It's always brilliant to see so many lovely runners meeting up on a Monday ready to devote their evening to making Wandsworth a better place to live, and last night 37 excellent faces were eager to run 5k and lend a hand at two community spaces. And please give a special cheer to Claire and to Alice who came along for their first GoodGym experience last night - welcome to the gang!

A big well done to James and to Hanna who took on the Hampstead Heath Duathlon on Sunday, swimming all the ponds and pool, and running over 5k between each swim. Amazing stuff!

If you want to hear more of the incredible good deeds racing that the GoodGym crew across all areas has been up to in the last month, then come along to the social on Thursday. This month it is going to be in Hammersmith at the Rutland Arms pub. Everybody welcome!

Fitness First

We turned our session on its head last night - our task owner couldn't make it to meet us until later, so it was fitness first, doing good second as a one off. So after a warm up where we found out all the nice things that had happened to us over the weekend - booking wedding venues, dancing, lots of great meals, racing and puppies, puppies puppies - we set off for Battersea Park. A short run later, we kicked off the session with a couple of technical points. Important things to remember are:

Run as though you are falling forward slightly and by bringing your legs through quickly stops that

Your legs should mimic the movement of a cyclist

Your arms drive your cadence, not your legs

Next we moved on to a tough fitness session which saw us alternate between sprints and conditioning exercises such as planks, diamond press ups, sump squats and supermans. Is anybody feeling it today? ;)

Finishing up in the park we took a gentle run over to a local garden where we got stuck straight into the first task of shifting compost into raised beds, while the second group went over to the Venue - a community centre for local people that feeds the homeless and manages an amazing zero food wastage program. After half an hour cleaning windows, the kitchen and bathrooms, it was time to hit the hill on the way back to the BAC and to stretch it out.

Most of you will remember the huge fire that ravaged the grand hall of our beautiful meeting place, the BAC, in 2015. Well, the amazing news is that the Grand Hall is about to reopen and will be celebrating next Thursday. More details to come, but let's support and celebrate this wonderful place that is our home every week and allows us to go out and do our thing!

Next week we have a big run and a massive task. A local community association has asked us to come and help them plant 100 trees. It's a longer run - don't let that put you off because it's only half way in one go, and the good news is that there will be no fitness session! Sign up here to start your week off by making a huge difference in the local area.

Last night 17 community heroes gave up their bank holiday to do some good in Wandsworth

Four of these lovely runners were even there for their very first group run. People of GoodGym, please give a massive cheer for Andrew, Lizzie, Sian and Debi - welcome to the gang!

Quick bit of news - we're starting to do more community missions. These are one-off runs to community projects that you don't have to be DBS checked for, so keep checking the website for missions like this!

There is also a long run coming up on 22nd September. It will be 18k in total and there will be a couple of different pace groups finishing up with the pub! Sign up here for a lovely route along the Wandle Path.

We kicked off our night outside a very closed BAC (sorry about that - normal service will resume next week!) with a warm up which got our hearts pumping and our muscles firing, before discussing our fav desserts. Ice cream, brownies and crumble were all top of the list for us until a late flurry of sticky toffee pudding votes took top spot. But before we indulged, we had a job to do.

We set off for Doddington & Rollo community Garden on a nice downhill route, and just over a mile later we arrived to find Hilaire waiting for us with a huge pile of bags of compost, spades and gloves. We split into several groups to tackle to soil shifting (great upper body workout!), weeding and composting. We also tackled the overgrown buddleia and did a big clear up - well done for all the work you did team, this much-loved garden is run by volunteers who rely on help to keep it open to the residents who don't have access to outside space.

Job done, we popped to the square outside the garden and got ourselves warmed up again with a game of squat stuck in the mud, before running halfway back and stopping briefly for a core triathlon blast. With some encouragement from a nearby spectator, we ran the last leg of the route home - but not before stopping to smash out some hill sprints. The fun never ends! Hill sprints are actually really effective and building endurance and strength and vital if you plan to do any races that are described as 'undulating'!

Well done for a great effort last night everybody. Next week we'll be back at our usual starting spot inside the BAC. Sign up here for some more Monday fun and fitness.

It all started so promisingly last night - sunny skies, a beautiful bank holiday evening, a nice warm 5k run ahead of us.

We even had two lovely new runners to welcome to the group - please say a big GG hello to Emily and to Shelly who smashed their first group run last night.

We also said a big well done to Paul who had raced 10k that morning and still made it to the run, such dedication!

Don't forget that the GoodGym Olympics are on the 30th June, but you only have another week to sign up to the events! The sign up page is here -so check it out to be part of Team Wandsworth and to have a cracking day in the process!

We kicked off the night getting hot and sweaty (but for how long?) with a warm up which involved star jumps, high knees, and fast feet, and talked a little about what we had been doing that bank holiday. Eating formed a big part of our long weekend (including a massive three BBQ record!), as did running (whoop), picnicing, making paella and going to a trance festival. Good times.

Our job tonight was to spread the word about the healthy living community day being put on by the amazing Share charity. This organisation works with disabled people who need extra help and support in order to achieve their potential and realise their dreams. Share’s aim is to transform the lives of disabled people so that they live more independently by providing training and employment support. The community day they're putting on this coming Saturday in Tooting is launching their 'Share garden', and they needed us to help local residents learn about the event.

We set off for Clapham Common West Side, and found the streets they had asked us to target. Splitting into two groups we each had a bundle of the 350 leaflets, and got cracking delivering them, pausing for a few squats and star jumps along the way. It was all going so well when suddenly, with a huge crack of thunder, the heavens opened and we were engulfed in a massive rainstorm. Most of us cowered under the trees for shelter, but Jordan and Rob could not resist jumping out into the shower and getting happily drenched. Sadly pouring rain and my iphone did not mix so I didn't manage to capture the moment!

Thankfully it soon passed and feeling a little more 'refreshed' we finished the job and headed to the common to do our fitness session session. We kicked off with a little game which saw Paul and Stephen leading the pack in a run/jog/walk wave around the park, before moving on to working on our ABCs in a series of forward and back lunges, squat jumps, grapevines and even a bear crawl. One last drill which saw us thinking about our cadence and the length of time our feet stay in contact with the floor.

All that was left was to haul ourselves, dripping all the way, back to the BAC. We did a nice long and very damp stretch before enjoying the end of the bank holiday evening in the pub. You are all holiday heroes for giving up your time last night! Special thanks also to the excellent Jordan who let us keep our stuff in the boot of his car as our usual room was closed for the night.

Next week we're off to a new task at a local community centre, when we'll be spending the evening sorting out their outside area. Sign up here for more doing good, fun and fitness.

The sun was out, the beer gardens were buzzing, bank holiday was in full swing. But that didn't stop 20 wonderful runners joining forces in Wandsworth to do some good.

Ladies and gents of Goodgym, please give a massive cheer to Chris, Jaillin, Demelza, Adam and Tim who all came for their first ever group run tonight. Great to have you join us!

And while you're in a celebratory mood, why not say well done to Morag and Beth who both smashed an extremely hilly and scorchingly hot Crystal Palace 10k on Sunday, and to Alyx who has had two consecutive weeks of 5k PBs - way to go ladies!

It was a beautiful evening for a run last night, so we kicked off with a warm up testing our fast feet and coordination skills all while doing a poll to find out the best pizza topping. Wandsworth has fancy taste, with goat's cheese, caramelised onions, artichoke and all the vegetables proving popular. Of course we had no choice but to penalise the Hawaiian voters with a few jumping jacks.

Our task last night was at the Venue, a community centre in Battersea which hosts surplus food events, has a kitchen for making food for the homeless and loads of other great things aimed at bringing local people together. It was a short run of 2k down to the centre, so we arrived in no time at all to find Hadas, who runs the place, waiting for us with cleaning equipment.

There were loads of jobs to do, including sorting the kitchen, toilets, windows and outside area, as well as an epic hoovering job which Frances bravely took on. It's a big place which Hadas alone manages, so she relies on volunteers to keep it clean and running smoothly, and 40 minutes later the place was sparkling thanks to some GoodGym muscle! Great job everyone.

We stepped outside for our fitness session, kicking off with a quick round of burpees. Then came the quad-busting squat song where we all felt the burn, before a quick round of squatshot, which saw Team Up victorious. Half way home we stopped briefly for three rounds of core triathlon, before tackling that last hill.

Well done team, what a way to spend a bank holiday. Next week we've got a fantastic task setting up a community cafe, so sign up here to good and get fit.

Things couldn't have been more different from this time last week, when we were wrapped up in hats, scarves and gloves and had the coldest task yet. But last night, 38 of us turned up in shorts and tshirts ready to celebrate the start of spring in the lovely light of early evening.

We had some lovely new runners to welcome to the group - hello Sarah, Anne-Marie, Josefin, Ed and Rob! Why not give them a cheer, GoodGym?

It had been a very busy week of running, well done team. Shout out to Beth who put in a great performance at the Colchester Half (and also provided punspiration this week!), David who smashed the Sri Chimnoy 10k and Paul who had a good run at the Frank Harmer 10k - in between doing a huge 11 good deeds so far this month!

There are loads of races coming up - good luck if you're racing and let us know how you go! There's going to be a great turnout from GoodGymers at the London Marathon this year and we'll have a cheer team out in force. If you fancy joining us, just let me know, and don't forget to wear your GoodGym tshirt!

We were giddy to find that it was still light as we did our warm up, and in celebration, we listed our favourite things about spring. SUN, light evenings, wine in the garden, easter eggs and beer gardens are all the lovely things we have got to look forward to in the next few weeks.

Tonight our task was back at the lovely Paradise Co-Op garden to shovel a big pile off woodchip over the paths, and after a nice 2.5km run there where we made a new friend in the shape of Rob, we arrived happy to see the place in daylight! Organising ourselves with rakes, spades, buckets and other tools we got stuck in, and with 38 of us shifting woodchip, the job was done in no time at all. This community garden was once an overgrown and derelict site next to Wandsworth prison, but the hard work of volunteers has transformed this into a beautiful small-holding including an orchard, poly-tunnels, raised vegetable beds, a fish-pond, bush-craft area and community celebration area with pizza oven and running water.

We then ran over to Wandsworth Common to take on a fitness session that focused on some speed work and at the same time working on our cores - which is important for an efficient running form and to prevent injury. Alternating sprints with ab drills including v crunches, planks, mountain climbers and elbow to knee crunches, we got both a high energy, fat burning workout and a strengthening core blast at the same time.

All that was left was a run back to the BAC and a good stretch out. Don't forget that next week is Easter Monday, but that won't stop us! We have a lovely task helping to plant herbs and other jobs at a much-loved local youth centre, followed by our annual Easter social. Sign up here for a hoppity happity Easter run!

Spring was finally in the air last night, as 30 amazing runners met to do a huge job in a local community garden.

We were joined by some lovely new faces. GoodGym, please welcome Dilly, Karen and Christine!

It had been a fabulous weekend of racing with several amazing Wandsworthians smashing the Big Half the day before and still turning up last night - put your hands together for Beth, Matthew, Emily, Christopher and Christine!

Don't forget that we've got another chance to have fun this week at GoodGym's massive monthly social where we'll be cheering all the lovely running and good deeds that every GoodGym area has been doing over the past few weeks. Check out the details here.

Before we headed outside to warm up, we also gave Christopher and Beth, who, over the past month, topped the leader boards for distance and good deeds with 208 kilometres and 12 respectively. Way to go you two!

Raring to go after a warm up that featured jumping jordans, high fives and fast feet we set our stravas, and with Luke backmarking, headed off on the 2.4 kilometres run to Paradise community gardens.

This amazing space, which was once scrubland, sits right opposite Wandsworth prison, and is now a wonderful resource for the local community. It has hives, a huge yurt, beds where fruit and veg is grown and so much more. However, they had an overwhelming task to do, featuring an enormous pile of wood chip and a lot of pathways, which is where the GoodGym team stepped in to help. Getting stuck straight in we grabbed wheelbarrows, spades, buckets and rakes and began spreading out the woodchip along the many muddy paths that wove their way through the beds, sheds and tunnels.

It was very satisfying work seeing the mud slowly being replaced by lovely woodchip, and before long the pile had disappeared and we had done a great upper body workout. Double checking the garden before we left, we narrowly avoided locking Simon and his bike in, and headed over to Wandsworth Common for our fitness session. Tonight's workout featured aerobic and conditioning drills, and we pushed our glutes and core muscles hard with frog jumps, jack knives, planks and squats before a quick run back to our starting point in an attempt to beat the rain.

Fantastic job tonight everyone! Next week we're doing an important task for disability charity Scope when we'll be delivering a load of their donation bags. There's masses of them, so we'll need all the help we can get! Sign up here for another Monday well spent!

First run of the year! It was bound to be a smasher, and it did not disappoint....

It may have been a cold and frosty evening, but that did not stop 41 post-festive runners ready to burn off those mince pies and mulled wine and make a difference in Wandsworth.

We were treated to a bumper load of new faces for our first run of the year, which always makes us very happy. Ladies and gents of GoodGym, please put your hands together for the lovely Charlotte, Abi, Georgina, Julie, Ashleigh, Lindsay, Tamsin, and Monica who all joined us for their very first GoodGym session last night. We hope you'll all be back next week!

It was clear that you guys hadn't slacked off over the festive period, but have instead been tackling those park runs, races, training sessions and missions like proper troupers. Vix and Lorna were both still away after an amazing sub zero 10k in Norway, but we cheered Emily, Paul, Amy, Helen, Chris, Daniel, Morag and Hannah for smashing a tough and hilly 10k in Brixton only the day before. Jessie and Luke both tackled some insane racing in waist-deep mud, while John put in a fine performance in the Surrey leagues at the weekend. Well done to all those who did Christmas, New Year and early January park runs. You really are an amazing bunch! If you're keen to find the right race for you then just shout - the GoodGym team will be behind you all the way.

Our target this January is a huge one, but I know we can achieve it. Between us, we have got to hit 241 good deeds, and cover a whopping 1200 kilometers. With over 450 kilometers under our belts already (thanks in part to a slightly longer run that advertised last night!) we've made a cracking start. Don't forget to connect to Strava so the team can support you and we can clock those miles up for Wandsworth.

After a last minute cancellation, our task for the evening had changed. But the sliver lining was that we were in fact doing a job for a different and amazing charity called Caius House. This youth centre offers local young people a safe place where they are supported and can develop their own unique talents. Every child is valued - which we think is a pretty awesome ethos. So we were happy to help when they asked us to spread the word for their upcoming projects in the area.

But first - a much needed warm up. A few minutes of dynamic exercises later we did a quick poll to find out what everybody hoped to achieve in January. There were an admirable number of running related resolutions, some hoped to final banish their NYE hangover, while others just wanted to get through the toughest month of the year. We're here for you!

It was just over a mile to Caius House, so we soon set off with Helen kindly backmarking for us. Sarah had the great idea of pairing up new runners with regular GoodGym runners so they could get an idea of what it was all about, and we all happily set off for the first stage of our task. With a teenytiny detour at the end - just to add on the mileage, you understand - we arrived to find Charlene waiting for us with a big pile of leaflets. She gave us a quick talk about the work they do there, and let us know that if any of us had any special skills or work experience opportunities that we could share with the young people at Caius House, that would be great. After a few minutes pause to catch our breath we were off again, and divided up into two teams to put our trusty human chain approach into practice. Way over 400 leaflets later we were almost finished, but the clock was ticking and we needed to get our fitness session in so lovely Jamie and Alyx volunteered to do the rest on their way home, while we knocked out a quick but tough session.

We started off with a game which involved being honest and sprinting. If you answered yes to questions like 'did you have a cheeky snog over Christmas' then you had to sprint across the park, if you didn't, then you had to do a conditioning exercise while you waited. We then moved on to the parlauf - which, while it may sound confusing, is actually great for speed training. We paired up to complete as many circuits of the park we could complete in our twos, with Roshan and Luke emerging as the winners.

All that was left was to run back to the BAC, not forgetting that last hill, and a few stretches to finish off the night. Well done team, you truly smashed the first run of the year. Apparently next Monday, the 15th of January, is officially the most depressing day of the year. Counteract those winter blues by joining us for our run instead to do good, get fit and feel great!

With OPHELIA howling around the Steel City, blowing road barriers in our path and breaking Tom's camera, the @GGSHEFF crew still stood (and ran) firm last night.

With our planned task with Regather at Lynwood Gardens being in a wooded area, we thought it best to re-arrange this task for a more clam future night so headed of from the Showroom over to Mount Pleasant to see the infamous Jonny Douglas who gave us a brief about the Save Mount Pleasant project which for which we were flyering that eve.

After a brief sit on Jonny's comfey corner sofa and explanation of the project and it's plans we headed out into the wind with flyers tightly clutched destined for peoples letter boxes.

We split into two teams with 2 team captains* Bombacious Bash* and Sensational Sam (who was on his 50th good deed that night - Horrah!) The two teams the split themselves accordingly to ensure that no letterbox was left out and we smashed the following roads:

• Sharrow St
• Hobart St
• Salmon St
• Club Garden Road

We then headed for shelter from the wind in the Park Hill Flats complex which offered shelter, fantastic views of the city, famous historical public proposals and lots of letter boxes in a row!

Following the tactical completion of operation Park Hill we headed outside and onto the newly lit Cobbled Killer where some of the group ran hill reps whilst some other took on the Steel Steps and then we re-grouped at the top before returning to base to stretch, hear news and grab refreshment.

Until next time,

Happy Running :)

WELCOME TO THE TEAM!

This week we welcomed 2 new runners to the @GGSHEFF Crew. A big welcome to

• Rhiann
• Kristy Hopkins

GIVE EM A CHEER!

WOOD TIME!

This weeks task was a woody one. On arrival at Sharrow Community Forum we were greeted and briefed by MARVELOUS MARIA who described the evenings tasks which included moving wood in and out of the now fully functioning wood working workshop and cutting down partly used pieces to ensure that nothing went to waste.

EXERCISE TIME

As it was a little cramped in the workshop with a few less tools than we wood ;) have liked we split ;) the group and half of us branched ;) outside for some fun time fitness. This week this involved a group circuit containing:

• Squat 180
• Sprints
• Sumo Squat
• Tuck Jumps
• Burpees (Ash's Fave)
• Sumo Squat
• Squat Jumps
• Goblet Squats
• Curtsey Lunge
• Lunge
• Split Lunge
• Squat Punch
• Calf Raises

Once we swapped groups over so everyone had a chance to sweat and to saw we said our goodbyes and headed home with a few street furniture exercises thrown in for good measure!

Once the Howard St Sprint and stretches were complete we gave Kat a huge congrats for her 50th good deed and thanked Steve for #GGBBQ3 and headed in for warmth and refreshments.

Until next week....

Happy Running!

It was decidedly autumnal last night in Wandsworth, but with so much cheering to do before we even left for the run, it didn't hold us back one jot.

To kick things off with, we cheered some excellent new faces to the gang. Hello and welcome to Jamie, Eleanor, Nav, Kirsty, Neasa, Helena and birthday girl Gabriela!

We also had a very special achievement to celebrate, with Jordan reaching his 50th good deed. Now that shows real commitment to both doing good and getting fitter. A huge well done!

Tonight's task was a short run away, but we still needed to warm up so headed outside first for a quick warm up. During our dynamic exercises we did a speedy poll to find out our favourite chocolate. Between us, we had most of them covered. With our heart rates up, and Baz and Jamie back marking for us, we set of for Christ Church primary school in Battersea.

It was a nice downhill jaunt to the task, and we arrived less than ten minutes later to find the headteacher, Colette, waiting for us armed with a large handful of slips with jobs written on them. Such organisation! Most schools now are feeling stretched and resources are limited, so she was happy to see such a large group of us ready and raring to go. Dividing up into teams we cracked right on, tackling weeding, path clearing, bed filling, fruit picking, compost sorting and tending to the bug hotel. Great work, team!

With the list of jobs ticked off, and a sudden shower sending us scurrying to the greenhouse to seek temporary shelter, we set off for the local park to smash out a short fitness session. It was wet, it was muddy, it was dark - but that didn't stop us. We must have given some passersby a bit of a shock as they hurried through the dimly lit park only to stumble upon 35 bodies squatting under the dark canopy of trees. After a series of tough drills which included swimming planks, sprints, back to back squats, squat jumps (last night really was all about the squats), star jumps and fast feet, we decided to call it a night and took a brisk run back up the hill to our starting point.

We finished off the evening with some stretches, singing happy birthday to the lovely Gabriela, and cake for dinner to celebrate Jordan's 50th. Lovely stuff. Next week we've got more of the same, sign up for it here. Don't forget to let me know if there's ever any specific fitness you want to work on so we can work it into the session. Well done Wandsworth!