17 Wellness & Fitness Challenge Ideas for Your Office to Try

workplace wellbeing fitness challenges

Looking for a wellness or fitness challenge for your office?

We’ve got you covered.

Check out 17 workplace fitness challenge ideas below, that you can set up in next to no time.

If you’re looking to take your workplace wellbeing to the next level, discover our virtual fitness challenges here at fitness drum. Rewards, on-demand coaching and much more… the ultimate wellbeing perk for you team!

Step Challenge

A step challenge is a fitness challenge that involves walking a total number of steps within the time frame of the challenge. The number of steps taken is counted through a pedometer or a fitness tracker. The step challenge can be collaborative when multiple people are participating or done individually.

The goal of a step challenge is to encourage walking as much as possible during the allotted time frame, and encourage employees to adopt walking as a healthy habit. The number of steps in the challenge can vary depending on how difficult you want it to be. The steps can be accumulated through walking or any other form of movement, such as jogging or running.

A 10,000 step challenge is a popular distance to aim for. Employees would try and hit 10,000 steps each day.

This type of challenge can be done to lose weight, gain muscle, improve cardiovascular health and develop healthy habits. The challenge can also be used to improve mental health.

Drinking Water

A challenge that encourages employees to drink water is another great option to try. Some of the other benefits of drinking water include improved digestion, reduced fatigue, increased energy and a reduced risk of headaches. It is recommended to drink 6-8 glasses of fluid a day. As water contains no extra sugar/calories, it’s the perfect choice.

It is vital to life and health and is important for the healthy function of every organ in your body, including your brain and nervous system. Water makes up almost 60 percent of your blood and your brain is made up of 75% water so keeping hydrated is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle.

Even just a small level of dehydration can cause headaches and so is worth avoiding if you want to be productive.

Sleep

A sleep challenges helps to create healthy habits around sleep. Getting enough sleep is vital if we want to feel good, productive and happy the following day.

The amount of sleep an individual needs may vary on their personal circumstances, but it is often recommended to aim for 7 hours a night.

A sleep challenge can be a sleep diary, or a sleep tracking app, or a sleep monitoring device.

Some challenges will take place over one week, others will take place over a month, and some will take place over a year.

Sleep challenges can be fun and motivating. They can also be effective at helping employees understand how much sleep they are actually getting and if this is the cause for other problems.

A recent study was done to see if the sleep challenge would be effective in improving the sleep quality. The subjects were asked to wear a sleep tracker and fill out a sleep diary every morning and evening. The subjects also received an email every day for the first 10 days of the study to remind them to fill out their sleep diary. A group of subjects participated in the sleep challenge and a control group participated to provide a comparison. The results of the study showed that the sleep challenge group had significant improvement in their sleep quality and the control group did not.

Plank, Squat or Pushup Challenge

Plank, squat and push-ups challenges are a great way to test yourself and see how many repetitions you can do in a certain amount of time, or how many consecutive days you can do a workout for.

They can be a great way to stay fit and have fun at the same time. It’s also a great way to motivate yourself to get fit.

Participants can try and do a certain amount of these exercises each day.

A “30 Day Squat Challenge”, for example, is a popular way to kickstart your fitness journey.

This type of challenge can also help you gain an understanding of your current fitness levels and potentially identify any weak areas.

A challenge such as “do as many squats as you can in 10 minutes every day for a month” is also inclusive and allows anyone to join in, whatever their level.

Team Yoga

Yoga can be practiced for many reasons, such as to increase physical flexibility, improve posture, strengthen muscles and joints, and for general health and well-being. Many people practice yoga with the aim of improving overall health and well-being, lowering stress, and enhancing their quality of life.

As a fitness challenge, yoga is a great choice because it is beginner friendly and inclusive for everyone in the office. There are some poses for everyone, so no one will feel excluded.

Yoga can also be practiced in an office, without much space or equipment, so you could even do a yoga challenge during lunch, for example.

Walk/Cycle to Work

A walking or cycling to work challenge can be done anywhere and anytime. It’s a great way to get fit and stay fit. They are both very inclusive, especially a walking challenge.

A walk to work challenge can be an excellent way to travel to work and get fit at the same time. It can help you burn calories, lose weight, and improve your overall health.

Walking or cycling to work challenges could also help your office lower their carbon footprint during the challenge too!

Healthy Snacks

A challenge that encourages healthy habits, such as opting for healthy snacks during the working day is not only good for employee wellbeing, but it is also proven to help boost productivity.

A healthy snack challenge is done to help remind employees to eat healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. It is a great way to set a goal on what to eat in a day. In this challenge, employees set a goal on how many servings of fruits and vegetables they want to eat in a day.

As an added perk, you could offer free healthy snacks to help employees opt for the healthier choice.

Stretching Breaks

The benefits of stretching go far beyond just flexibility. Stretching is also about circulation and muscle function. It can help improve mobility and reduce the risk of injuries, as well as improving posture.

Stretching breaks can help combat sitting at a desk for long periods.

A stretching breaks challenge could encourage and reward employees for doing 1 minute of stretches every hour, for example.

Daily Meditation

A daily meditation challenge is a great way to relax and recharge. If the office has felt a bit stressed recently, a meditation challenge could help employees feel calmer in their day-to-day.

This type of challenge could be done as a guided group session or individually. Including meditation in your morning routine, for example, could be a small change that has a big impact.

Walking meditation illustrates how meditation doesn’t necessarily need to be sat down – it can be personal to each employee.

A daily gratitude challenge is a great way to focus on the positive things in your life.

Afterwork Sports

If you’re looking for a team challenge that really fosters comradery, then an after work sports challenge could be exactly what you need.

It’s likely that employees will all be different skill levels for most sports, so something like walking football, could be inclusive and get everyone involved.

This is about having fun, moving and enjoying yourselves.

5km Run

Running is another inclusive type of challenge that is easy to set up. Running is a great way to stay in shape, burn calories, lose weight and feel healthy.

You also get the endorphin rush, helping support mental health too.

Some popular running challenges are a 5k, 10k, or a half marathon.

These challenges can be done anywhere and at any time.

Instead of rewarding the fastest time, or the longest distance, running challenges benefit from focusing on participation and consistency. As an office challenge, you want to create healthy habits, and get everyone motivated.

Calisthenic Workouts

The benefits of doing a calisthenics workout is that you do not need any equipment.

Calisthenics is a form of bodyweight training that uses a variety of different exercises to build and strengthen muscles.

Calisthenics workouts often focus on functional movements, helping support lifelong fitness. This means the focus is less about lifting heavy weights and more about whether you can support your own bodyweight in certain positions.

These types of movements can really help reduce the risk of injuries or common musculoskeletal conditions found in office workers.

There are beginner friendly workouts to get started with or more advanced ones if anyone wants to really test themselves.

Smoothie Challenge

A smoothie challenge encourages participants to swap an unhealthy snack with a healthy smoothie.

The focus is that by drinking a healthy smoothie for a month, for example, you feel and look healthier.

You can pack a lot of healthy superfoods into a smoothie and help employees kickstart a healthier diet.

Employees can also share recipes or make smoothies together.

It is also a very inclusive challenge, where everyone can join in.

Movement Challenge

A movement challenge is focused on combatting the inactivity and sedentary lifestyle many office workers have.

This type of challenge is less focused on specific exercises and more on frequent movement.

For example, rewarding employees who avoid long periods sat down, or for simply standing up every 15 minutes.

These seemingly small movements can make a big difference and help combat inactivity in an office.

Breathing Challenge

Breathing challenges consist of a set of exercises that focus on the breathing.

Breathing challenges are supposed to help you improve your health and wellness and can help you relax.

These could be done during the day to help employees create calm when things get a bit stressful.

Green Exercise

Green exercise is proven to help boost mental health. This includes activities like walking in nature.

This is another very inclusive fitness challenge and could be done as a group, e.g. over lunch.

This doesn’t need to be strenuous, instead it should be seen as a calming activity, helping to recharge the batteries.

Employees can come back to the office refreshed and feeling more productive.

Committing to doing 15 minutes of green exercise during the day for a month could have quite the impact on your office and is well worth trying.

HIIT Challenge

HIIT workouts are great for delivering an effective workout in a short period of time.

There are many benefits of HIIT workouts. They are an excellent way to burn calories and fat because they put your body under stress. When you are putting your body under stress, you are basically challenging your body to respond. This stress response causes your body to go into a different state of metabolic activity which ultimately causes you to burn more calories.

HIIT workouts also help to build muscle.

You can choose HIIT workouts that suit each employees fitness levels.

FAQ

What apps are good for workplace fitness challenges?
The fitness drum app is great for managing your workplace fitness challenges. It comes with a whole host of features, including coaching, medals, virtual challenges and on-demand workouts.

How can I make sure the fitness challenge is fun?
Office fitness challenges need to create accountability and make it easy for employees to follow along. They should motivate and inspire employees. Ensuring they are inclusive is a vital first step, so they don’t exclude anyone.

Why are office fitness challenges important?
Offices and desk jobs can naturally be quite sedentary with little movement during the day. This is bad for our mental and physical health, so fitness challenges can help address this.

How long should a fitness challenge last?
Fitness challenges should focus on developing healthy habits that last a lifetime. Individual challenges may last 7 days or 30 days, but the concept of following these challenges should be long-term to really see the benefits.

Are fitness challenges effective for improving employee engagement?
Yes, absolutely. Fitness challenges can be a great way to improve employee engagement in an office.

 

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