At GoodGym Hounslow we're very much in touch with our wild side! Last week we had a brush with a hedgehog, and this week our star turn was a very friendly cat who was keen to become our latest member...

We turned up to Harvard Hill to help the Friends organisation there with several gardening jobs. We were greeted by Marie-Claire who had invested in some shiny new tools. We were given instructions on the tasks to be done - mostly weeding and some work on the raised beds. Unfortunately it was about then that the cat made an appearance and we got somewhat distracted!

After a bit of kitten around, we got down to some serious work. While the weeding was being done, and the fox poo mostly avoided, Steph and Michelle shifted the mulch to the raised beds. In a lovely full circle mulch moment, we discovered that the nutrient-dense bags of it we were spreading were actually from Cultivate, a regularly task for us. They were full of the very same mulch we has ourselves packed up over the past two years at Acton School! It was very satisfying to put the end product to good use.

By now we were feline pretty fine with all the work we had got done, so it was time for a fitness session. Meow you're talking! It was all about the glutes last night, and we had several butt-tastic exercises designed to fire up this major muscle group. There was plenty of singing to go along with each move, with the themes from Rocky and Flashdance featuring at full volume.

Don't fur-get to sign up for next week's run to help out at Strand on the green - who knows what our next animal sighting will be!

ps apologies no photos as yet as the website is not letting me upload them - please chack back later!

Racing celebrations, a huge task under the light of a beautiful moon, and a star turn from a rarely spotted inhabitant of Chiswick House made for a great Wednesday night at GoodGym Hounslow!

Thanks to Michelle for leading the warm up, before we kicked off the evening with a short run to our regular task. We were fresh off the back of some great races at the weekend - a huge well done to Chris, Tish, Matt, Eloise and Steph for a fantastic run at the Vitality 10km, and to Alan and Florian for smashing the Ealing Half!

We arrived at a secret door to meet Chiswick House gardener Chris, who took us to a new spot or the group - the bee hives. The bees produce honey which is sold in the shop to raise money for the charity, and they want to make the area more accessible for school kids. Enter GoodGym!

The aim of the game was to remove all the undergrowth and anything else that was getting in the way. Everything had to go to create a new pathway, and with the green flag from Chris to adopt a scorched earth policy, we got to work!

We pulled, lopped and cleared, slowly but surely revealing a large area of land. Half way through the task, our mystery guest made an appearance - well done to Ariane for safely uncovering and rehoming a gorgeous hedgehog! He was in very safe hands, and was soon happily snuffling his way back to the woods.

By the end the task the area was truly transformed, great work everybody. We ran and walked back to base, where there was the option of a static core workout using the benches by the rockery. We worked our obliques, lower back and abs with a series of (slightly damp) exercises.

Next week we're off to Harvard Hill for some more gardening - please bring headtorches if you have them as this is a dark task.

Before we kicked off our run last night, there was plenty of cheering to be done after a busy weekend of racing. We celebrated Florian and Lucy smashing the Big Half, and Jonny completing the triple at the Great North Run. Shout out to Jon for his 250 parkrun. Great running everybody! After some warming up, it was off to our task for the evening, just around the corner.

One of the benefits of going every three weeks to help out at Chiswick House is that we really feel the seasons change and gardens evolve. Last night our job was to clear brambles and ivy from some ancient pillars and stones so they can be repurposed, and there was a feeling of autumn rolling slowly in. The kitchen garden was full of giant sunflowers about to turn, the apples were ripening and there were blackberries for the picking.

We grabbed gloves, loppers and secateurs and began cutting away the overgrowth to reveal some beautiful old stone work. It was a satisfying job to do - have a look at the before and after shots to see what we uncovered! And watch out for the new placement of the pillars around the grounds soon...

It had started to drizzle so we took a brisk run back to Turnham Green where we saw off the night with a three minute mountain leg challenge. The idea is that this drill replicates a hill session - just without having to find any hills! With 90 seconds of step ups and reverse lunges per leg, this is a proper leg blast in an effectively short time.

We have a few community missions coming up which are looking a bit lonely! Can you help? On the 21st there is an opportunity to help out at a lovely community event at St Stephen's conservation area.

If you're up for a bit of saturday night fun, why not sign up for this centenary celebration mission in Gunnersbury? Not only is there the chance to help the community come together, but there is loads of fun stuff happening to enjoy at the same time!

After helping with the setup of the last Brentford Festival in the morning, Sevan and Kash had little time left to prepare GoodGym’s own stall, kindly offered by the retiring rockstar of festival organising, Linda. Luckily, Eleanor and Bryon stayed to lend them two pairs of helpful hands!

With the festival taking place on the grounds of the Ealing Borough, and Brentford technically being in the Borough of Hounslow, two GoodGyms joined forces to spread the word about doing good while getting fit among West Londoners. Michelle and Luis cycled from Chiswick to join the Ealing reps, Sevan and Kash.

The first shift of the volunteer hunting had the most GoodGymers at the stall, but not as much traffic yet, as the festival had only started to warm up. On the bright side, that gave the four a chance to resolve any technical and strategic matters, such as which side the stall should face, how to prevent the signs from toppling over due to wind, and where to get cable ties.

We are looking forward to seeing new GoodGym signups across Ealing and Hounslow, and hopefully growing numbers at our sessions!