Early last week we announced at the facility that we'll be hosting our second annual March Madness MYZONE Challenge.
For those who are not aware, MYZONE is a heart rate monitoring software, and without boring you with the details, they gamify fitness.
You get points for every workout. The harder you work the more points you get.
The excitement of the challenge in our fitness community went viral over the weekend.
As always, I try to pull a lesson out of everything.
Why the excitement?
We just made all of March a game for our clients.
Collect points for your workouts, and try to beat the other teams (each staff member has a team).
So, how can you gamify your fitness?
I've talked about it at length, but fitness needs to have a fun component.
If you're just a hamster on a wheel staring at a television, you may be able to grit through it in the short-term, but you'll never stick with it long-term.
Now, the cool thing is, fun or "gamifying" fitness can look different to each of us.
Some of us are more competitive, some of us are a quite competitive.
This doesn't mean you need to go jump on a box 100 times as fast as possible and try to beat your time.
There is fun and competitive but keep in mind safety trumps both of those.
So, here are 5 ways to gamify your fitness:
1. Think of reps as points. Instead of thinking you have to do 50 squats, think of it as 50 points. Set a goal each day for a certain amount of points and increase it each week.
2. Do countdowns or ladders: Pick two exercises, one upper body, one lower body. Alternate between them and do a countdown. 10 squats, 10 push-ups. 9 squats, 9 push-ups, etc. You can down a countdown, or you can do a ladder (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
3. Associate good behaviors with points. Getting 7 hours of sleep is a point, getting a workout of at least 20 minutes in is a point, hitting 5 servings of vegetables is a point, getting 100 grams of protein is a point, and writing down 5 things you're grateful for is a point. Get 5 points every day!
4. Workout in a group environment. The reason why most people find fitness boring is they think it has to be this mundane thing, headphones in, a couple minutes doing this, a couple minutes that. However, what if you worked out with a buddy, did a "you go, I go" workout, or joined our Team Training where we make fitness fun. Groups can be intimidating, I get it, but if you find the right one, they can also be one of the best motivators.
5. Join our MYZONE Challenge. Seriously. It's going to be a ton of fun, each staff member has a team, and I want you to join my team :)
Regardless of what you choose for fitness, indoor, outdoor, yoga, or strength training (hopefully all of the above), try to gamify your fitness.
It doesn't have to be anything extravagant, you could just play games in your head (wait, we already do that).
It will be more fun, which will drive more consistency, which will drive better results.
How do you gamify your fitness?
1% Better.
Dedicated to Your Success,
Doug Spurling
PS: Join our MYZONE Challenge in March by enrolling in our 30 Day Fitness Jump-Start. Hurry, we only take 20 people per month so you must act now, plus the MYZONE Challenge kicks off 3/1. Click here to register.