10 Office Fitness Challenge Ideas Your Team Will Love
Office fitness challenges are one of the easiest ways to bring more energy into the working day. Regular activity helps keep stress lower and energy higher, and it is linked to fewer sick days. Just as importantly, informal activities at work help colleagues bond with each other and with the company. Here are 10 office fitness challenge ideas that work for teams of any size – in the office, at home or spread across continents.
Table of Contents
10 Office Fitness Challenge Ideas
1. 1. Step Challenge
Walking needs no equipment and no new skills. People can choose their own pace, place and time, in almost any weather. All participants need is a smartphone or a fitness tracker, and it does not matter whether colleagues walk in the same city or on different continents. That makes a corporate step challenge the easiest office fitness challenge to launch – here is how to create one.
2. 2. Virtual Workout Classes
Every company has people who know how to get their colleagues' muscles working. Ask them to lead short workouts over video, or book an instructor who can run a class for hundreds of employees wherever they are – yoga, strength, dance or stretching.
3. 3. Active Meetings
Who said meetings have to happen around a table? Take one-to-ones outside for a walk, or agree on a few squats every 10 minutes in longer calls. Moving keeps the body awake and the mind focused, and adds extra activity to the day. At YuMuuv we often take our morning team calls on the move – walking, cycling or squatting wherever we happen to be. Read more about the benefits of walk-and-talk meetings and our own experience with walking meetings.
4. 4. Collective Company Goal
Instead of comparing individuals, set one goal for the whole team or company and work toward it together – for example, burn 50,000 calories as a team in a month. When you reach it, draw prizes among participants or make a donation to a cause you agreed on together. The same works with steps, exercise minutes or an activity index.
5. 5. “Let's Meet on the Stairs” Day
Probably the simplest idea of all: choose a day of the week when everyone takes the stairs instead of the elevator. It gets your pulse up before you sit down at your desk and adds steps to the day. If your office is on the 26th floor, take the stairs for the last few floors – there is an option for every building.
6. 6. Consistency Challenge
Habits make the difference, so reward regularity instead of totals. Set a daily goal – say 10,000 steps – and challenge everyone to reach it on at least 16 days of the month. Everyone who succeeds is a winner, whatever their fitness level. Learn more about the psychology of streaks.
7. 7. Charity Challenge
Set an activity goal and agree on an amount the company will donate for every participant who reaches it – for example, €10 to a local charity for everyone who walks 200,000 steps in a month. Here is how to run a charity challenge your whole company gets behind.
8. 8. Active Company Birthday
Celebrate the company's birthday with movement – and have the cake afterwards. Turning 50? Aim for 50 million steps as a team over the year. With 25 employees, that is only about 5,500 steps per person per day. Combine it with a charity element, such as €100 to a local non-profit for every million steps. See how others took on a million steps challenge.
9. 9. Calorie Challenge (With a Team Lunch at the End)
In YuMuuv, participants see how many calories they have burned each day and whether they reached their personal target based on age, height and weight. Turn it into a team challenge – and, as some of our clients do, celebrate with a lunch together at the end. Spirited time together!
10. 10. A Year-Round Challenge Plan
One-off events fade quickly. Plan a series of challenges across the year instead, with variety and rest periods built in. See our 12-month employee wellness program example or pick themes from the wellness challenge calendar.
How to Choose the Right Office Fitness Challenge
- Want everyone to join? Start with a step challenge or a collective goal.
- Want to build habits? Go for a consistency challenge.
- Want to bring teams closer? Try active meetings, team challenges or a company birthday goal.
- Want a purpose beyond fitness? Run a charity challenge.
For the practical side, read our step-by-step guide on how to organize a company fitness challenge, and find more inspiration in corporate fitness challenge ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the easiest office fitness challenge to start with?
A step challenge. It needs no equipment, everyone can join with a phone, and it works for remote and office teams alike.
2. How do you make an office fitness challenge fun for non-sporty people?
Use collective or consistency goals, count many types of activity and keep the tone light. Prize draws among everyone who reaches a realistic goal work better than rewarding only the top performers.
3. How long should an office fitness challenge last?
Anywhere from one week for a quick boost to four to six weeks for building habits. Yearly goals, like a company birthday challenge, work well as a long-running background theme.
Get Your Office Moving With YuMuuv
Would you like to run office fitness challenges without the admin work? Book a demo or contact us – we will help you set up challenges your whole team will enjoy.
