6 Ways To Do a Fitness Challenge With Your Company

It's natural for co-workers to want to compete with each other. A fitness challenge could be the perfect event to get you in shape, have some fun, and maybe win a bet or two. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 90 percent of workers spend at least 40 hours per week at work. This makes the workplace the perfect place to encourage health and fitness and maybe even do a fitness challenge.

Before you start an office fitness challenge, try to enlist the management in encouraging the challenge. Perhaps you can get them to sponsor prizes for different goals or maybe even do a work-sponsored field day or 5k.

Some great ways to get your office moving include:

1. Try a walking challenge. Set up a mileage goal and everyone can earn raffle entries, for example, for every 1,000 steps walked. 

2. Set up a fitness obstacle course or 5k race for a date three or four months away. Then email everyone and start doing training sessions to prepare for it. Look for prizes for winners, such as gift cards to local restaurants or gift baskets filled with fun items.

3. Get a team together to prepare for a local charity event. Hold a contest within the office to award prizes to those who run the fastest, score the most points, or get the most sponsors for the race. This way, you get everyone to participate as a team but they will still be motivated individually.

4. Don't just make the challenges for physical exercise. Try and get everyone involved in eating healthier too. Have a smoothie Iron Chef contests using unfamiliar ingredients like turmeric, ginger root, or kale. Look into incorporating the Thrive experience into your company's diet plans as well. 

A healthy potluck challenge can also be fun and inspiring. Give ribbons for the best gluten-free dish, the best use of greens in a dish, the most vegetables, or the tastiest salad. Choose all sorts of categories and really have a fun, silly time while at work. Get the boss involved, maybe as the judge, or maybe have the boss and the management create the dishes while the kids in the mailroom get to be the jud

5. Make a weight loss challenge, both collectively for the whole office and individually. Maybe the whole office vows to lose 500 pound. If you work together to achieve that goal, maybe a party or some other fun office event can be earned. Those who achieve personal goals can also win prizes or bonuses. 

6. Participation challenges are a great way to encourage fitness without everyone working towards specific weight or mileage goals. You can award prizes based on how many fitness classes a person attends or how many times a week a person goes for a walk or run. 

Track the progress of the office as a whole and of each individual. If you can, invite an inspirational speaker or two to come in and get everyone excited about their commitment to fitness. Maybe ask a local gym to come by and offer everyone discounts on memberships or see if management would be interested in purchasing trial memberships. 

Getting people excited about working out can be a big step towards helping them make a habit of working out. When a workplace encourages fitness by both providing the means, making it fun, and allowing people the time to work out, workers feel more valued overall. 

Encourage company leaders to get involved as well. It's very inspiring to have the CEO or other company leaders take on the same challenges as those in the "trenches." This also shows that no one is above getting physically fit. No matter where you are in the chain of command, one body needs just as much healthy food and physical activity as another. 

You spend a lot of time with the people at your work, working together towards common health and fitness goals can be fun and worthwhile.