A dozen GGers got down to some shifty business at Willesden's Old Cop Shop and did some hard time, smashing out a serious plyometics session to boot. Pow Pow!! All in a days work for Brent.

Beautiful scenes down in Brent this week where twelve familiar faces came to pay their dues at our on going mission to regenerate the Old Police Station, into a fabulous community base and artistic Hub. Hurrah!!

With housekeeping done and dusted, it took this swift crew of bandits no time at all to jog the short distance of Walm Lane to the task for the eve, of course with much merriment and catch ups chats along the way. YAY!

Greeting us as always with his usual flair was our fav host colin and all of his magical energy and crazy antics, this week included stopping traffic to achieve the ultimate team pic outside our task base!!

After the matrix style vehicle vanquish, the usual catch up tour got underway and the group were led around the site to be shown the already incredible achievements that had been continuing and ones that we of course had contributed to.

To our delight, the many rooms of the building were now clearing of of debris and rubbish and starting to resemble spaces fit for artists studios and community art education spaces! We were also informed by one of Colin's delightful helpers that there would be a screen printing press available for use in only 2 weeks, so fashion bods in the area too could come and get creative for affordable printer rental prices. Amazing!!!!

After the catch up it was quickly down to the tasks at hand which this week consisted of painting walls and floors which Sabina, Debs, Sean and Tabitha tackled with relish. While the rest of the gang took on a massive shifting operation of the last random bits of debris up in the top rooms.

Just to clarify, when I say random I really am not kidding!!!! There were chairs, boxes, tools, sofas.... Of course there was the odd moment of reflection, where Dinesh and I managed to maximise the fun to be had with a mirror. But for the most part it was game faces on and this motley crew got down to some serious shifty business up and down stairs for 30mins of hard-core graft!!

Holding my breath at one point as I witnessed strongman Simon, although as cool as an icebox, shuffling past me, down 2 flights of stairs with a FRIDGE!!! Forget the gym, that's what I call power-lifting!

After a back breaking 45mins the group reconvened together in the courtyard for some final fitness fun to finish the night.

• Crab Walks
• Tuck Jumps
• Comandos
• Burpees
• Partner pistol squats

Workout complete and were even rewarded with some delicious Colin Specials - His homemade banana shakes, sweetened with the honey made by bees on the roof!!! We were buzzing!! You can't get more organic than that!!

Final farewells wished we turned on our heels and flew back the mile run to base, fuelled by our fruity tooty tastes (but Tabitha trying her hardest to forget the dubious equipment it was made with)

Back home and it was stretch and reflect.... No we didn't steal the mirror! But look back and think of how much we'd really achieved in the Police station. It will be so awesome to see the finished base and delight in seeing our contributing names etched into the memory wall as well!!

See you next time fitness familia!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Amazing GG Brent tonight!! 2 tasks, 2 teams and 2 run reports!! POW POW

Part one - Elle Energy talks shaking asses with the masses and chopping the grasses

OMG Could it be... A number sixteen, who came out to clean, chop and shift and pick up sticks across the borough, it could be none other.... Than the Brent GG, hurrah and Yippppeee!!

So there I was on this sunshine filled glorious evening with tasks coming out of my.... heavily branded Elle Energy leggings clad bottom!! Not one but two of our community friends requested support tonight and so as not to let anyone down, my glorious crew showed up in masses, to shake their asses down to Harlesden Community gardens... and.... our old pal Col, at the Police Station for a last min help request to make the building a safer environment by clearing some crazy debris!

So with a 9/7 split we head down Walm Lane in our two teams, red tees glistening in the sun and making people stop and stare at all the laughter and good vibeing fun.

At the turning up to St Peters Av, we said our goodbyes and departed, with me leading the 4mile gang to the gardens and Mouse and Sadhana leading on to the Police station. And can I just say it was absolutely wonderful to welcome back so many beloved old faces - Nisha, Dimple, Roshni and Isabelle and...... the incredible Karen back from her half marathon charity run in Kenya!! But as Karen was used to running next to Giraffes in her last big jaunt, she may have been disappointed by the lesser impressive wildlife on offer in Harlesden so chose instead to hit up the Police station for some much needed grounding. With our jungle runner specialist lost to the coppers, it was left to me and crew 2, to Get down, get down and jungle boogie with Gabriel at the gardens and tackle the massive branches for some serious tree surgery!

Along with the jungle bashing affair with our resident dare devil and head for heights honey Liz leading the way, the gardens played host to all manner of other nature filled fun - Watering the plants although Debs mistook my ass for grass at one point, soaking me entirely!! Thank you cheeky monkey!!, clearing litter from the grass with help from some extremely cute local kids, stomping down compost and breaking up branches and with only 30mins to do our best, we wasted no time and threw ourselves in to the tasks with motivation and grit!!

In no time at all, it seemed, the time was up and wishing farewell we turned on our heels once more! Fast pace and gunning for a race, there were a few points where the gang were smashing pace below 7min miles AMAZING aghhh but wait.... was it because they heard from team one that if we swung by the cop shop on route back, we could enjoy some of Colin's home made banana and date smoothies..?!???!!! No monkeying around, because these chasing chimps couldn't be stopped from getting to those bananas!!

After the jungle-juice pit stop we had less than a mile to trot back to base and rejoin our lovely gang once more! So as we reconvened, we shared our stories of the wet and wild adventures on both sides and how maybe one day if we were lucky, we could be selected to join Colin's special boat party VIP's!! Dunno how my land loving jungle Janes and Joe our resident (not so good with heights) Tarzan would do on water..... guess we'll have to see when the invitations arrive!!

Ok here goes - Part 2. Second half of the run report, from the marvellous Mouse

Colin’s milkshake brings all the girls to the yard…

Seven super strong GG Brent ladies (Dimple, Roshni, Nisha, Isabelle, Karen, Sadhana and Mouse) smashed the short distance down to Willesden Green's old police station to assist Colin in his cop shop clearout.

And imagine our delight to be welcomed with by a lovely pear….of juices (clear and cloudy) and homemade banana and date milkshake. Fruity!

After a quick refreshment break we set to work in clearing a variety of items (tents, musical instruments, boxes of ladies shoes that Colin offered to us but alas - despite lots of interest from Karen, Roshni and Nisha - no-one was Cinderella and the shoes did not fit) out and up into the gallows. We didn't hang around… and before Colin knew it we'd lifted and shifted everything bar a bit of tinsel that made a bid for freedom. He was almost lost for words… almost.

And so we moved on to our second task of the evening… clearing out Claudia’s closet! Thankfully there were no skeletons to be found, just a huge variety of theatre costumes and props, which Sadhana created a one-woman show with... whilst pocket rocket Dimple scaled a ladder to heave everything up into the loft.

Jobs all done there was just time to check out the “medicinal herb” garden and the hives on the roof...the bees knees! before we bid farewell to Colin and his trusty sidekick Rob and ran back to base to regroup with the rest of the GG Brent team and swap stories.

And there you have it Fitness Familia. A lot of LOLs and always Good Vibes, I am in love with this fierless, happy and wonderfully weird Goodgym tribe

See you next time!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE

Today in solemn contemplation and hearts filled with empathy and love, 13 Goodgym runners from Brent, ran through postcodes and 2 neighbour boroughs, to give what we could and pay respect to the community, survivors and victims of Grenfell Tower.

It was a humbling sight to behold when my eyes fell upon the group I call my GG family who showed up in droves to run 5k to Grenfell. Running to pay respect and give what we could in donations and volunteering.

Lighting our route was the most beautiful of setting suns, which made us smile although our hearts were heavy and with a mission to Avenues Youth Centre on our minds, the run, despite the heat was swift if not a little sweaty.

Arriving at Avenues we were greeted so warmly by the manager Carol and even though this time their volunteer needs were already met, we did make some amazing contacts and perhaps arrange for one or two of our crew to support their future fundraising in the way of running the London marathon..... I just have to figure out how to convince the team to do it.

So turning on our heels again and catching the last of the glows of sun as it set over the beautiful canal, we head towards Latimer Road and the main memorial sight for Grenfell.

Now I am not littering this run report with catchy puns and tom foolery because this was so not what this run was about. We were in solidarity, in mourning and in partnership with every other human being who was and have been there, making the effort, yesterday, today and tomorrow!

In fact, just speaking with the community we understood that they would continue to need massive support for the next few weeks, if not more, especially when the media attentions will surely begin to ease off and they don't want people to forget the need that will be there. So people must continue to reach out for many weeks and months to come.

So with this in mind, we linked up with Sister Ruth, the incredible community leader who was taking charge of organisations, from the church on Latimer Road. We pledged to be back, both as individuals and as a team, because this may not be our borough, but this is our London and we must erase borough lines and postcodes, to show unity, love and understanding. To give back to this significant and life altering community cause and demonstrate we will not stand for how these people have been treated. It must be talked about, it mustn't be forgotten and it cannot happen again!

Our final goodbye was in a song, shared with some of the other mourners and Sister Ruth. We sang together Amazing Grace and as we sang, we lit our candles and said personal and quiet prayers, for all who had been lost and for all those suffering now from this terrible tragedy.

I urge you if you haven't, please go there, because no news article or TV broadcast can convey the true heartbreak of this community in mourning.

Together we stand.

Leafleting for affordable and free counselling services in Brent to support the people of the borough to achieve positive and healthy mental health! POW POW Random and raucous run report written by a boisterous, banter filled GG Brent, in a game of Run Report Consequences at our summer drinks ting! Enjoy the madness!!!

The beautiful crew, knew what to do when they met in The Queensbury, for a run and some leafleting. Good gym a'hoy, let's spread lots of joy, said the leader named Ellie to the merry and many.

The rain was pissing down and the group looked like rats who were drowned and that's before we had even set off for the task!! Oh Well... Hoods up and off we went to show Brent what's up!

Handing out the leaflets was wayyyyyyy to easy for us pros, so we went for a sprint down to Cricklewood as well! Yay.

As we scattered, the group were dumbfounded......where could she be? Despite excruciatingly aching muscles each took a road and ran, yelling out Ellie's name..!!! Oh there she is.

Next the runners were told that "Glutes" are evil and must be destroyed..... (Side note from actual Ellie talking now..... this is a fiction.... I love GLUTES!!!) and 24 glutes were P-lunged from existence.

The sadistic leader then tortured the athletes until half of us had broken down, however, she was relegated back to base and made a visit to the police station for her comeuppance (oh wait that was last week)

We finished the keep-fit part of the evening with some lunging and stretching. Elisa said "Hi" to a guy.... The group said "Who's that?"....... She didn't know but he was very very handsome! Perhaps he'll come to Goodgym next week..??!?! Let's hope so!!

All stretched out and ready to roll (and drink), there was just enough time for a quick photo op (Ellie never misses a trick) Ellie pulled one of her poses for the photo, giving up the totality of any semblance of normality. Ellie also had a moment when she talked about the mystical side of sports training.

Two late arrivals showed up with medals from the 10mile race yesterday.... Sadhana and Mouse Yipppeeee. More practice to be done at Goodgym, as there are many more races to be run with fellow goodgymers!!

The end......The chips..... The drinks..... The Italiano sisters told me to write this! Hummmmm thanks for that stunning finisher Samuel!!!!

See you next week!!!!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE