What a fab evening at Bexley Gooodgym last night. Yes it was the hottest Bank Holiday we've had for a few years but that didn't stop us doing our awesome in Bexley............. We were greeted by three new faces at Bexley this evening. A massive welcome to Lucy (you were brilliant tonight) and Goodgym tourists Sarah and Johnny who joined us from Hammersmith Goodgym, yay!! We started off as usual with our group warm up and in this heat that didn't take long. After a quick safety briefing everyone grabbed their pickers and we headed of towards the beautiful Danson park. As we arrived at Danson i wanted to to add a training into the task so the goal was to pick and jog and quickly as possible onto the next piece of litter. It turned out to be quite a good fartlek session. For those of you who are wondering, fartlek is a Swedish word meaning speed play Its an awesome training session for anyone wanting to become a better runner. It involves running and moving at different speeds during your training, and we did just that this evening.

Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning speed play

Well it has to be said we were extremely busy for over 35 minutes, and in this time we filled seven big black sacks of rubbish. We even had to move a portable BBQ that had been left and that had actually started to set the grass underneath it alight. As our challenged drew to and end we looked over the park at the task we had just completed with a great sense of accomplishment, and as the sun was coming down it was a perfect time to have a group run around the lake before heading back to basecamp Crooklog.

Coaches Tip Running with your litter picker sticks should not be seen as an inconvenience but as a great arm and chest training. Many of us run with our arms swinging side to side and crossing the centre of our chest. Doing this makes you body rotate with each step instead moving moving efficiently forward. It also closes our chest making our breathing labour. Use the stick with your hands as wide as possible. By doing this your arms can't come across your chest so your lungs / chest will be open, so making breathing and posture a lot better.

It wasn't long before we were back a Crooklog talking about the great task we had done, and what we had planned for next week. Thanks again for you help and company Sarah and Johnny. Tonights Bexley Goodgym Heroes Sarah, Susan, Janine, Caz, Johnny, Sarah, Lucy and Tim SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.................

17 awesome athletes got a litter bit more than they had bin expecting in BRENT this week.

Twas a beautiful sight indeed to behold, when 17 lovelies up to THE QUEENSBURY strolled YES!! Full squad in place, ready to race, down Walm lane for some tasking and of course fit, fun and games!

First up was the run, but it didn't take long, for high jinx was in the air and all of our usual GG Flair. Running and funning our usual route, smiling at passers by and giving salutes.

Next, we arrived at our base for the night, but poor Rosa from St Andrews was in for a fright. For she had forgotten the required equipment, plastic gloves and bin bags for a lot of litter pickin'.

NO FEAR!, said I, with a glint in my eye, While you go and collect, the task can come next... We can begin with a hop, skip and lark and run a wee bit further down to Gladstone Park!

So off we cantered, with plenty of banter and not before long, were ready to crack on! Wasting no time, onto each others backs they did climb, for piggy back races, making haste with their paces. The winners were easy to see it was simple, girl power all the way, with Zara carrying Dimple.

Following swifty, 100 squats bashed out nifty. Then Core on the grass, before back to the task!! Speeding along each step taking us closer and in no time at all, we were back to meet Rosa.

Ready and raring to begin our task and to - pass the bin bags was our only ask. So with latex gloves adorned, although some were too small and in no time were torn, we embarked on our mission, of speed litter picking.

Not 15mins in and it was all drama in the street, for what I'm about to say, I hope we'll never see a repeat. Drunken locals fighting and throwing cans.... QUICK Said Nicola HIDE BEHIND THE VAN Thankfully for us, quick to arrive, the coppers appeared, phew, we weren't scared, only the brave cower in fear!!

So then we could complete the rest of the night, with no further distraction, of crazy men in sight. We continued until the end with determined action, filling up the rubbish bags in quick succession. In no time at all, the bags were all full, so we said our farewells and turned on our heels.

Peeling off home, the group soon diminished, with only a few left to race me back to the finish. But with stretches and hugs and goodbyes complete, it was homeward bound, now everyone can eat!!

Another brilliant event, in our beloved Brent. See you next Monday for another chance to play!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

POW POW!

What a lovely Bank Holiday Monday at Goodgym Bexley. We done our usual 18.45 / 19.00 sign in and chatted on the warm weather, and weekend we had all enjoyed whilst waiting for everyone to turn up. After our warm up (which didn't take long in the humid heat) we headed out to beautiful Danson park to enjoy our run. On arrival we split up into two teams Eileen taking the stronger runners up front whist Caroline and I looked after the back runners. This is what's so great about our Goodgym runs. No one is ever left behind, and we always improve on our running, running technique and fitness every week. If you have never run around Danson park you have to put it on your local bucket list. It truly is a beautiful place not matter what the weather. You're always guaranteed beautiful views and wonderful wildlife on the lake. Any way, I soon got everyone back to reality by putting in an awesome sprint session. The excuse, it's Bank Holiday Monday Tim didn't wash with me 😂. I had come shuttles on the menu, and it was going to be served 🙌🏻, and served it was. With everyone now sweating a lot 💦 we took the time to have a drink and talk about getting everyone up onto the Team Goodgym Strava and Runnkeeper apps, getting people mission and coach verified and all the Goodgym running events that are going on. With everyone now refreshed it was that time again. We moved off running through the park and back up towards Crooklog sports centre. Arriving with smiles and great sense of running achievement it was time to draw the evening to a close. But before we did, we wanted to congratulate Susan and Sarah for smashing their first 10K race at the London Vitality Run earlier that morning and Eileen for being accepted for becoming a Goodgym Run Leader. You're going to be a real asset. Well done 👊🏻😁 Next week Bexley Goodgym are heading out to help a local Charity sort out donations for their shop. So if you're looking to improve your running, get fit and also do good for your local community, sign up, come along, and join us.

A lucky 13 ladies, hauled ass and grass and tons of mass, for the Willesden Town Team's tube Station Garden project!! HURRAAHHHHH

What can I say but WOOOWWWW WOW WOW WOW WOW The Brent team did not let me down this week after I sent out a call for help and requested many hands on deck for this show-stopping task!

Showing up to tackle the big project on hand was a fierce team of females, demonstrating all the girl power under the sun! Although we were missing our lovely regular lads; Dan, Enrique and Samuel, we had no doubt our girly grit would be enough to do the business!

After warm welcomes to newbies; Nic and Alba, the team prepared themselves for the epic journey..... ermmmm okay, it was literally across the street, however, that short stint did not phase me, as I knew what was in store!!

So the amazing community group - Willesden Town team are a collection of local residents who aim to give back and make Willesden a more pleasant place to live, much like us at Goodgym Brent. What a power-house team we make then! So when they requested our help with some heavy lifting and shifting, how could we turn them down?

The task Willesden Green tube station has 4 platforms, 2 for the Jubilee line, and 2 for the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan trains do not stop at Willesden any more. Consequently there are two platforms where the travelling public do not have access to. These platforms have brick planters on, where the town team garden. Last year, for the first time ever Willesden Green entered the TFL underground garden competition TFL in Bloom, and lo and behold, won the first prize, in the "cultivated garden" section. So with the competition coming up again this summer, they want to retain their position at the top of the league.

In order to do this they must develop the gardens and they currently don't have sufficient organic materials to keep planting. Therefore, Willesden Town Team had two dumpy bags weighing a ton each, one of compost/topsoil, and one of wood bark/mulch delivered at the top of the stairs of the tube!! Here's where we stepped in to help Our task for the night was to help them shovel, bag, lift and shift the compost from street level down the stairs to the platforms, ready for the green-fingered workers to set to planting over the next few weeks.

Now when I tell you these bags were big that is no serious understatement, in fact, they were enormous with a combined weight of 2000kg!!! So with the timer set and the girls ready to begin, we set to work and said Soil long to the streets and down to the depths we did run!

The girls worked tirelessly for a solid hour, shovelling, lifting and then running up and down the stairs to make sure we completed the task on time, with a cleared street at the end! And oh my goodness, did they put in some blood, sweat and tears..... okay tears were of laughter, but still!!!

On average each girl ran 10 trips, carrying 20kg a time down the 34 steps from ground level to the platforms!! All done in a perfectly timed hour. WOW!!!! Now that is some serious strength work right there!!!!

We watched as the bags got smaller and smaller and eventually the compost up top, was down below and the clean-up and sweep was the last thing to go! we were even treated to ice cold waters from Nest cafe next to the station, gifted to us by the wonderful owner Omar! Thank you!!!!

Now despite the incredible efforts, we still had some time to kill at the end of the session...... So, what better way to play out the rest of the day than Racing the train of course I'm not kidding!!! The girls steamed their way up and down the platform racing the jubilee line on the opposite side.... and yes.... of course they won!!! A train is no match for these wonder-women, who even had enough puff left to knock out some tempo runs street level to cap off the night!!!

With stretch and rest time upon us, we marvelled at the epic efforts and anticipation of sore quads in the morning because of all those stair runs!!! But hey hoe urban gardening ain't for the faint of heart, it takes real girl power to show this mulch gumption!

Until next time fitness familia!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE