Another Monday night in Wandsworth, another chance to meet up with some ace people, make a real difference in the community and to knock out a few planks.

And it was a extra special one because we celebrated the 50th good deed of one Ms Morag - that's a huge amount of doing good and commitment to others. Way to go!

Hannah, Karen, Zoe, Emily, Hannah and Charlotte all came for their first GoodGym run last night - people, give them a massive cheer!

Before our task tonight we popped outside to knock out a warm up which fired up our muscles and got us thinking about coordination and balance ahead of the run. We also did a quick poll to find out which object we simply could not live with out. It quickly became apparent that food and drink topped the list (with beer, wine, cheese and peanut butter the hot favs) and as well as our indispensable phone, Helen's hugs, and trainers, we had a very sweet moment from one corner of the group who decided they could not manage without eachother. Ahh!

Our job tonight was at Bramford Community Garden, which is managed by volunteers and especially Sha - a tireless lady who can often be found gardening into the night with the aid of a headtorch in order to make the garden a nice place for everybody to be. So, after a 2.5 km run down there we found her waiting for us with gloves and a list of jobs.

While a big group got stuck into picking up the many, many cigarette butts (non-biodegradable!) and scraps of plastic around the garden, a few people used troughs to fetch water from across the road for the desperate trees and plants. Other jobs included crushing cans for recycling - universally agreed to be a great stress reliever and perfect for a Monday!

After half an hour of hard work, we got stuck into our fitness session, which last night focussed on conditioning exercises for three main parts of our body - arms, legs and core. Many press ups, plié squats, planks and bridge lifts later we left the garden behind and made our way back to the BAC. Great work everybody!

Next week is a bank holiday, but we will still be running to a local rooftop garden. What better way to spend it?! Sign up here to do good and get fit on your day off [https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/lending-a-hand-at-rooftop-community-garden]!

WELCOME TO THE TEAM!

This week we welcomed 2 new runners to the @GGSHEFF Crew. A big welcome to

• Rhiann
• Kristy Hopkins

GIVE EM A CHEER!

WOOD TIME!

This weeks task was a woody one. On arrival at Sharrow Community Forum we were greeted and briefed by MARVELOUS MARIA who described the evenings tasks which included moving wood in and out of the now fully functioning wood working workshop and cutting down partly used pieces to ensure that nothing went to waste.

EXERCISE TIME

As it was a little cramped in the workshop with a few less tools than we wood ;) have liked we split ;) the group and half of us branched ;) outside for some fun time fitness. This week this involved a group circuit containing:

• Squat 180
• Sprints
• Sumo Squat
• Tuck Jumps
• Burpees (Ash's Fave)
• Sumo Squat
• Squat Jumps
• Goblet Squats
• Curtsey Lunge
• Lunge
• Split Lunge
• Squat Punch
• Calf Raises

Once we swapped groups over so everyone had a chance to sweat and to saw we said our goodbyes and headed home with a few street furniture exercises thrown in for good measure!

Once the Howard St Sprint and stretches were complete we gave Kat a huge congrats for her 50th good deed and thanked Steve for #GGBBQ3 and headed in for warmth and refreshments.

Until next week....

Happy Running!

It was decidedly autumnal last night in Wandsworth, but with so much cheering to do before we even left for the run, it didn't hold us back one jot.

To kick things off with, we cheered some excellent new faces to the gang. Hello and welcome to Jamie, Eleanor, Nav, Kirsty, Neasa, Helena and birthday girl Gabriela!

We also had a very special achievement to celebrate, with Jordan reaching his 50th good deed. Now that shows real commitment to both doing good and getting fitter. A huge well done!

Tonight's task was a short run away, but we still needed to warm up so headed outside first for a quick warm up. During our dynamic exercises we did a speedy poll to find out our favourite chocolate. Between us, we had most of them covered. With our heart rates up, and Baz and Jamie back marking for us, we set of for Christ Church primary school in Battersea.

It was a nice downhill jaunt to the task, and we arrived less than ten minutes later to find the headteacher, Colette, waiting for us armed with a large handful of slips with jobs written on them. Such organisation! Most schools now are feeling stretched and resources are limited, so she was happy to see such a large group of us ready and raring to go. Dividing up into teams we cracked right on, tackling weeding, path clearing, bed filling, fruit picking, compost sorting and tending to the bug hotel. Great work, team!

With the list of jobs ticked off, and a sudden shower sending us scurrying to the greenhouse to seek temporary shelter, we set off for the local park to smash out a short fitness session. It was wet, it was muddy, it was dark - but that didn't stop us. We must have given some passersby a bit of a shock as they hurried through the dimly lit park only to stumble upon 35 bodies squatting under the dark canopy of trees. After a series of tough drills which included swimming planks, sprints, back to back squats, squat jumps (last night really was all about the squats), star jumps and fast feet, we decided to call it a night and took a brisk run back up the hill to our starting point.

We finished off the evening with some stretches, singing happy birthday to the lovely Gabriela, and cake for dinner to celebrate Jordan's 50th. Lovely stuff. Next week we've got more of the same, sign up for it here. Don't forget to let me know if there's ever any specific fitness you want to work on so we can work it into the session. Well done Wandsworth!