Whether you’re in an office or working from home these days, getting exercise is critical to your health. Everyone knows this. Too much sedentary time can make you sick; heard disease, diabetes, and even cancer are the result of sitting around too much. So, motivating yourself and your coworkers is important no matter where they’re working. But how can you get the team motivated to stay fit? It’s an especially difficult proposition if you’re all sitting at home on the computer. This article will help you motivate the team toward health with a fitness challenge. 

Team Exercise Challenge 

The good news is human beings can be naturally competitive. HR teams seeking to motivate workers to exercise more can use this natural human inclination to encourage people to get out of their chairs. Setting up a fitness challenge can combine team-building with the goal of a fitter and healthier workforce. Here are a few suggestions for how to motivate your team to participate in a fitness challenge: 

  • Establish prizes. Companies like HealthWage offer corporate wellness challenges that pay cash prizes. Also, some health insurers now offer discounts on premiums if workers walk or exercise; check with your carrier to find out what is available. 
  • Companies like Charity Miles let you track your walking, biking, or running miles and turn it into cash for your favorite charity.  

But what about the exercises themselves? Since many of us are still sheltering in place and keeping our social distance, it’s a good idea to select workouts that are easy that can be done in the home. Here are some exercise suggestions to help motivate your team: 

  • Good old fashioned pushups are great for your pecs, triceps, deltoids, and core. These simple exercises can be done on any floor—no equipment needed. 
  • Chair exercises include the “magic carpet ride.” Sit in your office chair and cross your legs. Grab the chair’s armrests, and, using your core, lift your body out of the chair. Hold the post for 10 to 20-seconds if you can and then repeat five times if you can.  
  • Speaking of the body’s core, it’s critical to the entire body to strengthen the torso area and stomach. Planks are a modified version of the pushup, a yoga posture that basically holds the pushup at with your arms straight, engaging your body’s core muscles to hold your body in place. 
  • Calf raises are easy to do throughout the day to get your team out of their chairs. Just stand up near your desk and use it for balance. Raise your heels off the floor as high as possible, hold, then lower them slowly to the floor. Repeat this 15-times. You can even hold a weight in your hands to increase this workout. 

Motivating your team to get out of their chairs could be as simple as setting three or four times throughout the day to stand up and stretch. Tying these movements to a fitness contest will strengthen their bond and keep them healthier together.  

Exelare offers companies like yours the tools to help their teams work smarter. Talk to us today about our best-in-class applicant tracking software designed especially for today’s teams.