What exactly does goodgym do?

We get fit by doing good in the following four ways

Is there a goodgym near me?

We're open in 59 areas all across the UK, from Barnet to York.

Find your nearest GoodGym by searching by your postcode or see the full list of areas

GoodGym arose out of a frustration with normal gyms being a waste of energy and human potential - and responding to growing loneliness in cities. It started when founder Ivo started running to deliver the newspaper to Terry, an older Hackney resident in 2007. Terry was housebound and didn’t see any friends on a regular basis. Ivo wasn’t exercising much and needed a reason to run.

Over the course of a few years they became friends and Ivo learned to love running. He started getting other people to do the same thing; combining their run with helping an older neighbour.

In September 2009 we formed as a non profit company and in 2011 we started meeting up in groups to run to help community projects. People in Bristol and Liverpool picked up on the idea and started running sessions too. A sense of community started to emerge and we started running sessions all over East London around the time of the 2012 Olympics. In 2015 we registered as a charity.

I love going round the city and being like- I did that…I dug that…I painted that. It’s just that lovely sense of feeling you’ve done something good, you’ve done some exercise- it literally just covers everything.

Jenny, Bristol

Over the following years, we expanded rapidly, launching in new areas and reaching 59 cities and boroughs just before Covid-19 brought our group sessions to a halt. During the pandemic we received 10x the usual amount of requests for support for older people. We started doing deliveries of prescriptions and food too. We welcomed increasing numbers of walkers and cyclists, and have now adapted our work to enable more of this to happen.

I don't know what I'd do without GoodGym.

Mrs J, Croydon

Having emerged from the pandemic, and with group sessions back, we’re starting to expand again and working on how we continue to make what we do more fun and easier to get involved in. We want as many people as possible to benefit from what we do.

GoodGym is one of the most fun things you can do. We know that if lots of us make this a regular part of our lives we can make a massive difference to the cities we live in. We can contribute to making them greener, less lonely, and better connected. Loneliness and isolation are growing. Our lives are increasingly lived through screens and we’re becoming more isolated. Not only can participation in GoodGym improve someone’s wellbeing, it can help someone else too. By stopping off on our runs, walks and cycles we can provide connection, hope and sustenance to those who are housebound.

There are also thousands of organisations, spaces and groups that need more work and that can benefit from volunteers. By steering the energy from our exercise into these projects we can make a huge difference and increase the sustainability of vital foodbanks, community groups and green spaces.

GoodGym is now open to everyone in 62 areas across the UK and there are hundreds of people interested in setting up GoodGym in their area.

We want to rival the success of gyms, getting people all over the world off treadmills and into their communities. We are always looking for brilliant people to work with; if you want to get in touch about setting up GoodGym where you are go to goodgym.org/proposals/[insertyourareaname] - if the page doesn’t exist, email us at:getinvolved@goodgym.org.