to Stephens House and Gardens and enjoyed the sunshine at the café with some well-earned food and drinks.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

We’ll be running these starter sessions regularly, so if you’re new to GoodGym Barnet and would like a gentle taster, keep an eye out for the next one. And if you don’t want to wait, come along to one of our Tuesday evening group activities. We’re a welcoming group, we’re not about super fitness, and we always adapt what we do depending on the task and who is with us.