Office Fitness Challenge

[GP_Matt]

The past few years our office has held a weight loss challenge in the Spring. The general theme is that everyone who is interested signs up and weighs in. They have weekly weigh ins and at the end the winner is the person who lost the highest percentage of their body weight.
This year we are trying to change the theme to come up with something that is centered more on fitness and being active while still retaining the competition aspect.

The only idea I could think of was to have a before and after bathing suit posted to the internet with anonymous people (possibly CalgaryPuck) voting on the most improved. That idea has been shot down so I am looking for a new idea.

We have a mix of employees so something with a direct competition would be unfair. ie. a foot race wouldn't work as some of us are already fast.

Any ideas?

[REDVAN]

Haha what kind of workplace is this?

What about people who want to gain weight, why are they discriminated againsT!?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

One thing I would suggest, is that whatever the contest is for, if the focus really is on overall health/fitness, then the prize shouldn't be for the person who loses the most, or whatever, that's just a good way to discourage people and make them quit.

Instead, you'll likely do much better if you make any prizes draws where everyone who stays in the competition for the whole time is elligable.
You quit, no prize, you stick with it, you might get it.

That way you could still do something like have everone sign up for a run and whoever completes the distance, regardless of time, gets in the draw.

[cDnStealth]

Office Paintball Assassin. The last person standing gets a big raise/bonus.

[tete]

My work did a walking challenge - everyone who participated got a pedometer and you tracked your steps every day for about three months - the goal was to walk the distance from our offices in Calgary to our mine north of Fort McMurray. Prizes were given for different distances achieved - Edmonton, Fort Mac, the mine, etc. I can't recall if there was an overall winner, but you could do that. You weren't allowed to count running and physical exercise toward the total, so that levelled the playing field quite a bit. I even participated and I was 6 months pregnant at the start and 9 months pregnant at the end of it.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

The only idea I could think of was to have a before and after bathing suit posted to the internet with anonymous people (possibly CalgaryPuck) voting on the most improved. That idea has been shot down so I am looking for a new idea.

Why, why would anyone think that is a bad idea?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Haha what kind of workplace is this?

A fat one?

[Swarly]

rather than making it a foot race, as you mentioned some people are already faster, make it most improved.

You could do a general fitness challenge, record push-ups, sit-ups etc. record each persons run time and then the winner is the one who increases by the biggest %. obviously have to do a bit of honor system with that one 'cuz there might be people 'failing' after doing 2 push-ups on the first day.

our office is doing a wall sit challenge for April. April 1st was only 10 sec wall sit, add 10 sec each day so today was 1:20, April 30 is 5 mins. Can be really killer work for you legs.

[KTrain]

How about a fitness calendar contest? People can choose what type of fitness activity they like and then mark down how often they do the activities. It's relies on the honour system but you can put up a big calendar and everyone can mark down what they do and when they did it.

I think you can pick up stickers with different types of exercises on it to make it a bit more fun.

You can have prizes for variety of activities, consistency, most activities, weight loss, improved fitness, etc. so more people can be included without feeling like they need to be hitting the gym every day. It also doesn't exclude those people who are already keeping fit.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

One thing I would suggest, is that whatever the contest is for, if the focus really is on overall health/fitness, then the prize shouldn't be for the person who loses the most, or whatever, that's just a good way to discourage people and make them quit.

Instead, you'll likely do much better if you make any prizes draws where everyone who stays in the competition for the whole time is elligable.
You quit, no prize, you stick with it, you might get it.

That way you could still do something like have everone sign up for a run and whoever completes the distance, regardless of time, gets in the draw.

Agreed. One way to add some incentive to something like this is to award entries based on amount of activity. Walking 2 miles, jogging a mile, an hour at the gym etc. each get you an extra entry in the draw.

[Wood]

This Office episode is the first that came to my mind after seeing this thread



I say, I say, I say I sit on you!

If you could get another office or 2 involved you could do something similar to what happened in the episode. Make it office against office with the most weight lost

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

What about people who want to gain weight, why are they discriminated againsT!?

That is why we don't like the weight loss. It rewards people for unhealthy crash diets and people who don't have as much excess weight don't participate even though they would like to be in better shape.

[Imported_Aussie]

We were thinking of doing a stair challenge - tally up how many times you take the stairs instead of the elevator (or how many floors)

[Buff]

Where I currently work we did a weight loss challenge for the IT guys. We weighed in the smallest female in the office and decided that collectively we need to lose half of her weight. It worked. I went from 260 lbs to 240 lbs. Another guy lost 30 lbs... but I'm not sure how he did because he didn't look like he had much to lose to begin with. The guy who could really stand to lose the most, lost the least, and gained it all back plus a few extra. We tried to do it again the following year and we didn't finish the competition.

At another workplace we did a fitness challenge to raise money for some sort of charity (I think it was Heart & Stroke, but I don't remember). We competed against another location to see who could cycle the most and raise the most. Each participant got 10 minutes on the exercise bike. You could do something like this, except have a starting competition and an ending competition. The most improved results wins. It will help to promote fitness. To make it interesting pick a charity to donate to and have each participant get people to pledge them money. That will give them an added incentive to improve from the start to the end, and make it more about doing better for charity than being competiive and trying to out do that loser from the front office.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

That way you could still do something like have everone sign up for a run and whoever completes the distance, regardless of time, gets in the draw.

Millarville "Run To The Farmers' Market" Half Marathon, 7:30 a.m., June 15, 2013 . . . . . . a beautiful, 21.1 km, point-to-point race from Black Diamond, through Turner Valley and finishing at the Millarville Farmers' Market as it opens for its 31st season. Largest outdoor market in southern Alberta.

There's also a relay this year with legs of 9.5 km and 11.6 km.

www.millarvillehalfmarathon.com

Cowperson

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Millarville "Run To The Farmers' Market" Half Marathon, 7:30 a.m., June 15, 2013 . . . . . . a beautiful, 21.1 km, point-to-point race from Black Diamond, through Turner Valley and finishing at the Millarville Farmers' Market as it opens for its 31st season. Largest outdoor market in southern Alberta.

There's also a relay this year with legs of 9.5 km and 11.6 km.

www.millarvillehalfmarathon.com

Cowperson

I like the idea of a run and that one looks great, although I am not sure how many people could get into half marathon shape in two months.

[onetwo_threefour]

Do a burpee challenge in the office. Start with ten on the first day and add two per day. Last person to quit the challenge wins...Everybody participating has to prove each day by posting a youtube video of it or the like if they do it at home. Or you do it in the office and have a bunch of stinky sweaty people around you all day...

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

I like the idea of a run and that one looks great, although I am not sure how many people could get into half marathon shape in two months.

We have lots of walkers in the race. A pace of around 10 minutes per km will complete the course in the 3.5 hour time limit. We had a couple finish beyond four hours last year. They were very proud to finish and I gave them a hug at the end. Great achievement by them. They're in the event again this year and I think they'll be faster.

The relay helps people team up and bite off a chunk they can chew.

The race is also used as a fundraising platform for Rowan House, the short-term women's emergency shelter in High River, Sheep River Health Trust in Okotoks and Priddis Fire Department. Join their teams and raise money for their causes as well.

This is probably the only longer distance race in North America finishing at a large, active Farmers' Market. Music, food, shopping at the end. Invite your friends to meet you at the finish.

We will likely have between 500-750 in this event in 2013.

People will have fun.

The race is about the common folk like discussed above but we're looking for a fast field out front as well. Course records are 1:14:03 for men and 1:21:14 for women, set last year. We have new money in the prize structure to attract some names.

Cowperson

[The Coppernian One]

Originally Posted by Wood

This Office episode is the first that came to my mind after seeing this thread



I say, I say, I say I sit on you!

If you could get another office or 2 involved you could do something similar to what happened in the episode. Make it office against office with the most weight lost

We did this at our office for a couple of years. As we had access to a cattle scale, we were able to weigh people as a group so didn't have to single everyone out. That upped the participation level.

[core_upt]

Each person sets their own goals, run a 5K, run a marathon, 50 pushups, lose 20lbs, whatever. Then post your goal in a shared space (break room, kitchen). This creates a sense of obligation to keep working towards your goal while allowing coworkers to get to know a bit about each other (I didn't know Joe was interested in triathlons, or Sue was an avid hiker).
At the end of the challenge, each person revisits their goal and shares how they did. Whether they finished, came close, exceeded, etc.
Everyone who participated gets to vote on whose challenge was the most impressive.

Seems fair as each person sets their own goal. The more compelling your reason for competing and finishing, the more likely you are to get a vote and the guy who loses 20lbs has as much of a shot as a buy who squats 400 or plays hockey 3 times a week, or whatever.