Office fitness challenges: Boost health and team spirit at work

A study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine ¹ found that adults who sat down for more than 11 hours a day had a 40% increased risk of dying within three years, from any cause, in comparison with those who sat for less than 4 hours a day. Furthermore, the chances of dying were 15% higher for those who sat between 8 to 11 hours a day in comparison to those who sat less than 4 hours a day (Glatter, 2013).

Some competitive spirit between co-workers and colleagues can help put a stop to sitting down for prolonged periods at work. We've come up with a list of office fitness challenges that you and your colleagues can put in place:

Ideas for office fitness challenges

1. Walking Challenge

Walking is one of the most convenient and affordable forms of physical activity. Here are some ways to implement a walking challenge: participants could win a prize or small bonus for walking a number of steps a day for a set period or could receive a tombola entry for every 5,000-10,000 steps walked over a set period of time. You could also choose a walker of the month or of the year for a big prize. Track results via apps or office boards to keep motivation high.

2. Stair Climb Challenge

Make the most of your office stairs with a friendly climbing challenge. Employees can track the number of flights they climb over a set period - 4, 8 or 12 weeks and celebrate milestones with small rewards or recognition. Once your Stair Climb Challenge is complete, celebrate by having a climbing themed event with indoor rock climbing or organise a lunchtime walk to carry on the good work and effort.

3. Life Style Challenge

This challenge works well over shorter periods, between 2 to 4 weeks. The idea is to come up with a different healthy daily routine that participants must do each day. Habits can be anything from packing a healthy lunch or eating five a day to taking a daily walk. Each behaviour earns a raffle entry, with draws at the end of each week. You can have breaks in between and then re-start the challenge.

4. Team Challenges for Charity

Team challenges can be seen as a team-building activity and can create a sense of community and collaboration, motivating people to a common purpose. Team-building activities are a way to increase team skills and communication, improve morale and productivity, and stay active at the same time.

The participants work toward the group goals, such as “walk 5,000 miles” or “3 peak challenge”, and keep track of group results on a whiteboard, usually displayed in a common area.

5. Participation Challenge

This challenge encourages participants to accomplish a task a certain number of times over a set period and reward those who reach a specific number.

For example, if an employer provides a gym membership (or has a fitness centre on site) they can challenge their employees to attend the gym 15 times in 30 days. Employers can also challenge employees to do other things like bring their healthy lunch 15 times per month or to walk 1 mile a day.

6. Weight Loss Challenge

When you're trying to lose weight and you need to dodge the breakroom doughnut tray, your office mate's biscuits or the vending machine make sticking to the diet a lot harder. So why not ask your work colleagues to join you? This might get rid of some of those temptations.

A study published in 2012 by Obesity ² found that people who are supported and inspired, such as work colleagues, have a better chance of losing weight. From the 3000 individuals who took place in the study, those with group support had a 6% to 20% better chance of achieving a 5% weight loss (Cespedes, 2017 ).

Set up an office weight-loss challenge to create healthy competition and camaraderie while perhaps also discouraging people from bringing in treats. Then everyone benefits from getting healthy! The challenge can be a total number of pounds lost or percent of body weight or body fat loss. Employers can also offer an incentive for the whole group, such as weekly fitness classes at the office or a free healthy lunch, as a reward for the efforts.

Get active and make it fun

Even small changes, like taking the stairs instead of the lift or going for a lunchtime walk, make a difference when done consistently. For inspiration, the the British Heart Foundation offers a range of events and activities, including running, cycling, trekking, and swimming, which can motivate your team and complement your own workplace fitness challenges.

Why not pick a challenge today, get your colleagues involved, and make being active at work a fun, shared experience?