Eight Awesome Online Fitness Challenges

Looking for a little extra motivation to get healthier this year? Here are eight awesome and effective online fitness challenges to help kick your motivation into high gear.

I’ve heard time and time again that one of the best ways to keep your goals is to make yourself accountable to someone else. This is particularly true when it comes to fitness and weight loss goals. In my own experience, this is very true. It’s a lot easier to sneak treats and skip workouts when I’m only accountable to myself. However, when I have others to lean on and check in with, it makes me think twice about grabbing some chocolate chips as I walk by the refrigerator.

One of the great things about the Internet is that there are so many ways to connect with other people. I have done various health challenges over the past few years, and I have found them to be very effective in helping me reach my goals. I try to participate in at least one a year. Most of them have some kind of health/fitness aspect tot hem, but often, they incorporate challenges to help better yourself overall.

Since it’s the beginning of the year, there are quite a few of these challenges starting up. Most of these run at different times throughout the year, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the best ones out there. I’m actually participating in a few of these, so I’d love to have some of our readers jump in too. Let me know if you do!

Several of these do cost a little bit of money, but in my experience, money is a great motivator. You never know – you might walk away with some great prizes if you really throw yourself in!

DietBet

This is a pretty simple idea – lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks or 10% in six months. There are always games going on, and there are different buy ins. I believe the minimum is $25, but all the money goes toward the “pot.” If you meet your goal, you get a portion of the pot, and if you don’t…then you lose your money for entering!

You can join an existing game or you can start a game to do with friends, family, or co-workers. I know a lot of companies will host weight lose competitions with with employees, so this would be a great way to organize it. It’s not my favorite challenge, since it just focuses on weight loss, but if you just want some motivation with some competition, it’s a fun one for sure!

The Game-On Health Challenge

I’ve done this one several times, and I’ve always really enjoyed it. It’s ran by Kami over at No Diets Allowed. The game lasts about six weeks, and you are placed on a team with several other individuals. You can sign up with friends or be put with people completely random! There are a bunch of different categories that you can get points for each week – a perfect week is considered 700 points (and you get one day off each week. I usually pick Sunday.) You focus on exercise, drinking water, following a certain meal plan, and working on getting rid of unhealthy goals and starting healthier ones.

It’s kind of intense at times, but the point system is always very motivating. It’s important to be on a good team, because that makes it so much easier to be encouraged to get things done. It costs $20 and a portion of that goes toward the prizes! There are multiple challenges a year, and I’m doing the one that starts in a few days. I’d love for any of you to join me!

Feel Great in 8 Challenge

I actually haven’t done this one yet, but I know several people who have, and I also know the creator of it. She’s been putting on these challenges for years, and people have been very successful. I’m planning to sign up for one soon (and I’m debating about doing the one that starts in a few days.)

It is an eight week challenge that focuses on making you healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually.  It’s point based, like the Game-on Challenge, and it focuses on the following categories:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Protein
• Fiber
• Water
• Supplement
• Caloric Range
• Addiction Avoidance
• Prayer or Meditation
• Uplifting Reading
• Sleep
• Gratitude Journal
• Family Time
• Weekly Service
• Daily Bonus Tasks

You get points for completing tasks and goals and you get points taken away for eating unhealthy foods and going over your caloric range. There are multiple competitions a year, and it costs $20 to join in one!

Pact

If your goal for the New Year is to make it to the gym more, this is definitely the challenge for you. I heard about this several years ago when I was writing for SmartPhone HC. It’s a mobile app that you download and you commit toward certain goals each week. When I first discovered it, it was just for going to the gym, but as I was just looking at it, it looks like it’s expanded a little bit. If you meet your goal, you get money, and if you don’t, you owe money. So basically, if you say you are going to the gym three times in one week (which is tracked by GPS), and you only go two, you owe a little bit of money. However, if you go those three times, you get money added to your account. Rewards are typically between 35 cents and $5 a week.

#NOEXCUSES

This one is not currently active. I hope it comes back!

This is my favorite online fitness/health challenge I’ve ever participated in. First off, it’s free. So if you don’t have any extra money in your budget, this is definitely the challenge for you. It’s put on by Angela from Hairspray and High Heels and Taylor from Pink Heels Pink Truck, and I believe the first one was this last August. Each month there is a different challenge (such as 75 miles in 30 days, or a certain amount of minutes of exercise in 30 days) and you keep track of your exercise in a provided tracker. For whatever reason, I found this to be very effective, and I actually lost about 10 pounds in one month when I did it the first time. I found myself really wanting to meet the monthly goals, and I pushed my self to go the gym on days I probably normally wouldn’t have.

30 Day Fitness Challenges

Looking to switch up your workouts a little bit? I know I always am – I get bored doing the same elliptical or weight machine exercises each week. This website had 30 day challenges that focus on a particular part of the body or topic. Each challenge has a chart with something that you need to do each day of the 30 days. All the challenges are completely free, and I think it’s a great way to  mix up your typical workout each day. I’m thinking about doing the 30 Day Ab Challenge as soon as we get home from vacation.

Konkura

Konkura is pretty similar to to 30 day fitness challenges, but they have a wider variety of challenges. You can compete with friends or join an existing community. You can even create your own challenges based on your own goals.

Challenge Runner

This is just a website that allows you to create your own challenges of any type. It’s super easy to use, you can track progress with a challenge board, you can create teams, and more. The basic plan is free and includes a lot of great features. If you are a company, it might be worth signing up for the paid plan (which is ad free and includes things like text messaging.) I think I might have to start a Clarks Condensed fitness challenge one of these days.