Big cheers and welcome hugs for our first timers: Mira, Louise, Lizzy and Alex.

Hot news this evening: we have our very own set of gloves. This means we don't have to always rely on tasks to provide finger protection and can run around doing even more good. Glovely!

There was sooo much good to do this evening spread across three tasks and three locations: Freightliners Farm, Whittington Park Community Association and Barnsbury Community Centre.

FREIGHTLINERS

Steve led the group over to Freightliners Farm. Here's his account:

10 goodgym runners set off the 1K to Freightliners Farm, smack in the middle of Islington, to perform our usual function. This week it was all about clearing and recycling. We started by filling a skip with discarded soil and extra large and heavy lumps of concrete. Dangerous work but we soon polished it off. After that we recycled masses of pre-used timber into either 110 or 120 centimeter lengths using measuring tools, marker pens and handsaws, whilst another group got to grips with an unruly hedge and whipped it into shape. As ever, competition reared its ugly head and we were soon having timed saw-cut races. Sawing technique improved massively over the hour and upper body strength was increased. We finished by feeding the goats and going ahhh quite a lot! Just another Monday down on the farm.

Steve

WHITTINGTON

Navigator-extraordinaire Graham was leader of the WPCA bunch who were lucky enough to take the brand new gloves. Here's his description of the evening:

On a muggy Monday night, nine GoodGymers went for a 7k run to weed and tidy the garden at Whittington park.

Following a route there almost entirely straight along Holloway road, there was no way we could lost, right? Well, sort of. After taking a 'creative' route down Hornsey road, we added on an extra 0.5k or so - always an adventure!

Still managing to arrive at the task just about on time, we then met Adrian who let us in to tidy up pesky weeds at the park's 1 o'clock club.

Weeds were removed, chats were had, and our brand new gloves were thoroughly tested out. We also discussed possibly the most contentious question at GoodGym - what counts as a weed? Following 25 minutes of solid work, we managed to fill several bags full of weeds - good work team!

Successfully managing to run back the way we should have run initially, we threw in a good intervals session round Emirates and a couple of hill sprints to finish the evening off in style. More good, more running - standard Monday night!

Graham

BARNSBURY

Simon explains what went down at Barnsbury:

Nine of us bobbled over to Barnsbury Community Centre. There's never a shortage of soil at the centre and tonight was no exception.

Gloves donnned, of course, we spent a good 25 minutes or so shovelling and wheelbarrowing (and even dragging) tons of the stuff. Great upper body workout. We worked so hard that a couple of the wheelbarrows gave up before we did. Rock 'n' Roll!

The ring around the famous centre-piece (where all the soil came from) was looking a little patchy and bare, so we each grabbed a couple of handfuls of grass seed and scattered the goodness around. We possibly over did it, so it'll be very interesting to come back and see the jungle we created in a few weeks or so.

Goodness all done it was time to do some fitness. We had a cone relay race, then we had a handicap cone relay race (my team lost so results are irrelevant) and on the way back to the pool we played the only game that is fit for a journey back from Barnsbury Community Centre: secret surges! Then a little work on our technique (run tall! run ninja!) before destroying ourselves with a high-knee/lunges combination. Phew.

Simon

DEBATE

On such a glovely evening it only seemed right to debate something glove related. Are fingerless gloves stupid? Some people thought so, but reckoned that the padded variety for cycling were fair game. Quite a few agreed that those gloves that are fingerless but have a detachable mitten bit were brilliant. Put to the vote, the large majority said that they were fine. So, there you have it. May your palms stay toasty and your fingers frosty.

BISCUITS

What goes in gloves? Biscuits. I mean Fingers, so we had a special treat with some chocolate fingers. Yum. Even better than this Graham - fresh from WINNING Man vs. Horse as part of the fastest mixed relay team - had brought along a few mini-buckets of posh biscuity treats. And Beth is going to MAKE biscuits next week. Biscuits!

Remember that glove is all need. See you next week,
Simon

Cor, that was a bit special. 134 GoodGymers ran a total of 32km to do good all over London. Meeting at the iconic City Hall runners were greeted by Team London and swiftly assigned to their teams to be given their mission for the morning. After a quick pause for photos and some dynamic warm ups it was up to Tower Bridge to be seen off by Paralympian Andy Barrow. What a fantastic way to mark the start of volunteers week and celebrate London’s success of being named European Capital of Volunteering.

Let’s hear from the trainers about what each team go up to....

Khan we do it?

Led by Hackney trainer Joel Wiles

Team Southwark had the privilege of leading the charge off of Tower bridge! A strong team of 30 runners were soon navigating our way through the back streets of central London on the 2k run to Age Uk Southwark.

We met John the manager of the centre who welcomed us and was amazed to see so many of us. Quickly splitting into 3 groups with the majority of the crew working hard in the back garden smaller groups went to talk to the service users and play games of pool with them while the 3rd group scythed their way into the wild front garden.

An explosive pace was maintained in the gardens with impressive amounts of grass cutting, huge weeding and some very artistic gardening animal on the hedges art all done with huge smiles and great positive energy.

We were then joined by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan who gave us loads of encouragement to work up even more of a sweat and talked to the team about volunteering opportunities in London before going to talk to the service users and playing an impressive game of Pool.

After 40 minutes of great action we had interacted with all the service users at Age UK Southwark, filled 12 bags of gardening waste and got the gardens looking great especially with the hedges trimmed to look like a hippopotamus, red squirrel and a slug!

Before we set off on the run back to City Hall we smashed out an intense leg workout where we powered through a series of strength building and coordination testing exercises and really got to feel the burn with a few static squats to finish! With legs throbbing and after a lot of thanks from the service users and team at Age UK we ran the 2k back to City Hall before a few static stretches by the river to round off a top morning.

Paint the town white

Led by Tower Hamlets trainer Tom Craggs

Of the masses of runners who met at City Hall a team of 10, a mix of new and experienced goodgym runners, headed down to local charity Siblings Together.

The 2.5km run to the charity took in Tower Bridge and the docks and warehouses of Rotherhithe. When we arrived we were handed spin brushes and 40 minutes of rolling, brushing and masking later we had the office looking fantastic with a new lick of paint. As a small charity these are often the jobs which have to take a back seat to day to day operations so it was great to make such a difference so quickly. After a 2km run back we stretched and headed back to our homes and workplaces - fitness and good deeds in the bank.

Soiled beyond belief

Led by Southwark trainer Jo Swift

Speeches, pictures and warm ups done, 12 runners set off across Tower Bridge with a mix of new and familiar GoodGym faces and navigated more than a few tourist pictures as we headed towards Aldgate. I'd warned of traffic lights but there were almost as many of them as there'd been blue t-shirts at City Hall.

We arrived at Providence Row, a centre providing support to homeless in the East end area, and were met by Joe who had lots of work for us to get on with. Hidden away behind hipster Brick Lane and Shoreditch, the centre have created a roof garden growing plants and peace. Half of the group were shown a pile of soil and manure bags, 2 wheelbarrows, 3 floors of steps and a lift.

Some ran the stairs as the lift was a little slower. Big ups to our crew who weren't put off by the muck on the bags despite heading off to work after our run.

Whilst 6 strong volunteers carried on with this, the rest of us cleared a plot of land of rubbish, weeds and laughing gas pods to give a bit of a face lift.

Joe and his team weren't sure we'd get it all done in the 45minutes we had but we did it! Always so brilliant how much you can get done in a GoodGym session. We said our goodbyes and made our way back through the lunching city workers & across the bridge for a photo finish outside city hall.

See you for the next one!

Sugar-Rush

Led by Brent trainer Ellie Wood

A tribe called GoodGym teamed up with Team London for a morning of super running and super volunteering to celebrate volunteers week and London being named the European Capital of volunteering.

My lovely eleven made up the team for our nominated charity Bliss - a wonderful organisation, who provide support and services for families with premature babies in the UK. After intros and housekeeping, this awesome crew, bustled out into the cold for warm-ups and photo-calls amidst the glorious back drop of Tower Bridge and City Hall.

After a serious amount of posing and pouting and not letting the threat of rain kill any excitement, we head out on our mission, a fast and furious scoot over to our destination for the day. Upon arrival we were greeted by the fabulous Nicola and her girl power crew, gleefully waiting to present us with our task - The prepping of gift bags to be posted out to supporters of the charity.

Despite the temptation of stuffing envelopes, we managed to resist stuffing our faces with the contents - about 200 bags of SWEEETTTSSS. Spurred on by my fabulous mix of empowering tunes....Thank you Chaka Khan and a lot of laughs, we managed to finish the job with time to spare!! Hurrahs.

All the honest work paid off in the end and all of the runners were presented with their own goodies YAY. So freshly powered by the sweetie all-sorts delights, we 'Sugar-Rushed' down to Tower Bridge for some sprint drills and tempos, before heading back to City Hall. Finishing with some 'Core-Blimey these are hard' planks, a final stretch brought the session to a close.

A marvellous morning, a cracking crew and an absolutely terrific way to celebrate volunteering in our fair London Town!

Do Good. Feel Good. Inspire.

Garden Footprint

Led by Westminster trainer Cory Wharton-Malcolm

Post photo we were whisked away, carried by the ever present sound of our little feet as we headed South to Bermondsey Community Nursery to see a lovely lady about a garden.

15 strong we were greeted by a group of small people who will one day become adults and their ever so lovely teachers.

Our tasks for the day? Dismantle compost bin and redistribute soil lovingly into new home, plant flowers and vegetables, destroy broken notice board, kill pesky weeds, fix hose and most importantly make area look pretty again. How long? 30 mins.

Did we get it done? Of course we did. 4 teams working harmoniously for the greater good of our host. There was however one little mishap, one of our newbies mistook a small toy dinosaur for a real beast, screamed and nearly knocked herself out lol. Did she survive? OF COURSE she did.

Thank you's, goodbyes and a cheeky little 1 miler tagged on the end just for the fun of it. Lots of newbies and lots of good done. What better way to spend a morning?

Inspiring a generation

20 runners including a huge bunch from Zendesk completed a quick loop from City Hall and returned for a speed careers session back at base. Children from across London were given an inspiring speech from Andy Barrow followed by speed careers advice from our volunteers. The future of London is in safe hands with this lot.

Shelfless Runners

Led by Tower Hamlets run leader Ivo Gormley

A brave crew of 17 blue GoodGym runners hit the streets of Southwark to make things happen at the Downside Fisher Youth Centre.

The run there: once we'd escaped the photographers, done some lunges, some knee raises and some impressive fast feet, introduced ourselves 5 times, was a doddle. 0.6kms run through in no time.

We arrived at the door of the centre and were met by Christine and Phil who run the place. We were tasked with cleaning the windows and sorting out a cupboard.

We split into two crack teams of 8 ; the cupboard was emptied with precision and zeal, the windows were flooded with mr muscle and the job was underway. Ladders were scaled, shelves removed, climbing equipment was sorted, admin material was separated, extenders were grasped and elbow grease was applied. 30 mins later both jobs were done to a high standard.

Phil, who works for the centre said "I was amazed how much you got done."

The general manager Christine, said "Bloody hell, that was quick. Those windows are gleaming."

Not content with just doing good, we set about pushing ourselves a bit harder, we nipped 1.2km down the road to Southwark Park. We did 3x30seconds intervals with 30seconds rest. A TOUGH session, handled admirably before we strode back along the Southbank of London's great river Thames.

Well done all. See you at the next one.

Team Tower

Led by Haringey trainer Varon Lewis

15 GoodGymers navigated their way from City Hall, over the bridge that bared the teams name, through cobbled city streets and into the palace grounds at the Tower of London. There we were met by Sarah, the task owner, who lead us past the beefeaters and guards, under the tower of doom and into part of an old​​ building that was used as a classroom for visiting children. Here the team packed envelopes given to those who had become members of the Historic Royal Palaces charity. Team Tower did GoodGym proud and managed to pack over 900 envelopes within a 35 minute window. This would have usually taken volunteers around 3 hours. We had conquered our task as William had conquered centuries ago. Great job guys!

Until next time folks - Stay Fit, Do Good & Look Out For The Light!

What next?

GoodGym is the easiest way to get fit in London. This weekend we have some special starter sessions to make it even easier to get involved. Sign up to one now and keep that good going:

GoodGym Lewisham are getting ready for festival season by helping out at the Brockley Max Festival. Sign up here.

GoodGym Camden are running to help out a local growing space. Sign up here.

GoodGym Hackney are giving some HUGS to the Hackney Downs User Group. Sign up here.

GoodGym Croydon are running to help the local Brownies. Sign up here.

Lots of Bank Holiday goodness done and fitness gotten this eve.

Welcome

Welcome to Ruby who already volunteers for Age UK and Send a Cow but wanted to do even more, and welcome to Simon F on his first visit to Islington after visiting GG Hackney once before. We also said hi to Marco, the first ever member of GoodGym Islington, who hasn't been since our launch event back in January 2015!

Unobservant

Nobody noticed the "mention this line and get a prize" bit on the sign in sheet. What am I to do with these Curly Wurlys I got as prizes?

Anyway, we had two tasks this evening. Six were needed to go and tackle some elder roots over at Thornhill Square Gardens. Here's Aidan's account of the evening:

Thornhill

6 eager GoodGymers took on the challenge of the longer run this week...well a bit longer...nearly 2km. Dropping off the main group at Barnsbury we continued on to Thornhill.

The task at hand was removing the unwanted plants and roots from around the garden, plenty of challenges for us to get stuck in to. We definitely had the right equipment for the job with a variety of saws, shovels, forks, secateurs and an axe. We all got stuck in and showed those roots who was boss. Everyone had the satisfying feeling of triumphing over nature, with Steve commending newbie Ruby on her upper body strength for launching some roots out of the ground. We did have one casualty, sadly one root was too tough for the fork and we had to say goodbye to one of the tools, RIP fork you did some great work.

After a quick tidy up and photo we headed off ready for the hill training!

B. Square

The rest of us nipped over to Barnsubry Square to meet Lucy, Carmela and Wesley the dog. We had a few jobs to do: getting rid of weeds (so many weeds), doing a spot of watering, a little bit of mulching and a dash of pruning. Most of us had a biscuit. Graham didn't cos he was feeling ill and delivered the line of the evening: "Well, I bought some reduced pineapple juice from Lidl..."

Hills

There's a little hill by the pool. It's hardly even a hill, so we figured nobody would notice if we made them run "up" it. The prescription was simple: run up to that bin hard. When you get there turn around and jog back down and repeat for 7 minutes.

Heroes of the evening: Marco and Jill who were the only ones hard enough to chuck in an extra rep when the 20 seconds remaining call was put out. They won a Curly Wurly (Marco didn't even know what a Curly Wurly was until about 20 minutes prior to this)

Meta

We went meta with our debate this evening: "What should our debate be for next week?". Some awful suggestions and some good ones:

• "Would you rather have no legs or no arms"

• "Best time of the day to train?"

• "Cyclops or uni-boob?"

• "Blackpool or Brighton?"

• "Should headphones be allowed in races?"

• "If you wake up late - say at midday - then you eat, is that breakfast or lunch?"

Marco suggested "Who will win the Euros" and Ruby thought a discussion about The EU would be a good idea. Clearly they weren't aware of things we should never debate at GoodGym Islington

Anyway, the headphones one from Simon F got the most votes, so we'll be discussing that next week. Then we'll do all the others.

See you next week for a brand new task and the re-introduction of our monthly time trial. Oooh.

Simon