On the 6th day of the month, 17 Brent beauty's braved the icy rain for 90minutes. Ran a fierce 4K , dropped 200 leaflets and even had time to plyometric their their way through an adrenaline pumping fitness frenzie. Track attack but I should have work a rain Mac Just another average Monday for GG Brent. Pow Pow

Housekeeping to begin as always and to my delight another Welcominng of newbies was in order for the third week in a row. Not one but two new faces into the fold hurrah Stephanie and joining the ever increasing familia Ananda was push AKA Mum, brought along for the night too!!!

Another newness shout out came in the form of Our Big proud intro to the new lord of the GG Brent Twitter -Lucky Enrique, who would be sprinkling our goodcheer all over the socials for the next coming weeks YAY.

After announcements and a discussion on the best abs and core excersies to do (little did they know these were in store later ha ha ha ha ) the crew stepped up to the plate for task reveal time.

It was team effort all the way with seasoned Brent Goodgymer Eliza providing the deed for the night: Hand out the mighty big stack of leaflets for : Brent's affordable counselling service. So with all hands full, the paper chase was on & we were more than ready to rock, paper, scissor(kick) to track.

Stepping out into the night one word whistled through the air like a speeding train hurtling down a tunnel.... "Collllddd" omg was it cold and if that wasn't enough, no sooner had we ducked out, we were greeted by the biggest downpour of rain known to mankind and boy oh boy was it freezing too!! But completely and utterly unfazed (my crew is hardcore y'all) we rolled out regardless with smiles and laughter that lit up walm lane brighter than the street lamps themselves.

The 2.5k dash down to Willesden track took no time at all in the wake of our 'paper-trail' where passers by and Willesden-ites were both thrilled and dazed by the good vibes being flung at them, at every turn!!

Arriving at the track, with practically all leaflets handed out, YAY, the team reviewed the torrentials and absolute slip and slide of a track, with nervous anticipation ..... hummmmmm thinking on my feet, like any Goodgym coach would do I used my noggin and set up the plyometrics session under the blessed covering of the bleacher stands YAY!!!! It was the only way!!!!!! and to my delight, what was laid out in front of me to use - stairs!!!! Yessss!!! Stretching out to provide the perfect gradient level simulated track as an alternative option. Pow Pow!!

So without further a do, teams split in 2 and now the real work could begin: Team one began with: High knee runs up and down the stairs of the supporter bleacher seating, hitting every stair with their feet as they chopped and sped their legs at through 4 sets. Team two with me, got a lesson in plyometrics; Tuck jumps, explosive jump lunges and 2 feet to 1 explosive hops.

Now because i know you like the science part; Plyometrics, also known as "jump training" or "plyos", are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time, with the goal of increasing power, speed and strength. This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to a contraction in a rapid or "explosive" manner, such as in specialised repeated jumping. Although Plyometrics are primarily used by athletes, like sprinters and high jumpers to improve performance, they can also be incorporated into a cross training routine for an endurance runner too, to support conditioning of muscles and bonus time, act as a neat little fat burner as well.

After a minute of each split the teams switched and after a 4X repeats we all regrouped for some essential core work to finish. Using planks, split low legs and scissor kicks to blast the bods for one last effort as a united crew.

After the blitz in the rain the team wasted no time and with jackets zipped, hoods up we headed straight back out into the storm, to weather the last couple of km back to base.

Yes it was wet, yes it was cold, yes we welcomed newbies into the fold. But were we glum, highly strung? Think again, it was nothing but a Brent bonanza of fun fun fun!!!

See you next time!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

13 Strong, tackled 4.5miles and dropped a whopping 200 leaflets for mental health charity Mind. That's one successful Monday and one massive sprinkling of Good(Gym) cheer all over our beloved Brent. POW POW!

At yet another awesome session, GG Brent continued to jubilantly jump into Jan with the third one of the year. The task this week was to hit up the Brent base for mental health charity Mind, collect a batch of leaflets and advertise their upcoming community run which takes place on Thursday the 2nd of Feb at 6.30pm. Easy peasey lemon squeezie..... or so they thought.

The warm up run was cruised in style, 1.7miles through the windy streets of Willesden, past Roundwood Park and up to Harlesden, our home for the night. But soon enough it was revealed that the location of Mind wasn't just the point of pick up, oh no, it just happens to be on the corner of the most perfect grid/block system of roads..... This basically meant that what could have been perceived as just a row of ordinary streets, was in fact the absolute perfect arena for Block Sprints & our outdoor track for the night. Where jog/sprint combos could be carried out, every time a corner of a road was encountered. Tempo training with a twist!! Oh yeah

Wth a successful collect and then total completion of ALL Leaflets delivered, the team continued the paper-chase. Bobbing and weaving through the block tempo track with the added challenge of real deal hurdles via the hopping over of cracked curbs and pavements!

Not once but twice the team annihilated the block sprints challenge, with only motivation and good vibes in the air. With the fitness and tasking nailed,it was heads down for the final Push (and one last stop for a photo pose of course) Straight back to it, the cool down run back to base. Chatting and laughter filled the air as the last of our efforts pounded pavements and our tired legs carried us home.

With The Queensbury at last in sight we finished up, stopped, stretched and said our farewells. Hammy only after as I travelled on the tube home did I realise I'd forgotten to carry out the 100 squat challenge I'd so gleefully promised!! Dammmmm!!! and no one reminded me hummmm I wonder why!??

See you next week for sore bums galore!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE.

10 goodgymers met up at the old town hall hotel for the last Tower Hamlets group run of the year. Sadly our task was cancelled (get well soon Mags and Michael!) but there was still plenty of festive cheer, especially from Lucy, Flora and Ditte who were joining us for the first time! With no task but plenty of energy to burn we set off on a steady jog, through the streets and onto the canal before heading up to London fields where Bryon joined us, having done his own warm up after hot footing it from work. Here we ran some intervals and the energy and enthusiasm from all was great to see. A gentle run back to base and a few stretches brought the evening to a close. Have a great break everyone and I look forward to seeing you all for much more goodgyming in the new year!

A sensational six Goodgymers, pounded pavements, hopped over hills and ran ragged to clean up a particularly filthy community hall for the marvellous Harlesden Methodist Church. POW POW.

Chill was in the air but not on our minds, as the always motivated Brent crew gathered for the first GG of December. With the glorious hellos and welcomes of housekeeping complete, the team wrapped up and rolled out into the night for a quick dash 2mile tempo-run down to Harlesden High Street.

With our resident maple leaf lovely Andrea leading the pace from the front, we drank in all of the sounds and smells of the bustling community along the way. Steaming up the hills and pushing pace, the team blasted the first 2 miles in an 18min record time, even with traffic light stops and people dodging to boot! EPIC

Arriving at our destination Harlesden Methodist Church we stretched and caught breath before being welcomed into the INDOOR TASK Woo hoo!!!! Always a win, when winter has set in.

Heading straight up the stairs led by the charismatic caretaker, we gathered our cleaning equipment ready to take charge of the community hall, where windows were in need of a jolly good wash and frames were overdue restoration from grey to white.

Hot to trot, underneath the blasting heat from all of... well ALL the heaters in the hall, the team set to work on the 40min shake down. Of course the soundtrack of the eve was set in play and this Monday night, we wiggled our way through the 'Coach Ellie happy-mix' delights of - Katrina and the Waves and Shola Ama old skoolfun for everyone.

We were walking on sunshine indeed, as Dan's massive efforts to sparkle up the floor added to the clean, sheen and pristine work Tabitha, Debs and Enrique added with the windows.

With the sparkling hall beginning to gleam again, we buffed and shined our way through the last of the panes, to the end of our time, giving our best impressions of regional accents, Enrique completely outshining me in the Scottish department and Andrea giving us a schooling in the intricate art of the Canadian linguistic trait of asking a question at the end of every sentence!!

Good times and good work complete, we tidied and turned on our heels quicker than church mice diving for cheese. Or on our case, cheesy tunes.

Blasting the last 2miles home as quickly as we had shot out, it was a night for pushing PBs and boundaries and the team did it all with smiling faces and encouragements for each other all of the way! Back at base it was stretch and fetch the bags. Another night complete and Goodgym good-tasking sprinkled through the community we love.

See you next time Xmas Party people....

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPRE.

Ten jewels in the Brent crown braved the unpredictable weather (Storm Angus will have to do better than that to stop this bunch doing good!!!) to run to Ashford Place, London's first 24-hour shelter for the homeless dedicated to promoting inclusion and reducing isolation.

We were delighted to see a rather more hirsute Dan back in the ranks after a break and a brief foray into GoodGym Barnett - but we forgave him ;-P... especially as he's been busy growing a Movember moustache, good for you Dan, keep it up! We also welcomed Fausto back to the fold after a few months' break, and long-standing and newer runners, Elisa, Tania, Deborah, Tabitha, Enrique, Clare Mouse, Mel, and cover run leader Claireybell.

Our friendly group managed to recruit two more runners for next week's run before we even left our base at the Queensbury pub, good work guys!

We managed to tear ourselves away from the glowing pub fire and out into the night (which wasn't as cold as it looked from indoors!), leaping over puddles and piles of wet leaves like sprightly pixies to avoid soggy socks and squelchy shoes.

After a short run and a quick stretch, we arrived at Ashford Place where Alan met us and explained what he wanted us to do, opening the door to a room bursting with bags of donations and furniture - our task - to make it look "different"... So we rolled up our sleeves and hauled out bags and bags of clothes, bedding and toiletries, sorted, re-bagged, and labelled, a jumble of chaos into an orderly oasis of organisation and calm - it was one of those jobs that you would put off forever if you had to do it on your own as it would have taken 2 days, but ...

with ten pairs of hands, we had it done in about 20 minutes!

We still had time to fit in a run to Gladstone Park where we set to some tempo runs cleverly disguised as a game... we ran a loop of the park in single file, with the person at the back having to accelerate to make it up to the front of the pack again, the person at the front setting the pace - there was definitely some healthy competition going on with Deborah and Tabitha leaving us in the dust as they vied for the lead. We finished off with some cool down stretches and a jog back up the hill to base again.

A quick reminder, if you are interested in coming to a GG Brent Christmas meal and/or drinks (no run involved, lycra and high-viz optional, name badges will be provided for identification purposes...), there is a doodle poll on GoodGym Brent's Facebook page, we will confirm the date by the end of this week.

Well done guys, keep shining your light around Brent and beyond!