How to Start an Office Exercise Group

Wellness at Work
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Organizing an Office Exercise Group

Starting an office exercise group can be an effective way to jumpstart a new diet and exercise regimen. You spend all day long with your coworkers, so why not harness the power of a group mentality to support and encourage each other in healthy endeavors?

Office exercise groups offer coworkers who want to get in shape a reason to be accountable. When healthy habits are a common goal, coworkers can turn to each other to discuss both goals and setbacks. With daily interaction between coworkers, the entire office is likely to succeed.

Office exercise groups work by letting coworkers gather to develop fitness goals. After establishing their goals, coworkers can meet on a weekly basis for group fitness activities or simply meet to discuss each other’s progress.

Here are some simple tips and ideas to get an office exercise group up and running in your work place.

Announcing Your Office Exercise Group

Recruiting your coworkers to join an office exercise group is easy. If you work in a small office, it’s as easy as personally inviting everyone to join. In larger offices, creating an invitation email or posting fliers by the water cooler may be necessary.

When you create an office exercise group announcement, include some details that define what an office exercise group is. Let your coworkers know when the group will meet, what its goals will be, and give them your contact information.

Keep It Fun

There’s enough competition in the workplace already, so make sure that your office exercise group is friendly, not competitive.

Keep the mood light and encouraging by holding fitness challenges. Brainstorm with the group to develop fun fitness challenge ideas that everyone would enjoy. Potential challenges could involve giving a prize to the group member who improves his mile-time the most or rewarding members who meet their weight loss goals each month.

Ask your supervisor to help you provide rewards and prizes to the group. Your company may chip in to offer gifts. Just be sure that gifts are appropriately healthy: stay away from offering gift certificates to restaurants or giving candy as prizes.

Focus on Fitness

When coworkers get together, the conversation can often turn to gossip or business. Keep an office exercise group on track by choosing a leader who can steer the conversation towards fitness and manage group activities.

The role of office exercise group leader doesn’t have to be too challenging. The leader’s job will simply be to make sure that the group continues to meet its goals. You may even choose to rotate leaders so that the burden doesn’t fall on one person.

Suggestions for Office Exercise Group Activities

While some office exercise groups simply meet to talk about fitness, others decide to participate in group fitness activities together. Here are some good office exercise group fitness ideas:

  • Participate in a volunteer fitness challenge for charity
  • Take daily post-lunch break walks around the parking lot
  • Walk up and down stair wells
  • Schedule stretch breaks in the conference room throughout the day
  • Organize a weekend trip to the park for hiking or ultimate Frisbee
  • Install a basketball hoop in the parking lot and have tournaments after work