Fitness Challenge Wrap-Up

As I jumped into the pool today, it hit me that I had not written anything about the Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge in a long, long time.  That is unfortunate given the amount of time and effort everyone, including me, put into this challenge and what a success it turned out to be.  It was time to write about it, so in this article, I will provide an overall Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge wrap-up including a breakdown of some of the statistics generated by the participants.  Overall, the challenge went very well, and we had very good participation from most of the members.

What was the Fitness Challenge?

The Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge was an eight-week challenge that was designed to get people moving and develop some good habits after the holidays.  The Challenge launched on January 1, 2016, and ended on February 25, 2016.

This was also an opportunity to set up a strong, active fitness community on Facebook (and in the future here at Small Scale Life).  Before the Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge launched, I noticed that there really are few fitness and weight loss groups to join on Facebook.  Most groups out there seem to be for private clubs, crossfit groups or gyms.  I thought would be great to have a vibrant and active group once the challenge was complete.

Dave Taylor, aka “Red Beard”, did a fantastic job setting up the group and organizing the entire operation.  From determining the points to answering questions to tallying the points up each Thursday, Red Beard did it all.  He also won third place in the Challenge, so the guy has some real motivation!

Speaking of motivation, Red Beard went the extra mile and solicited donations from various fitness groups and organizations in the Twin Cities.  He was successful and secured an impressive bunch of prizes for this event.  One of the real lessons learned was that given enough lead time, groups will donate to a local, homegrown fitness challenge. However, the key is that someone has to be motivated and be persistent to make (and keep making) those phones calls to the groups.

Congrats to Red Beard for his work and efforts organizing, running and completing the Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge!  He did a really great job.

Data and Statistics

We had 44 participants in the actual Fitness Challenge, even though the Facebook group is 75 members strong.  Of those 44 participants, 38 recorded results during one week of the Challenge.  Looking at the data generated over the eight weeks, the following

• Active participants logged a total of 31,644 points (based on the points scale discussed here)
• An average of 3,955 points were generated each week by the 38 active participants
• The highest points (total of 4,866 points) were generated during Week 3 of the Challenge, which was aptly named “Beast Mode Week”
• The Overall Fitness Challenge winner averaged 333.75 points per week; the second place winner averaged 238.75 points per week.  The third place winner averaged 225 points per week.  As a comparison, I averaged 116 points per week

There were weekly winners for overall points scored, and Red Beard set up weekly activity-specific challenges to give others a chance to win prizes. These weekly activity-specific challenges included the Beast Mode Week, Ultimate Yoga Challenge, Mile Markers Challenge and the Swim Challenge.  It was up to the participants if they wanted to give those challenges a try.

Fitness Challenge Winners

There was a clear winner in this Fitness Challenge, and he made himself known early.  Danny Domres simply blew everyone out of the water with his weekly scores.  Averaging 333.75 points per week, no one could touch him.  How did he do it?  Every day, Danny ran several miles (up to eight miles), played several games of basketball, and lifted weights.  He is incredibly active, and no one could beat him.

Jon Inselman was almost 100 points behind Danny, and David was right on Jon’s heels.  They performed very well during the eight-week challenge.

Forth place winner was Clarice Shanks.  She was the highest scoring female participant, and she averaged almost 208 points per week.  Julie Domres was in fifth place and the second highest scoring female participant.  She averaged 174 points per week.

Again, how did I compare with these folks?  I was 15th and averaged 116 points per week.  I am not challenging Danny or the other top athletes, but I am happy with that.  I was very active in the pool and on the treadmill (towards the very end of the Challenge).

What’s Next?

We had a great celebration to close out this Fitness Challenge, and congrats to all of the active participants!  You all did great, no matter where you came out in the rankings.

It has been almost a month now since the Challenge ended, and I have started lifting weights with my son Ryan. The Kwitchyerbellyakin Fitness Challenge Facebook Page is pretty quiet these days, so I dropped a post into the page to see if anyone was looking (and this article will be posted there). We’ll see who responds.  I would hate for that community to die on the vine.

In the near future, I will be interviewing Red Beard for the Small Scale Life Podcast.  There certainly are lot of lessons to be learned from planning, organizing, launching and running a national Fitness Challenge.  I am sure these lessons can be applied to other endeavors as well.  I will certainly let you know when that podcast is coming.

The future is wide open.  Will we kick off a new Challenge?

Time will tell, and we’ll see what develops.  Stay tuned!