Can you spot all of the Chase and Status tracks littered throughout this report?? Answers in the comments below!!

On genuinely the coldest night of the year, 11 brave Brent warriors hit the streets, to leaflet drop their way to the top of the pops, then lay down some tracks, Goodgym style.

With a chill in the air, we had nothing to do but run fast and hard down to the Track for our once a month fitness focused sesh. Fighting the shivers, we paper chased all the way down Willesden High Road and as usual the team were the ultimate charmers handing out our local messages along the way, always with a Goodgym smile :) Once the leaflets were all successfully handed out to our fellow Willesdenites, before we could say *Gangsta Boogie * we had arrived safely at our destination for the night, the track!

With my crew (like always) committing their Blind Faith to me, their watchful coach I was ready to begin. No worries here though, as they can Always count on me to get their pulses and legs racing.

So with my squad at the ready, I began to explain the fitness session of their lives, hoping that all goes right, instead of All goes wrong. We started with warm up drills of high knees and bum kicks, up and down the stairs of the spectators gallery. This was swiftly followed by our very own Uzman (Army Soldier in training) leading us through some drills of his own, squats, press-ups and sit ups, with military precision.

After warm ups were complete, it was about Time to get down to some real track attack! You'd think they couldn't Love me more until I asked of them......"400m sprints, times four please!!!"

Can I just say, this crew are just off the scale fit, I have to tell you! With an average speed ranging from sub 6 to sub 10 min miles and always with lap consistency, even into the forth!! If you don't know what that means, here it is in simple terms..... THEY SMASHED IT No problem!! Even when our lovely Joe, felt a tightening in their calf, he didn't stop! While the rest of the team burned rubber, Joe and I hit up some Ab-soultely awesome Core work, side by side on the track!

After the main body of the session was complete, the team came back together for one last pace back to base. Feeling more alive than ever, the endorphines were definitely flowing strong, which led us home on a high!
But before the end credits could roll, we huddles together for a cool down of stretch and breathing exercises, which ushered in the calm and welcomed the final close.

Now it's time for me to Let you go, what an evening, don't you know! To give back to the borough, our beloved Brent. With all the effort and fitness, an evening well spent!

See you next time familia. Next week it;s all about the Xmas themed tasking for Brent! WOO HOO

WOW, WOW, and WOW. What a brilliant evening at Goodgym Bexley last night. Not only were all distance running records broken it was possibly the most unusual task we have done to date. As deadline for arriving at Crooklog arrived, 13 Bexley Goodgymers were on the start line. Some looking a little nervous, some ready to get out there and conquer. By conquer i mean we had a mountain to climb to get to our task. That mountain being Shooters Hill!!! Big hi 5 to Ashley for joining us for the first time. We hope you had a blast. Let me tell you, there's nothing quite the feeling of belonging as you head out in our group weaving in and out of the commuters and shoppers all eager to get to our task at the Oxleas Apiary That belonging became really important when we reached the bottom of Shooters Hill as we coached and encouraged everyone that needed it to the summit.

That belonging became really important when we reached the bottom of Shooters Hill as we coached and encouraged everyone that needed it to the summit.

On arrival we were greeted with massive smiles from John and friends and shown to the Apiary and the big task at hand. After a quick drink it was down to work. We were all offered bee suits but everyone declined. I'm not sure if that was due to not wanting to put people out, or just bravery on everyones part but we started working suitless. It wasn't till around 4 minutes in when Neil took a sting that everyones bravery subsided and it was suits on, hahaha.......... I would just like to say that this wasn't just a brilliant task, it was an education lesson. John couldn't of been a better host as he filled everyone with knowledge about the bee world. It is really so fascinating and we left the task with a massive new insight into the world of bees. Thank you. Well just as we were finishing the heavens decided to open up and after getting 16 people into a shed (another task conquered :-) ) to try and keep a little dry it was decided it was time to brave our run home in the rain. Before i sign out bee fact Bees have around 3 to 5 days of life left when you see them flying around. When you see them exhausted on the floor they are coming to the end of their life. Giving them sugar water etc will not make them better or live any longer. Well thats was it. We all made it back in one happy peace. All very chuffed we had run up and back down Shooters Hill. Well done Bexley Goodgymers, you rocked!! Tonights Heroes........ JANINE, NEIL, LIZ, LUCY, PETER, TANYA, SHARINE, SARAH, SUSAN, ASHLEY, FIONA, ROSE and ME.......

9 GG Brent fitties were fast and furious as they pushed down pavements and paraded their way through tonights leaflet task for Brent's good causes. YAY!!

Now all I can say to start this run report tonight is - What Debs wants Debs gets and when our bride to be requested a track session, how could I refuse!! So armed with our source of good-deeding info sharing leaflets for - The NHS, Granville community food kitchen and some home grown repping for us GG BRENT as well, we got to stepping and paper chased our way through the ends, all the way to Willesden Sports Centre. BOOM!

Oh and thank you mother nature for blessing us with a rain free evening. Really and truly, this will be the first track attack session in a while that hasn't been a wash out! phewwwwww!!!!

So after our community spree which included face to face, library drops and postal passion, we arrived at our home for the eve & let me tell you, these guys were raring to go. Seriously energised and ready for some fabulous fitness fun and games in the form of drills, skills and a lot a lot of HIIT training - THATS High intensity interval training to you and me ;) POW POW!

After some mobilising and skills work, in the form of walking lunges , crab walks and various hop, skip and jumps (No that wasn't into the sandpit although Tabitha would have loved that!!) it was set to work on running 200m sprints, timed and repeated to track pace!

Can I just say at this point, OMG what a set of times, for each and every one!! All achieved even in the midst of some worried faces and moments of self doubt, particularly ironic was the cries from Jo But I'm not a sprinter hummmm really?? As she smashed in under 40 seconds each time!!! Bolt eat your heart out please!

Everyone gave it their all and worked their socks off for the whole session. Huffing, puffing, panting, recovering then going again and again. Special shouts go to Pushpa aka 'mum' who shaved 15 seconds off her first time in round three, living up to her name as she "Pushpa'd" to the max!! Think she was holding out on us and is a cheeky lil speedster at heart!!

After the main event, we finished off the session and the last of the legs with step jumps x 10 for three rounds and with that all jelly legged and understandably exhausted, we jogged the cool down back to base.

Another great evening doing good in Brent, with a HIIT-Fit focus for our resident badass athletes, that really packed a punch!

See you next time fit fam!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

As the nights draw in (yes, really) 21 runners covered 7km, swept away sycamore seeds, shifted, lifted, pulled and painted and enjoyed the view.

Every so often we get all excited and plan ahead for what we might do to celebrate a fellow runner's milestone, but sometimes someone might like to quietly put their head down and get on with it, without saying anything. Tonight Jacqueline did just that and completed her 100th good deed!! I only know this now, from looking at her Strava entry, 'My 100th GoodGym at the Seniors'. She's a cheeky one, sneaking that past us without saying. We're fond of a celebration here in Lewisham and WILL NOT be letting this one go without a knees up, so a social is now on the cards for the week after next. Congratulations Jacqueline, we're all very proud and very surprised at the same time :)

Thank you to Steve for the excellent - and apt - title pun!

Lots of our regulars are off enjoying the sunshine elsewhere at the moment, but very kindly keeping us updated, with daily photo updates of sunrise/sunset runs, poolside relaxation and red t-shirts on tour. Those of us still here in a slightly grey south east London (possibly due to the eclipse?) were undeterred by a bit of gloom and were all set for some hills. Joining us this week, all the way from the east was Ian, the trainer for soon-to-launch GoodGym Ipswich. We love welcoming new trainers and showing them the sights, so really put Ian through his paces by appointing him back-marker, along with Sean and Stephen, who are very familiar with the route to Seniors.

Before we headed out to warm up, we had a little celebration of milestones, with a grand presentation of three lovely black 50 t-shirts to Helen, Kim and Stephen, who have been waiting patiently to be able to show off their achievement. Well done you three, I can't wait to see you wearing your tops with pride.

The run over to Seniors is a longer one, but we love the extra opportunity to chat and catch up on the weekend's gossip. It's also a hilly run, but we ran hard and it was great to see everyone picking up the pace to reach the top, even if it was just 'to get it over with'. At Seniors, we were met by Cathy and Norma, who had a few different tasks waiting for us. Cathy went through the various jobs for tonight and everyone found a role and got stuck in. As you can see from the photos, the garden is vast, so there is ample opportunity to spread out and find yourself an area to work in. Tonight's jobs were painting the garden chairs (there are still many more to complete, but what a joy to see some (three) chairs being finished!) and sweeping up sycamore seeds - these pesky fellas are very good (and quick) at taking root and, before you know it, you've got a sapling to deal with.

At the far end, a team of gardeners set to, pulling up the bindweed, which had wound itself around anything that lay in its path, covering a whole area of ground around the raised beds. Along the side of the building were some pallets, which were carried over and laid down next to the existing beds, creating a foundation for some recycled art-handling containers, now destined to become raised beds themselves. In the middle of all this was a shed with a barbecue in it. This barbecue needed pulling out and, to do this, Sean and Michael pulled out everything else and had a jolly good spring clean along the way, great work!

That's an awful lot of work, completed in just half an hour, creating little pockets of transformation throughout the space.

Our return leg took us up and over (again, really well done on the hill climbing everyone, sterling work!). A trip to these parts wouldn't be complete without pausing to enjoy the view of a lit-up London from the top of Blythe Hill, just gorgeous!

Next week we will head out to Crofton Park Community Garden, to work on some more digging, shifting, weeding and so on. I will be away, so this run will be led for the first time by our run leader Conroy. Why not sign up and join in?

It was another incredible effort, when 20 Goodgymers from Brent, pounded pavements, crossed boroughs and gave back some more time in memory of four weeks since the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire in West London.

On an incredibly hot and muggy evening in July, we came, we grouped and we began, what turned out to be an epic journey over to Latymer Road Church, to meet up with sister Ruth to see how we could help one more time.

Joining the group this week was many a familiar face and to my delight Dinesh and Simon who had returned for more! Also in the mix were some newbies too, in the shape of; Alex, Amy's little brother.... Keeping in the theme of Brent's family affair and Pete, who upon my arrival was sipping on his vital fuel and pre-workout drink ready to rock the roads... Okay, this may have been a half a pint but it seemed to work as he was quick on his feet, swiftly gaining the nickname -Pistol Pete.

As the team set to work on the first leg of the tour, it becomes clear quite early on that we had some pace splits among our epic crew. Therefore the faster team were sent off ahead with sister sledge at the helm. Unfortunately in their rapid response, 2 were caught short and nearly lost their way - Alex and Amy! But luckily with some quick thinking from big sis Amy and a lot of urban orienteering they found their way back and regrouped upon arrival. Phew!!

After Group two had sped into the evening, we agreed to meet at the Church, which is exactly what we did! Me leading the back-packers and of course having my usual chats and love-in with Pushpa AKA mum! But it wasn't long before we were nipping at the heels of the first pack and meeting with Sadhana at the location, who had joined us straight there.

Met with a much less crowed and quieter site this time around, we took the time to soak up the true gravity of the situation on Latymer Road and read the messages on the walls. This truly brought home, how many lives have been not only lost, but affected by this awful tragedy and just our attendance alone felt like we were supporting the acknowledgement of this unbelievably sad and unnecessary event, one which we hope will never happen again in our lifetimes in London.

After a much needed moment of silence and contemplation, the larger than life character that is Sister Ruth arrived and with not much time left on the clock, she asked two things of us - 1) To help clear some of the older flowers away, making room for the many new ones coming each day and 2) Sing. Of course we obliged both requests and wished whole heartedly that we had more time to help and perhaps had more tunes in our voices, as we weren't up to her high standards sadly.

Even though, we knew we were finishing a late one this eve, the time we had for the tasking was unfortunately at an end and with that, the teams split once more. Some got the tube, some the bus and a handful of adventurers chose to run the last laps with me.

Now there has been many a long run at GG Brent since our inception, but this by far was the most challenging run I've ever personally partaken in! Hot, muggy, sweaty and hilly, but let me tell you, this incredibly courageous crew did not complain. Okay okay - Maybe Dinesh was vowing never to return, but he said that last week too and hey presto here he was once more! pow pow

These warriors, smashed the last of the miles coming into home base with a massive 10k under their belts for good measure!! And with copious amounts of water guzzled, the final few rehydrated and assessed the epic challenges that we had overcome. It felt big, it felt important and we felt like a true team!

Next week the run won't be as far only a few short miles in fact, however I have no doubt that the efforts and energy will match this week, because of course this is GG Brent, a true and wonderful team and everything that comes with it.

See you next time.

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

OMG, is it true? Your damn right it is..... We hit 22! Not just that.... Now hold onto your hat Four Boys did come for some Goodgym fun!!

On a beautifully sunny Monday, we hosted Brent's largest ever familia affair, with a whopping 22 runners, rolling deep to represent the west wing of Goodgym! YIPPEEE And yes you did read that correctly we had not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR marvellous males, holding down the fort for the Brent Brigade. This is a big dealio y'all, because up until now, we've been a largely female populated crew, so to welcome these guys, filled us with delight!

Also in the mix this eve were four fabulous newbie faces: Dinesh, Zara, Simon and Audrey who to their credit threw themselves straight into the old familia faces of the beloved Brent crew, with all the smiles and enthusiasm under the setting the sun!

So after welcomes and housekeeping, we set to stepping the 2 mile dash down to the task for the eve, a Granville day out gardening jobey for our great friends - The Granville Community Kitchens in south kilburn. As we set off it was clear to see, with such great numbers there would be some diversity. Some were fast, some were slightly slower, but everyone running hard to get to the lawnmower!

With Debs and Joe taking on leader of the fast pack roles, there was no stopping the speedy twosome, as they pushed pace and got the front pack to the task in swift time. I led from the back and enjoyed every last chat with my gang of girlies; Mouse, Amy and the fabulous familia clique the Anandas, who as well, to my delight, had brought mum back!! Hurrah!!! Ready to rock the roads and give back for Goodgym looking fresh to death in her floral enemble. Go on Mum!!!

So with crew 2 arriving with me in 30mins flat, we were delighted to enter into an already busy scene. The weeds were being wacked, the plants watered, the holes for compost being dug and the awesome foursome of guys on deck, putting themselves to good use by shifting some Shhhhhhhhhhhshould we move on..... It definitely needed some expert MANoeuvring that MANure!!

While the gang worked their magic, Leslie our host served up some delicious treats! Fresh watermelon and some lovely cold H20 Water way to be treated hey!!!

With 30minutes of hard graft under our belts, the gang didn't stop there. Next up they got to stepping with some fitness drills to finish off the session. Three rounds of plank holds, with various arrangements: Low holds, high holds, hip dips, high to low changes and press up practice thrown in for good measure! Core blimey they were working hard and putting in the real-deal efforts..... I expect nothing less from this team of legends

Last whistle blow and it was sadly time to go. One last pose, because as we all know, I do love a snap of my Goodgym pack.

Last shutterbug of the night achieved and we were off once more, into the eve which was still gloriously light. The speed demons head off like bullets and leading the back-packers once more, we cruised it home with all the good vibes in the west! Snapping selfie pics with pink elephants all the way home.

Back at base and it was stretch and last banter, with The Ananda's mamma telling us of her secrets to youthful looks..... wait for it...... A full bowl of spicy curry before every run!!! Yikes But you should see this woman, like Benjamin Button, getting younger every step she took!! Think I may try that one out, but perhaps a Korma, no warmer?!?!?

BOY OH BOY, What a night, to welcome our blokes in with the female folks. We focussed our run, towards a wonderful cause in Kilburn. Ran four hefty miles all with big smiles. The weather couldn't have been hotter, but no group could be better, than GG Brent, from Goodgym, heaven sent.

See you next time fitness familia!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Like spring flowers, eighteen runners emerged to the relatively balmy 14 degree temperatures of a fine Monday evening in their home patch of Brent, to run 4 miles to the Harlesden Community Gardens and back, bagging up an impressive collection of litter on their way.

It was lovely to see so many people out - we welcomed first time GG runner Sam whose sister had recommended GoodGym to her, keeping the family vibe strong were the Awesome Ananda's times three, Sisters Sledge Tabitha & Deborah, and yet another family affair - Eliza and Tania...

Not to mention the backstreet boys, Enrique, Vojtech and Sam, the girls next door Sadhana (radiant as ever in high-viz), Liz, Samina, Amy, Beth, Steph and Great Aunt Claireybell making sure the family stayed together and no feuds broke out...!

We set off on the two mile run to the Harlesden Community Gardens on a mission for litter, we got gloved up, grabbed some bags and swept the area like a swat team. With so many pairs of hands on the case, we had the place cleared in no time, which meant that there was some spare time for some fun circuits in the playground!

Four groups were formed and each group spent 60 seconds each on:

tricep dips using the benches

jumping jacks

jumping lunges

monkeying around on the climbing frame (not really - working hard on their biceps as they slowly lowered their body weight or swung across to the other side!)

Then it was time to head back towards base, but as we had some speedier runners, they went off ahead to blitz the area around the old Willesden Green police station, whilst the others made their way back at a steady pace, bagging an impressive haul of cans, bottles and other miscellany...

With the streets looking a bit more respectable, we jogged back to the Queensbury for a quick stretch out, and a chat about upcoming events:

A few of us in GG Brent have already signed up for the Richmond 10 mile run on Sunday 4th June, it's not too late to join, and with all this extra daylight for training, what more excuse do you need...?

Also Tough Mudder in May, and for those of you who just wanna have fun of the non-running variety, we will be arranging a post run drink shortly.

Thanks so much for your Bags of Enthusiasm and positivity which helped to make really rubbish night actually really great :)

Lots a love xxx

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