Last night we were back at Balham Nursery following the amazing work the team did last Monday – and this time it was all about painting!

After a warm up and a Eurovision-themed quiz question (where the team impressively remembered all five UK Eurovision winners: Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz and Katrina and the Waves), we headed off on our run to the nursery.

Natasha, the headteacher, was ready and waiting for us with a perfectly prepped painting area, so it was straight into action grabbing brushes and rollers. Within minutes the place was already looking brighter and fresher. A few of the team also tackled the windows, giving them a much-needed wash down and making an immediate difference.

Natasha was absolutely delighted with the transformation and told us we had saved the nursery a “small fortune” – a good reminder of the impact a Monday night GoodGym session can have.

With the painting complete and the rollers downed, we headed over to Clapham Common via the “scenic route” for fitness. And by fitness, we were staring down the barrel of a FIVE MINUTE plank challenge. Yes. Five whole minutes.

The variations included military planks, diamond planks, side planks, reverse planks, shoulder taps and plank jumps. Who knew there were so many ways to suffer in a horizontal plank position?

Very impressively everybody managed the full five minutes. What an incredible effort.

Next week we’ve got a special lunchtime Bank Holiday session helping clean up a pétanque court at Larkhall Park – come along! We'll follow with coffee/ice cream (delete as appropriate depending on bank holiday weather...) You can sign up here

On an egg-stra special Easter Monday, six GoodGymers joined forces for a cracking evening of doing good and getting those miles in - no bunny gets left behind here!

We kicked things off with a warm welcome to Pravina on her very first Wandsworth session, a huge cheer for Steph who had already smashed a 10km race that very morning, and a quick trivia warm-up: how many hot cross buns does the average Brit eat over Easter weekend? Step forward Felix, who as usual nailed the correct answer of 5. No crumbs left.

With that, we set off towards Balham, even recruiting some new GoodGymers along the way. Armed only with the vague description of “two people and a dog,” we pondered: would we recognise them when they do join us?

Our route turned into an inadvertent greatest hits tour of local female pop royalty— stopping for a photo by Adele's old school and clocking Raye's ex's fave pub on “Nightingale Lane” - GG runs have everything!

Once in Balham, we split into groups to cover a network of streets, spreading the word about a brilliant local nursery. The work they do is vital: supporting young children in their early development, providing a safe, nurturing space to learn, grow, and build confidence—especially vital for families who rely on accessible, community-based childcare. Planting those seeds early really helps the whole community flourish...

Flyers delivered and steps well and truly clocked, we regrouped for the final stretch—an egg-hausting but satisfying run past the many temptations of Northcote Road. By that point we’d worked up quite the appetite… anyone got any leftover hot cross buns?

Absolutely egg-cellent work from everyone.

Next week, we’re heading out for our monthly trip to Doddington, followed by the always fun pub quiz. Come along and join us—it’s guaranteed to be a good one!

It was lights, camera and plenty of action last night in Wandsworth as we not only had a busy session at our regular Doddington task, but we had our monthly pub quiz and a visit from the global press. What a way to kick off the week!

We started the evening with our usual warm ups, and a run down of all the news. Well done to everybody who came to Sunday's mission where we grappled with an enormous sand pit - if that's given you the fomo (fear of missioning out), then why not sign up to this great Saturday mission in Streatham clearing out Unigate woods.

After getting our muscles warmed up for the run ahead, we did a few sprints up and down the hill, and, blinded by the bright lights of the cameras I forgot our regular name, number and question of the week. Sorry about that - although it did mean we got an extra run up and down that hill. Silver linings?

After a quick run down to the task we were met by Malissa, who deployed us around the garden to tackle various jobs. Doddington roof garden is a beautiful area used by local people who don't necessarily have access to green space to grow their own fruit and veg. It is used for community events, kids clubs and is a real urban oasis. It is great to see how it changes and evolves every month when we come for our regular session - and there is always plenty to do!

We were soon busy shifting an enormous barbeque, stripping grass, pulling up mallow and turning compost. In between jobs Catherine, Sophie and Jason were interviewed by the AP, revealing themselves to be consummate professionals in front of the camera.

The time flew by and before long we downed tools, waved goodbye to the Doddington team and headed down to the square for our fitness session. This week we tested our brains and body with a group challenge featuring maths and squats, before moving on to our cardio and conditioning workout. Great effort, everybody.

While some of us ran back to the BAC for stretches and one final run up that hill (that must be some kind of record), the rest of the group ran to the pub to reserve our space for the pub quiz. The rivalry was definitely heating up, and it was a strong performance by both GG teams.

Next week we're back to Larkhall park for some lifting and shifting. If you needed any extra motivation, we've completed 42 of our 125 good deeds target, and have run a 25% of our distance goal for January. We're already almost half way through January - can you help us make it?

Great session, hope to see you at the next one!

What could be better than a spot of painting on a summer's evening? Last night GoodGym Wandsworth enjoyed just that, soaking up the last of the sun in the beautiful Paradise Cooperative Garden while giving the shed a lick of paint.

We started off the night at our usual meeting spot to do a warm up. Given it was International Cat day we also went round the group and named our pets of past and present, which featured tortoises, cats, rats and of course a pup or two!

A steady run later we found ourselves finishing off through a lovely cooling and very welcome shower courtesy of the local garden centre. Refreshed, we stepped into the garden to find it had shot up in the weeks since we'd been there last. The sweetcorn towered over us all, and we spotted huge marrows, a lovely bean arch and flowers as far as we could see. It was a beautiful place to do our job, and we got stuck into sanding down the tool shed straight away.

Next stage was the actual painting, and we were a little concerned that although it looked black, it was initially going on a rather patchy shade of something that looked quite different! There was a lot of talk about 60 Second Makeover, the newly-returned Changing Rooms and that faux leather wall paper. Nonetheless we persevered, and along with redecorating ourselves, the shed started to quickly look pretty smart.

Have a look at the before and after for a proper transformation! And we're not stopping there either - next week we're back to paint the community area which promises to be another big but very rewarding job. Until then, have a lovely week and happy GoodGyming!

Last night 12 GGers met on lovely bright evening to transform the outside space of a community theatre and attempted a taskmaster themed fitness session that may or may not have gone entirely to plan....read on to find out more!

We started off the night with a warm up that tested our coordination and reactions, before doing our customary challenge. This week, as it was the Queen's birthday, we each had to name a different member of the Royal Family. There were perhaps some dubious answers, but between us we got most of the heavy hitters!

It was just a short run to the Omnibus Theatre, an organisation which is run as a charity and aims to bring the arts to the local community. We were met by cheerful Chris, who led us round to the back of the building to an outside space which the team doesn't have the capacity to maintain. The idea is that in the future it will be run as a community garden, but int he meantime we're happy to help keep on top of it!

There was plenty to do, and we got stuck in tackling the overgrown areas and clearing the (we hoped) weeds. Half an hour later and the area was looking a million times better - well done team!

We headed over to the common for our fitness session and an attempt to replicate last week's numbers-based task. The idea is that each person counting consecutively jumps on even numbers and squats on odd, and if somebody gets it wrong the whole group has to do a forfeit. We then added rules each time we actually reached 20. The result? Fitness based chaos - but a lot of fun! We then knocked out a plank waterfall, before heading back to base for stretches.

Don't forget our regular mission on Friday lunchtimes, plus next week we'll be having a group session but it will be slightly earlier than normal as its a bank holiday - watch this space!

Until then, happy running!