stevchile Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Do you ever feel that when you go to the gym you would rather be putting all this exercise and hard work into something more useful? I cycled past a woman struggling up a hill with her shopping today, and have just been thinking about an idea since then. What if we organised an 'alternative gym', where those of us who are interested got together say once a week and exercised, like a gym workout, but also for the benefit of someone or some organisation that would appreciate our work. I was thinking perhaps offering our services to carry shopping home from local supermarkets (which would be similar to doing a Farmer's walk - a core strengthening exercise) Or ringing round local voluntary organisations and charities and seeing what we could offer them. We could then chose an activity to do each week For those who wanted to lose weight we could find more cardio-vascular type projects - walking/running etc and for those who want to build muscles up perhaps things like heavier lifting/helping people move furniture etc. For instance, I helped to clear the gardens at Walkley Community Centre earlier in the year - and definitely felt as if I had been at the gym. I'm not saying it would replace the gym, but it would certainly help people keep fit, as well as doing some good in Sheffield. We could have the philosophy to only work for people who respected what we were doing (and didn't try to profit from us) or who genuinely needed the help. Any thoughts? Too far-fetched/do-goody? Good idea? Nobody would be interested? etc. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 It's a great idea. Something like this has crossed my mind before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamasquirrel Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 LOVE this idea Pure G.E.N.I.U.S! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevchile Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 I'm really glad that other people like the idea as well, especially if it's something other people have thought about before. I'm going to give it more thought next month, but does anyone have any other ideas for organisations that would like the help of an alternative gym while also providing a decent workout? I was thinking perhaps Heeley City Farm or maybe some youth clubs around the city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevchile Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Hi Admin: Can you move this back to the sheffield discussions forum please, this is about a Sheffield project and I am looking for ideas about how it would work in Sheffield. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerd Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 this is a great idea and something I have wondered about before. I know lots of elderly people struggle with things such as carrying shopping home, or carrying out general maintenance on their homes and gardens so this is a great idea. I have thought about it before but it seems a daunting project to start - although it is a great idea in order to do any work like this through a charity or other organisation I think all participants/volunteers would need to be CRB checked beforehand which can be rather expensive. That said, there must be a way around this and there must be people on here with more experience of starting these kinds of projects. Maybe a good start would be to form a group with a commitee and become formally registered as a group/charity in order to look for funds to ensure CRB checks, and also satisfy the health and safety police re moving, lifting and handling? either that or maybe get in contact with local Taras, community forums and maybe even local religious groups who would probably know of people that could use our help and be a known "go between" to offer some accountability to what we could offer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevchile Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 All great ideas. I don't think we'd need a CRB check personally, as long as we don't go into the homes of people who are vunerable. Although you may be right with helping elderly people take home their shopping. However, volunteers don't have to pay for their CRB checks, so it would just be a slightly annoying form to fill in (and a wait of course). I am going to ring around a few places I know of, to see what they think. I agree with you on forming a committee for the project, it is possibly too broad to be headed by just one person, especially as there is so much room for new ideas. In terms of health and safety it is another thing we would have to look into, but perhaps if we manage to recruit a few gym regulars who know their stuff they could help by being the health and safety officers on the committee. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerd Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I am starting to get really excited by this now you know...I wonder how many people we could get together and maybe have a face to face meeting to discuss this further, have a brainstorming session and start with a rough plan of action? What area of the city are you based in? Maybe if we held a get-together somewhere in the city centre it would be easier to recruit a good mix of people, and also be able to tailor our service so it can be citywide rather than just in one area. Hmm, maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but it is just so pleasing to know other people are thinking along the same lines and if we pitch the project as a health alternative as well as a do-good project we should be able to attract more people. Thoughts please... ETA once we have a rough idea of what our remit will be, what area we are targetting etc we could approach VAS and see if there is any support or training available for new groups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevchile Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 I know what you mean about getting excited, but it'll be something else to get it up and running. I'm in the s10 area, by Crookes Valley Park - but I'm ok to travel. A jog to our meeting place could always be used as a warm up. I'd like to trial it sometime over the next month - just attempt something really small like the shopping bags idea and then take it from there. Where are you based in the city? I think a group of 10 people willing to see how it goes would be ok for a starting run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerd Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 I know what you mean about getting excited, but it'll be something else to get it up and running. I'm in the s10 area, by Crookes Valley Park - but I'm ok to travel. A jog to our meeting place could always be used as a warm up. I'd like to trial it sometime over the next month - just attempt something really small like the shopping bags idea and then take it from there. Where are you based in the city? I think a group of 10 people willing to see how it goes would be ok for a starting run. I am based in the burngreave area, so opposite end of town - I dont drive but i think buses are fairly regular across town. I am all up for it, bar one little detail - I am currently recovering from an accident and have whiplash and sprained by back, so I am not actually much use at the moment when it comes to strength or agility! However in terms of organising things and promoting things I should be OK, and I can cheer everyone else on until I am mended So maybe at the moment I should concentrate on setting something up. PM me if you want, it looks like everyone else ha vanished from this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.