With rules relaxing we hope this will be our last 'enforced' online session but we know we have it as an option should we need it in the future!

This week Claire led the way:

• Squats
• Plank with walking hands
• Crab walk with kicks
• Arm and leg raisers

Tough going. We have a community mission next Monday but all places are gone - keep an eye on the whatsapp group (contact me to join) for more missions and info on upcoming outdoor training sessions!

Claire T, GoodGym Brent's resident yoga teacher extraordinaire, got us loosened up with a brilliant "happy hips for runners" stretching session. Claire expertly guided us through a series of stretches (with variations for different level of flexibility) all designed to loosen and strengthen the muscles around your hips which is often where runners get 'niggles'. A great way to start the week and some handy stretches to go back to as a warm up/warm down on these cold winter days! Thanks Claire!

Like HIIT or Lump HIIT,

it was another High Intensity Interval Training session this week.

12 of us joined the Zoom call and after a brief chat and update from Pritesh we got down to our fitness. Pritesh demonstrated the exercises, starting with the popular inline skating, two exercises focusing on the core and ending with a squat with punches. 45 seconds of exercise followed by 15 seconds of rest per set, repeated three times with a minute to catch our breath.

Our resident DJ pressed play on the tunes as we started. Claire was resting so luckily for us was able to keep time and shout encouraging messages for us all, which helped us all keep going. After being put through our paces we had a couple of minutes to spare to catch our breath, pose for a group photo, and drool over Karen's cookies.

The session was another success, ending with shouts of enCORE for the same again next week, so we look forward to another Brent online session next Monday!

See you then!

Twelve GG Brent folk joined online to catch-up and get taken through a wonderful yoga session from Claire T.

Quiet on the news front this week but we mentioned the missions that are starting to appear in Brent so do get yourself doc checked and keep an eye on the missions page.

Lockdown continues and we continue to meet and keep ourselves in touch and energised.

We picked up where we left off (with a lot of help from Karen) to continue our Monopoly adventure. After checking in and sharing news on online DBS checks and the Fitbit partnership we got on our way.

Trusty online dice roller and off we went - lots of exercises and expertly timed by Claire,

Take care everyone - we'll be back next wee - details in the weekly email and whatsapp group.

Cheers,
Pritesh

Another great catch-up - thank you, it's so great to have you all coming along and great to see you and to check in with everyone.

This week we had Claire doing an awesome yoga session for us, taking us through some leg and core stretches and strengthening. With perfect timing we all felt stretched and relaxed and had just enough time to say our goodbyes.

Next week we'll get things back to a pumped up level with a go at the monopoly game I shared in the whatsapp group!

Take care and stay safe everyone!

As lockdown continues we made sure to stick to our Monday night routine by checking in via video chat. It's great to be able to see everyone and share news!

After last week's first attempt we were all into our swing - the nation is fast becoming vid-call pros! So after a good 15 mins of catching up and sharing news on the various things going on (or not) withing GoodGym we handed over to Liz who led us in a HIIT session. Three rounds of star jumps, high knees, mountain climbers and jumps squats!

Thanks Liz - awesome work out and much needed.

Join us again next week (details to be shared in weekly email and whatsapp group) for yoga for runners with Claire T and our usual catch-up.

Cheers and stay safe,
Pritesh

Seven lovely runners met up on a dark, windy and rather chilly February night, Storm Dennis the Menace had not quite left the building!! We gathered outside to do some much needed warm-ups, and found our circle getting smaller and smaller as we huddled like penguins to stay warm and keep out the bracing wind!

With Tabitha backmarking, we headed down to Cricklewood Library, which is yet to open to the public, but is looking like it will be ready soon, with cafe to boot. Clare and Giuliano met us at the task, taking our group to nine. Wendy greeted us there and explained the task to the group - to organise a room full of furniture (mainly a sea of disassembled bookshelves and chairs - see photos!), to create some amazing space for some more stuff, leaving a bit of space to walk around the edges thrown in for good measure. Wendy was really delighted with our efforts as she had been dreading having to tackle the job alone or with just a couple of volunteers, and also said we were really organsied and great at teamwork, so well done everyone! There still isn't an official opening date for the library, but it will be this year, and not only will there be a cafe for a Saturday post-parkrun cuppa, but also a yoga and pilates studio, so it all sounds very exciting! Keep watching this space.

We headed to the bottom corner of the park for some tempo runs and fitness drills, before calling it a day and heading back to the warm glow of the Queensbury to thaw out.

Thanks again everyone!

Boom! It's a new year, a new decade and we're back! 13 amazing people joined me for the first GoodGym Brent of the year as we unofficially helped the council of by collecting abandoned Christmas trees and took them to official collection points.

Dealing with the fact that our home, The Queensbury, was closed we were indebted to taskforce member Tabitha who stored everyone's belongings safely. Once we were all ready it was into a super long intro...

• We're back!
• The January challenge is on! As a whole goodgym is trying to reach 8000 good deeds and run 100,000km this January. There's also the competition for the golden trowel between individual areas - we are currently 2nd in the silver league!
• We're partnered with RED January, an organisation that challenges people to be active every day of the month to help improve mental health.

After all that we welcomed Laura who was on her first GG run and then got ourselves warmed up and headed down to Gladstone Park! We reached the tree collection area and the split into two teams led by Sasha and Helen! Both teams led their groups to look for trees and then ferry them back to the collection point. I worked my way between the two teams and before we knew it out was 8pm and ten trees had been collected, five four each team! Maybe it was the timing but it seems the people around Gladstone Park are much better than those around Roundwood Park!

With that we headed back to base and made sure that we stretched before heading home.

A great start to the year, well done everyone!