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

This awesome run report was written by equally awesome sister sledge - Debs and Tabs!!! YAYYYYY!!

10 Goodgym runners braved the cold, less than 10 degrees so I'm told. To help Jack our trusty man, with the help of tools from his van.

We started off running through the bitter chill. Dinesh setting off fast against our will. Before long we arrived to the task at hand, ten-ding the canal, soon to be our piece of land.

As quick as we could we began picking the litter. Luckily for Jack this bunch couldn't be fitter. The bin bags themselves were pretty small, so we set ourselves the task to fill them all.

5 minutes to go and we moved to our biggest task of the night: Pulling the trolley out of the water, what a sight!

The boys set to it, that's right we had four! We're hoping they're all back next week, and even some more.

We hot footed down the road, back to our bit of Brent. Along the way dropped off Debs and Tabs, away they went.

A great task was had by all and thank goodness unlike last time, not one fall!!

See you next time!!!!

9 Brent badasses braved the cold, for a task they were told, would bring some positivity to the Brent community.

Now to begin this tale of a Monday night in Brent, to say it was cold would be an understatement.... My people, it was FREEEEEEZZZZZIINNNGGGG

But despite the chill in air, it was awesome to be met with such a warm reception at the Queensbury. Joining the rad regulars, was new to the Brent gang, Jorge and this four language speaking, salsa dancing, winner from Wembley, we sure were happy to have join the ranks!

So after a quick hello it was 3,2,1 GOOOO Down the one mile dash to our regular task master Colin and to finish our mural of all the Goodgym hardwork in the Old Police Station, turned art hub, for the community of Willesden.

As usual Colin had lots of work to be done. but namely the continuation of our Goodgym mural, which required sketches of Goodgym related scenes, the hard work and the hilarity. So it was down to our most arty threesome to get working on that.... Liz, Nisha and Saorla, who designed and sketched our scenes onto the wall.

The rest of the gang focused on some more manual labour; shifting debrit from the last few rooms that needed painting and moving very heavy bricks and debrit outside to clear more space for artist's to work.

The really tough and strong tasks were tackled by Debs, Pete and Jorge. Who worked tirelessly and in the cold too, slinging heavy loads into Colin's van for removal. Dinesh, Nisha and I, got busy inside, moving all kinds of heavy and interesting things from one room to the next; Including a full desk and draws and some extremely heavy storage boxes.

Our efforts of course cheered on as usual by the resident cats who thought our hard work was PUUURRRRfect

After a good 45 mins of arts and slinging crafts, I had to sadly ring the final bell. But the fun didn't stop there, oh nooo!!! There was just enough time for some Hill-arity to warm up and get our fitness on, before home.

So off we flew, chugging that hill in the old school train drill, followed by tempos down to finish!! No stopping the steam from this troop of train dodgers, as each one pushed hard for a HIIT session from hell.... no wait, I mean heaven!

Farewells were next, after we'd done our best. For Brent we did task, for a worthy cause who did ask. Using our legs to travel, then hills we did battle. Now back home for some dinner, Monday night, what a winner!!

See you next time!!!

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

12 runners ran 4.5km to strip paint for Kingsgate Community Centre

High knees, hill sprints, 'n helping. Climbing was a big theme of this Monday's GoodGym Brent where 12 runners ran 4.5k to help out Kingsgate Community Centre.

Starting from a brisk warmup outside the Queensbury, we jogged gently for 2k before arriving at Kingsgate Community Centre. Kudos to the Brent regulars who prevented me from going the wrong way!

At the Centre we were first told they weren't expecting us - argh! But not to fear! Our lovely contact Louise soon explained to the caretaker that we were there to help out and we got cracking on brushing the paint off the railings to set the groundwork for repainting. This should help Kingsgate when they come to repaint, so a worthy cause! Particularly inspiring to see some extra-pro scraping techniques being practiced including backwards scrubbing (courtesy Joe) and musical scraping tools (courtesy Tabitha). Definitely a visible difference and a good chunk of paint off by the end of the evening!

Whilst one group brushed and scrubbed to get the paint off, another group practiced hill sprints. We learned how to work the arms, technique for landing properly and driving the legs forward, and maintaining good form running uphill, before putting that into practice with either three hill sprints, or a continuous 5 minutes on the hills.

Everybody's form really improved even over just a few minutes, which was really encouraging to see!

But were the GoodGym Brent regulars satisfied with one fitness session? Oh no. We had some serious fitness fans in the mix tonight. Post-task we jogged over to Kilburn Grange park to do an exercise set and some core work with everyone contributing 2 of their favourite exercises. Some particular highlights were: squat jumps, burpees, riding your bicycle on the floor, and 10 seconds of mindfulness. Obligatory sit-ups and press-ups included.

Two fitness sessions down, we ran the rest of the way back before cooling down with a few stretches. Top running and good-deeding from all involved, and a lovely start to the week. Thanks for making my first visit to Brent such a great evening :)

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

17 GG Brenters, took on 2 storage rooms for Ashford place homeless shelter. Dashed off 5k. Killed 20minutes of plyometrics, sprints, walking lunges and killer squat combos and got home in time for sexy stretch time. All in an evenings work! Pow Pow!

The Queensbury Pub on Walm Lane was bursting at the seams with another full squad on deck at GG Brent. Joining the ranks of the fabulous familiar faces were 2 newbies in the mix this eve- Thais and Bharian YAY. I was also dizzy with excitement when old school original, none other than Sadhana rocked up with her signature sexy socks and beaming grin under cap!! This boost, got me hyper beyond belief and ready to roll out with my crew, fresh with spring in step.

No further than 0.6 miles to go, we cruised down to Ashford Place where the awesome Alan welcomed us in for the task at hand - clearing and sorting 2 donations rooms. Ashford Place is a firm friend of GG Brent and we are always delighted to volunteer our time there, to support their tireless work in the community. All year round they offer 30 long stay hostel rooms to local people who had been living on the street and work towards finding them permanent residence in the future. They also work to make services better for homeless people in Brent, campaign for policy change that will help end homelessness and innovate and develop tools to help their patrons work their way out of homelessness indefinitely. An absolutely incredible organisation and one that deserves all of Goodgym's support.

So stepping our best feet forwards, we jumped into the task quick smart. But because our crew was so large and epic this eve, it didn't take long before the jobs were done and rooms were packed and sorted. So taking advantage of the gifted time, the team wasted none and ran the infamous Ashford Place stairs, 4 flights, top to bottom, not once, not twice but thrice times over!!! AMAZING!!

After the stair-runs and standard photo shoot (Ovs!) It was back on the streets to keep the running mojo cooking. Gradual tempo runs led us down to Gladstone Park where more fitness fun was the order for the night.

The teams split into 4 and worked their way through a medley of sprints, squat jumps, tuck jumps and walking lunges and if that wasn't enough there was just enough time for a combined group hammer of the circuit for one more round.

Cheered on by nominated ambassadors - Enrique, Claire, Samuel and Mouse, the shouting and encouragement echoed through the park like thunder, with fellow runners stopping in their tracks to check the commotion and admire the efforts!

After a swift recovery (that's huffing, puffing, panting and sweating to you) the crew were back on the road for the last cool down mile back to base and it wasn't long before the lights of high road twinkled in our sights and lit the path home.

One last thing before we depart - Delicious stretching and a massive applause

Determination, motivation, good vibes and good deeds, sprinkled with the always raucous laughter and weird and wonderful chats, this is a crew that never fails to turn Monday from manic to marvellous!

See you next time!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

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