Whipping your employees into improved physical shape doesn’t have to involve a whip at all. In fact, a few fun office exercise challenges can be engaging enough that the spirit of competition and an awesome certificate of achievement will do. The key is to ensure you keep the office exercise challenges easy to track, amusing to complete and at a level that ensures all can participate. Oh yeah, you’ll also need a few good ideas. Here come five of them.
The Elevator Plague
Office building got an elevator? Have employees avoid it like the plague. Set up a contest to see who can refrain from taking the elevator for a set number of days. Start with a day or two of taking the stairs only, and then extend the length to a week or entire month. Employees who can go the greatest number of days without setting foot on the elevator win.
The Lunchtime Mile
Reward employees who successfully walk a mile every day during lunch for a month. If your crew is already high endurance, you can up the stakes by making it a 2 or 3 mile lunchtime walk – or even a mile-plus lunchtime run.
The Total Steps Tally
If your company can help employees obtain fitness trackers or pedometers, keeping track of total steps throughout the day is a great way to prompt a steady stream of movement. Employees get credit for walking to work, at work, during lunch and at home, whenever and wherever they can pick up steps.
Tally each employee’s steps at the end of a week or month, rewarding things like the highest overall step count, the highest number of steps in a single day or even the biggest improvement in movement.
The Super Stretcher
Create a booklet packed with easy yet effective stretches employees can do right at their desks, and then reward those who make a habit of it every day for a week, month or even longer. Some simple examples include the:
- Seated shoulder stretch
- Seated upper-arm stretch
- Seated chest stretch
- Chin tuck
- Head turn
- Side neck stretch
The Impromptu Challenge
Call employees together and then randomly choose a fitness-related challenge they can try right on the spot. Ideas include:
- Greatest number of push-ups
- Most graceful headstand (or other selected yoga pose)
- Longest amount of time spent balancing on one leg
- Most impressive hula hoop or jump rope performance
Keep your certificates of achievement as fun as the office exercise challenges themselves with pithy sayings, cool designs and maybe even a rhyme or two. Then simply sit back to watch your employees flock to participate in the art of getting healthier.
