One of the best ways to start and stick with an exercise program is to participate in a challenge. Almost every major online fitness service or connected fitness device offers challenges or similar motivational programs to keep you active. These challenges help you set a goal to work towards over a set period of time, be it a week, month or year. We cover what to look for in a challenge and share our favorites to start in 2022.
How to choose a challenge
Fitness challenges in one form or another can be found on almost every fitness subscription service. Most online services, like iFit, put their challenges front and center and encourage you to join their coaches on your next fitness journey. They make it easy to find a challenge and often provide challenges for different activities like cycling, running, or strength training. Other services like Apple Fitness Plus don’t offer specific challenges, instead grouping workouts into a motivational series. Even though they’re not marked as a challenge, you can still join them and use them to challenge yourself.
When choosing your next challenge, you should look for one that matches your fitness level. If you haven’t been on your bike in a year, don’t pick a challenge that starts with a grueling 20-mile ride. You will set yourself up for failure. Be honest with yourself and choose exercises that match your current fitness level. Don’t be ashamed to start from scratch. You should also choose a challenge that includes exercises that you enjoy. Don’t you like to run? Then choose a challenge that offers hiking or biking instead. If you’re not sure what you want to do, find a challenge that has a little bit of everything.
What to look for in a challenge
Challenges come in all shapes and forms, but they share some important characteristics. Are you looking for a challenge that lasts longer than a few days. If you want to improve your fitness, you need to exercise consistently over a period of time. Monthly challenges are great, especially for beginners, as they’re short enough to be achievable but long enough to actually see improvement. Annual Challenges help keep you committed over a long period of time, but they’re best saved for those who are already training regularly. Many beginners become intimidated by these long-term goals or lose interest over time. It’s easier to commit to running five hours a week for the next four weeks than it is to commit to running 500 miles in a year.
Many challenges are individual and motivate you to complete a program to improve your health. Other challenges have a social component where you compete against other people. These challenges use leaderboards to track how far, how fast, or how long someone has trained, and charts each participant’s progress toward the challenge’s goal. Some people find this direct competition motivating, others find it frustrating, especially in large groups. Some find it difficult to push themselves as they climb the leaderboard from 2,021 to 2,000. If you find these leaderboards daunting, look for alternative challenges that focus on you and your individual accomplishments.
iFit: Scorer Challenge
Each month iFit adds a new set of challenges to encourage you to stay active. This month, iFit kicks off the new year with a new Goal Chaser Challenge. As part of this challenge, you can try out six new iFIT series while you work to improve your fitness. Some workouts have new trainers, so you can discover new content and new trainers at the same time. The Goal Chaser Challenge starts on January 3rd and ends on February 28th.
Peloton: Annual Peloton Challenge
Want a challenge that lasts a year? Then check out Peloton’s 2022 Annual Challenge. This challenge tracks the total minutes you spend exercising. It doesn’t matter where or when you train. Just get in Peloton bike, jump on the Peloton profile or launch the Peloton app to track your workout. You get badges from the 1,000 minute mark with 13 tiers of rewards. The top tier is reserved for those who train a whopping 20,000 minutes or more a year. To achieve this goal, you would need to exercise for an hour a day, year-round.
Strava: ROKA RISE UP 300 Challenge
If you’re ambitious, take on the Roka Rise Up 300 time-based challenge at Strava. Complete 300 minutes of activity in January to earn a $50 Roka.com gift certificate and a digital badge to proudly display on your Strava profile. If 300 minutes is too much commitment, you can take the January Fresh Start Challenge, which requires you to complete 30 hours of activity this month. You can run, walk, hike, or do yoga to achieve this goal.
Fitbit: StrongWill with Will Smith
Fitbit
One of Fitbit’s latest offerings takes you on six guided sessions with actor Will Smith. Join Smith as he begins his fitness journey with high-intensity workouts and stress-relieving mindfulness sessions. Designed for beginners, it’s a great way to get started or pick up where you left off last year.
Apple Fitness Plus: Time to run
While not particularly challenging, Time to Run promises to do for running what Time to Walk did for walking. This brand new series takes you to popular running routes in some of the most iconic cities in the world. Not only will you immerse yourself in a stunning new environment, but you’ll run alongside some of the world’s best runners and running coaches. This audio experience complements the visual experience and encourages you to improve your run with tips and stories to bid the time. Apple adds new episodes regularly, so you’ll keep coming back for more. This consistency is key to making progress when training for your next big race.
Sixpack of Peaks Challenge
Want to challenge yourself but don’t have a subscription to Peloton, iFit, or the other streaming service? Don’t worry, you can participate in standalone challenges like the Six-Pack of Peaks challenge. The Six-Pack of Peaks requires you to hike or run six of the peaks on the list. It doesn’t matter where you live. There are challenges for every major mountain range in the United States. You can hike or run six peaks in Colorado, New England and more.
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