Corporate Fitness Challenge Ideas for Your Company

Promoting workers’ health and well-being is beneficial for both employees and organizations. Discover invigorating fitness challenges tailored for your corporate environments.

Creating and sustaining a culture of health and well-being has become a fundamental principle for organizations. Promoting workers’ health and well-being is not just good for the employees but also for the businesses. Happier and healthier employees tend to be more productive and driven.

The importance of a healthy workforce is something that every organization acknowledges. However, putting it into practice by introducing new habits and maintaining them is not an easy task.

It is not just about extrinsic motivation and giving people a financial incentive, but rather about creating intrinsic motivation in workers. Individuals are much more likely to sustain good health and positive habits if they do it because it is important to them.

Promoting good health is a core value for companies because it promotes teamwork, where employees bond and become closer in different ways.

Organizations with a culture of health attract top talent, have more loyal employees, and have lower turnover rates. The shared goal of well-being has the power to create a ripple effect that transforms organizations.

Top Corporate Fitness Programs

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What are Some Ideas for Fitness Challenges?

The term well-being broadly covers everything from mindfulness to nutrition, fitness, or mental health. Companies may find it hard to develop ideas that encourage wellness while being fun and engaging.

Below we have compiled challenge ideas that are proven to work to get any organization started.

1) Walking Challenges

At least 20 minutes of daily physical activity can help reverse many health problems. The physical and mental benefits of walking are indisputable.

There is a reason why walking challenges are so popular- they work.

They are customizable in a way that can keep things fun, and another advantage is that both in-office and remote workers can participate. There are multiple ways to approach this challenge, but the most crucial aspect of making it successful is to have an easily attainable goal, so people are not discouraged.

Walk it out

Start off small with a challenge to walk twice a week for twenty minutes, so employees are more inclined to participate. Build up from there and have a streak contest to see who can achieve the most consecutive days of walking.

Mile-a-day contest

Initiate a mile-a-day challenge and track how many days employees ran at least one mile. Increase the difficulty gradually and challenge your employees by organizing 5k runs, 10k, and so on.

10K steps challenge

Target steps in an individual or team challenge where employees unite to reach a simple goal.

Many useful apps and vendors organize corporate challenges and even provide wearable fitness devices like pedometers and step counter trackers. Tracking this data in spreadsheets is inefficient and may discourage the organizers or employees from participating.

2) Class Attendance Challenge

Your employees need to be continuously improving and challenging themselves. Introduce and encourage your employees to try something new, exciting, and out of their comfort zone. Participants can earn points through attendance. Although unconventional, here are some group classes that might spark an interest:

Rock climbing
Yoga classes
Swimming classes
Martial arts classes
Dance classes

If your company is remotely based, fret not as many programs offer virtual fitness classes.

3) Fitness Challenges

Coaching and gym participation

Sign up with a coach or a gym network to enable your employees to improve their fitness. Have the challenge to see which member has gone to the gym the most over a month.

Impromptu contests

Hold impromptu challenges to see which employee can hold the longest plank, do the most push-ups in a minute, or who can do the most jumping jacks.

Take the stairs challenge

A small but meaningful lifestyle change is to challenge your employees to use the stairs instead of the elevator.

4) Nutrition Challenge

Emphasize the importance of nutrition and its role in wellness to your employees by holding healthy cooking contests. Enroll your company in a corporate nutrition program where employees can learn proper nutrition, cooking lessons, and recipes.

Cooking challenges

Challenge your employees by having healthy cooking contests where they try and prepare one healthy meal for work. Everyone gets to vote on what their favorite dish is.

Pack lunch

One expensive and unhealthy habit to break is eating out during lunch breaks.

It will save your employees money, and they are likelier to stick to a healthier diet if they prepare their lunch at home. Hold a contest to see which employees do meal prep most in two weeks.

Stick to a meal plan

One advantage of enrolling in a corporate nutrition program is that they offer meal plans based on individual fitness goals. Employees who enroll in these programs commit to following a guided and simplified program full of helpful tips, recipes, and cooking ideas.

5) Daily Habit Challenge

Sleep challenge

Designate one habit that your employees can focus on improving over a period of time. Considering that sleep and fatigue have an enormous effect on productivity and quality of work, it can be the first habit that your employees try to improve.

For some, this habit can be built simply by going to bed early, but many struggle and have a sleep disorder. By enrolling your company in a corporate sleep disorder program, your employees will undoubtedly improve their sleep hygiene.

Many vendors offer wearable devices that track sleep time and quality of sleep.

Hydration challenge

Drinking 8 glasses of water is a simple habit that employees can track. Organize an event where employees track how many days they drink the required amount.

6) Weight Loss Challenge

A straightforward and popular challenge.

Track which employee, team, or department has lost the most weight for the duration of the challenge. You can make things more competitive by having a leaderboard; many apps can track and store all this data.

Give your employees the right resources and sign up with a weight management program to keep them on track.

7) Mindfulness Challenge

Mental health is an inextricable part of overall wellness.

Stress in the workplace can lead to disengaged and burnt-out employees. That is why it is vital to take action and promote the practice of mindfulness. Start a gratefulness challenge where employees write down three things they are grateful for daily.

Start the practice of meditation and breathing exercises. Many apps offer guided sessions, track meditating time, and streak progress.

Another challenge to help be more mindful of the present is to have a digital detox where employees do not use social media for a week or two. After the challenge, you can reflect on the changes and challenges together.

On a Final Note 

Motivate your employees by posting and highlighting their achievements and victories. The more employees involved in receiving feedback, the more dedicated they will be to the challenge. Fostering an active culture is a key strategy for the sustainability of an organization over time.

Disclosure: Some of the products featured in this blog post may come from our partners who compensate us. This might influence the selection of products we feature and their placement and presentation on the page. However, it does not impact our evaluations; our opinions are our own. The information provided in this post is for general informational purposes only.

Written by shortlister editorial team

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Corporate Fitness Challenge Ideas for Your Company

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