Last month I had occasion to participate in a fitness challenge as part of a work team. I had to promise to meet a minimum number of steps each day, share three pictures of healthy meals, drink 32 ounces of water and carry out four mystery exercises.
I learned a number of things from doing this challenge, some good and some not so good. So I’ll deal with the good stuff first:
1) I really liked being part of a team. If I didn’t meet my daily commitments, I felt like I let the team down. So I was motivated to complete the actions because my bit added to the overall team standing.
2) I really liked easy-to-follow criteria. I had to meet my steps, eat three healthy meals, and drink water. Nothing complicated: I had to eat, I had to drink, and since teleporting is still not a thing, I had to walk. All three were things I had to do anyway, so it wasn’t an issue to do more of it. So I did, albeit in a more focused manner.
3) I liked having a daily goal. I create a daily list of things I want to do each day before I go to sleep. Usually, it’s work-related or family-related. I’ve since started looking at how to build in activity each day as part of pre-planning instead of just as an afterthought.
Here’s what I didn’t like:
1) I didn’t like the mystery challenges. I would have preferred a choice of movements each time. Instead, I was stuck twice with exercises that simply did not work for someone who has wonky hips like me.
2) The app only works if there is a challenge. It would have been great if I could have kept the posting/tracking going even if there wasn’t a competition. I still keep track of my steps with my Fitbit and I do work in a half-hour of step walking if I’m short, but the meals and water kind tracking fell by the wayside. However, I have noticed that if I fill my water cup twice a day, I meet my daily allotment so while I might not track, the water drinking habit has stuck.
So what now? I’ll probably consider fitness challenges like this in the future because it was fun and I learned new things along the way. In the meantime, I am working on making my own challenges and seeing what I can do to meet or exceed them weekly. Starting in the new year, I hope to have a jar full of activities that I can pick from to ensure I keep my daily fit on.
How about you? What fitness challenges have you been a part of and what have you learned?
MarthaFitat50 gets her fit on through yoga, swimming, trail walking, and powerlifting.
