Member Experience

4 Killer Fitness Challenge Ideas to Supercharge Engagement & Retention

There are many ways to run a fitness challenge. Here are 4 creative challenges that will help you retain more gym goers, create buzz about your brand, and boost revenue by increasing retention rates!

Eric LeClair
October 12, 2021
4 Killer Fitness Challenge Ideas to Supercharge Engagement & Retention
TL;DR
Here are 4 creative fitness challenges that will help you retain more gym goers and can create buzz. It will also boost revenue by increasing retention.
fitness challenge
Photographer: Igor Rodrigues | Source: Unsplash

Retention is crucial for fitness businesses, especially now when you are running a different business and had to shift to a digital way of thinking. One of the biggest reasons is the lack of motivation among the members, and it is where fitness and workout challenges come in. Even easy fitness challenges can keep the members motivated to hit their goals, lead to higher retention rates, and encourage new members to join. These get fit challenge ideas open doors to corporate wellness and help keep the employees motivated.

Whether you are thinking about running an online fitness challenge or an in-house one, here are some excellent fitness challenge ideas to maximize your member engagement and retention –

Weight Loss Challenge Ideas

People like to see physically noticeable progress, not just in themselves but in others too. By making weight loss more of a game, it will keep your members motivated. Some weight challenge ideas include the percentage of weight lost, overall pounds lost, or body composition change within a specified period.

Weight loss challenges are easy fitness challenges as monitoring everyone is simple. Members can submit their weight at the start of the challenge and then track the weight loss with weekly check-ins. Also, instead of covering many different areas in a single challenge, break the task to prevent the employees from being overwhelmed.

Fitness Challenges Per Month

According to experts, it takes about 21 to 28 days to form a new habit. It is the reason why monthly workout challenges are an excellent way to keep your members committed. Some of the best monthly physical challenge ideas include Improving Personal Best by 10%, Most Gym Visits Challenge, Running Challenges, and others.

You may allow members to pick certain activities they enjoy and let them improve on them, and it will allow them to push harder and be more focused when they are working out. Just ensure you document the members' personal best close enough from the start of the challenge to ensure they are not using their bests from about a year ago.

New Year Fitness Challenges Ideas

It is common for people to join the gym during certain times of the year, such as before New Year, to improve their diet, shed some pounds, or get in shape. It is the perfect time to launch gym challenges for both in-person and digital members. Some excellent new year fitness challenge ideas include New Year-New Nutrition, New Year-New Body, and others.

Even for those who are not competitive, fitness challenge ideas for gyms can bring out the members' best efforts. Adding a competitive element serves as a motivation to follow a long-term fitness plan that pays off at the end rather than just the nebulous goal of 'getting in the best shape.'

Team Fitness Challenge Ideas

Corporate fitness challenge ideas are short-term behavior competitions and interventions designed to improve the health and morale of the employees. Some great company fitness challenge ideas include Maintain - Don't Gain, Daily 30 Minutes Exercise, Walk It Out, and others.

Most companies do about four team fitness challenges in a year. These take a certain amount of effort to be completed, but when employees participate in them, they are more likely to maintain healthy behaviors even after the challenges are completed.

Use Fun Fitness Challenge Ideas to Grow Your Business Today!

Always make it easy for the members to join the challenge. It is important to keep track of the members' progress and deliver on the rewards promised at the start of the challenge. By running weekly or monthly fitness challenges, you can maximize sales, add more value to your services and keep the members motivated.

Eric LeClair

Eric LeClair works on the Marketing Team at PushPress. Eric has been a CrossFit Affiliate owner for 16 years. He's built three separate gyms and developed over 20 staff members to run operations at those facilities. He's a Veteran of the US Army, married with two little kids, and spends lots of time with his two boxers backpacking and exploring new adventures!

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