I always look forward to GoodGym on Mondays as it’s a great way to begin the week and tonight would be no different.

Unexpectedly we could not get into our usual venue tonight so we sought refuge at the nearby Community Centre. The task was to move a large pile of mulch to the nearby nature garden to create an organic path. Once we picked up our wheelbarrows and tools we ran a few hundred metres down the estate to our friend, the steaming 3 ton pile of mulch. This was more of a light brown/green mulch than the usual dark brown earthy type that we are used to. Quite aromatic, but not easy on the nostrils once you get a good waft in your face. Indeed one of the GG ladies got exactly that when a few eager GG diggers released a huge cloud of mulch-steam right in front of her.

The speed barrowers ran back to the nature park to dump their load (so to speak) and help create a new path and some new flower beds. It was quite a long path though, as we started building it in daylight and finished it in the dark. There were also a few items that needed moving from the Community Centre to the children’s play area so a few of our team ran down carrying see saws, slides and a trampoline over their heads, much to the amusement of the on looking East London ‘Yoof’.

After completing the task, as we didn’t have access to the Arch Gallery, Tom thinking on his feet devised a new fitness session for the group using the local park as our base. We paired up and ran quite fast around the park. Back at the start point we did sets of squats, lunges and something unusual that I think were called warrior jumps. We repeated the run and the sets of exercises once again before retreating back to the Centre for some planks, dips and thrusts. It was a really tough session so it was nice being able to lay back and do the warm down stretches at the end. It was quite amusing seeing the pools of perspiration on the floor when we all stood up (our usual venue the arch gallery is too dark for that).

Hassan