4 of us met Peter at Beautiful Balin. The group of residents, Tabard growers, have been working hard to transform the bland grassy blocks into stunning gardens. After admiring the work they have done so far, we got set. There were two large patches of grass to dig up so they can plant a variety of plants instead. Within the task time we had picked out cigarette butt's, dug up all the grass and hauled the sacks out of the way. We can't wait to see what it looks like all planted 🌱🌷🌻🌿🍀🌼🏵️☘️🌿🌱

Tonight 8 runners joined in our online fitness session. And with the temperature reaching 30 degrees it was guaranteed to be a sweaty session!

We were all feeling the heat this week, whether indoors, on a balcony or in a garden. But it didn't stop us pushing towards our limit! I chose 5 exercises that we repeated for 3 rounds. Working the full body with jumps, squats, press ups, abs and planks, we each set ourselves a challenge by counting our reps, and trying to repeat the same number in the second and third rounds. Easier said than done!

We had a great team sweat, ready for dinner! See you again next week team!

This week 16 runners took part in our online Fitness session and catch up. And we were joined by GoodGym friends all over, including Lucy J up in Sheffield.

As well as giving ourselves a speedy workout, we got together to celebrate the achievements of our fantastic members this week!

Paulin passed her 50th Good Deed this week, after joining Southwark from Bristol last year...well done!! And one of our longest serving runners Dom completed his 400th Good Deed this week, in only 4 years as a member, that is a fantastic achievement!!

We had a lovely catch up sharing stories of favourite tasks and funny GoodGym experiences, and look forward to being able to celebrate in closer proximity once it is safe to do so!

See you again next week for more fitness fun and social catch ups.

This evening, GoodGym Southwark met online to catch up and take part in an online fitness session.

After meeting and catching up, Ian led us through a series of exciting Olympics themed workouts - we boxed, we skated, we long jumped, and built up an impressive sweat!

A ruddy fantastic time was had by all, before we grabbed refreshments and talked about potential runs and other things that are going on.

Join us next week during our fitness session, details here, and take care of yourselves in the meantime!

At last it's Wednesday. Why do we care?

Because it's time for Southwark GoodGym!

Challenge is set, for Alphabet Bootcamp.

Don't worry,

Exercise is...

Fun!

Goodgym exercise is at least!

Humour helped us through,

Ian led spectacularly.

Jumping from exercise to exercise,

Kicks,

Lunges,

Mountain climbers,

Nothing could phase us.

Only 25 seconds per set,

Panting and puffing into

Quick demo's.

Resting for 20 seconds between each exercise.

So much fun :)

Tough though!

Unbelievable effort by all.

Various Goodgymers joined in,

We welcomed tourists from Croydon and Brent,

e-X-cited chat throughout.

Yes! We did it!

Zzzzzz time now...

And in a flash our Exercise Encyclopaedia session was completed! 11 runners completed 26 Exercises named after each letter of the alphabet. I think X-Factor (freestyle dancing) was the overall favourite. A huge thanks to Emily for putting this weeks run report together!

Now to think up next weeks theme...!

Who built the Pyramids? The Egyptians of course! This week we took a leaf out of their book.

We had 10 runners who joined in our online Fitness & Social session. With Pyramids as this weeks theme, we went through a series of exercise drills adding an extra rep to each round. This proved to a challenge worthy of building a pyramid! With squats and jumps, press ups and sit ups, everyone completed the session feeling well worked.

We continued the social catch up discussing pets and foxes, before heading off for our dinners.

Great to see you all. We'll back again next week with a different exercise theme!

On Wednesday night, GoodGym Southwark got together online for a fitness session and a catchup.

After a brief introduction, Ian got us started with our fitness session - it must have been a good one, because when we were done and he asked if we fancied a bit more, there was many a delirious thumbs up. Since the extra bit was abs focused, I think we can all agree that we're going to be shredded like Dolph Lundgren by the end of this lockdown.

After this workout, we all enjoyed a catch up - discussed was Monopoly, the perils and merits of LARPing (don't get sucked in by D&D, gang, that's the gateway), and for some reason Abi's incredibly lifelike shark costume - fun game, look at the pictures for a fun SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game. Respond in the comments below - if you think you got it right, treat yourself to a quarantine vice next time you're on a supply run.

With regards to title, I was thinking of this absolute beauty of a song - would have used official video but it's a scooch more blue than I imagined.

Tonight, GoodGym Southwark got together at the usual time, when they're used to setting out to keep fit and do good. As the group haven't been able to have their usual meeting for the last couple of weeks, this week we decided to try something different.

A group of plucky runners logged on for the usual preamble, checking in with each other, and catching up on how things have been going. At 7, when we're used to stepping into the bracing cold to get started, we got cracking with our fitness session. For fifteen minutes, we warmed up, did a mixture of exercises with a slight focus on our cores, then cooled off.

After this, we enjoyed more of an extended catchup (with beverages strictly optional). We caught up on how we've each been doing, and the ways we might each be able to support our communities (it's worth checking your mission preferences in your settings if you're verified for those). We also met Emma and Civ's beautiful kitten friends!

At a time where there's a lot of unsettling stuff going on, it was great for the community to come together. It's not just community organisations and our older neighbours we help through GoodGym, but also each other.

We're looking forward to doing another of these next week, details all here.