Goodgym – exercising to improve body and soul

GoodGymmers maintain fitness doing good deeds like dashing round to have tea with older people in need of company

Residents cheered a newly-launched volunteer fitness group, the GoodGym, as it swept through Hackney’s streets last month on its inaugural mission to do good.

The unique social enterprise, which has already seen success in boroughs around London and across Bristol, combines weekly good deeds in the community with free exercise.

The concept is simple: rather than doing exercise merely for its own sake, participants undertake physical tasks that help them keep in shape but provide benefits to the community.

After meeting at London Fields cafe Coffee is My Cup, 11 volunteers ran 3k to clear the heavily overgrown Rectory Road allotments, to the delight of residents who can now use the space to grow vegetables together. They then ran the same distance back to base.

Old Street resident Julia said: “It surprised me how much I enjoyed myself, it is a lot more fun than going for a normal run. The sense of community was great and it was a beautiful evening too. It was really satisfying to see how much progress we could make in such little time – we literally cleared  a pathway.

“I am definitely going to come again. I enjoyed going somewhere new and exploring the area in a different way.”

GoodGym supports runners to achieve their fitness goals by putting training programmes together, and previous hardcore runs with personal trainers led to members taking part in the recent East London
Half Marathon.

Hackney GoodGym is looking to attract 200 runners of all levels of fitness – prospective coaches, less mobile, older people who live on their own, as well as community groups that might need help with physical tasks.

For those at risk of isolation, there is a befriending scheme, where elderly ‘coaches’ are teamed with friendly volunteers who jog to their homes, deliver something nice, complete errands or odd jobs for them, chat and then run off.

By harnessing people power, GoodGym achieves big goals for charities, schools and other community initiatives, with an impressive track record already, including lifting twenty tree trunks weighing eight tonnes in half an hour for one city farm.

Coordinator Ade Aboaba said: “I joined the GoodGym over a year ago and as a regular runner I totally loved the concept. After attending a number of fun group runs, I wanted to do more.

“The camaraderie is uplifting, and you get huge satisfaction in working physically hard with a friendly group of people. It’s extremely rewarding accomplishing something that you know is useful to your area and it beats working out in a soulless gym on your own. I now have an inspiring coach I run to regularly.

“I’ve met an inspiring woman who I’d never have met normally, and I’ve got to know parts of East London better with new and interesting running routes.”

To find out more visit Goodgym.