No time for the gym and good deeds? GoodGym combines both

A gym that's free to join that makes you feel fitter and healthier and gives back to the community—sounds too good to be true. This is GoodGym, where volunteers run to community projects, socialize, and improve their surroundings at the same time. Shoveling piles of compost and clearing weeds on a cold, damp January evening might not be most people’s idea of fun. But it’s smiles and chatter all around as a group of fitness enthusiasts put on their headlamps and get to work on the chores at a community garden in Battersea, South London. The group is one of dozens run by GoodGym, an organization that encourages people to combine getting fit with meeting others and volunteering. GoodGym has over 26,000 members in 65 different locations across England, and most weeks there are meetups somewhere. It began in 2007, when its founder, Ivo Gormley, started running to deliver the newspaper to an older person in his neighborhood. At the time, Gormley said he wasn’t doing any exercise and missed being part of a basketball team. “I just didn’t like that idea of going to a gym, going into a sweaty basement, and lifting things that don’t really need lifting. I thought I could do something more useful in my exercise,” he says. Soon, he started organizing group sessions where volunteers would run together to help with community projects, big or small: the first group ran and ripped down outdated posters from his East London neighborhood. Today, the group still organizes home visits so volunteers can help retirees with practical tasks like moving heavy furniture or lawn mowing. Many such sessions have no group run element, though participants are always encouraged to run, walk, or cycle to the tasks. Gormley says he wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to get fit and do good. Monthly donations are welcome but voluntary, and there is no pressure to show up, though many make it their weekly workout. Recent sessions across London have seen groups clear sidewalks of discarded Christmas trees, pick plastic litter from the muddy banks of the Thames, plant fruit trees, and unload deliveries for food banks. This article was provided by The Associated Press.