The Weekly Fitness Challenge

One of my great learning's this year has been social media in general and Twitter in particular. One of the interesting things to me has been the sense of community that develops in online gatherings. Whilst you may not personally have met the people,you certainly get a feel for who they are through the words and comments posted.

As in any gathering of people you tend to gravitate towards those who have similar interests and passions. With this in mind I find that I have “met up” with some wonderful people who are passionate about health and wellness and are doing something each day to make a difference.

One of my new Twitter buddies is Geoff Hampton who is the founder of The Weekly Fitness Challenge as well as being an author speaker and internationally respected business consultant. It is a great honor for me to have been appointed International Medical Director for The Weekly Fitness Challenge. There are a number of top people who have gotten involved on the board that Geoff has set up. (see link)

So what’s the big deal you may be asking? As I write in Dr Joes DIY Health-Putting You in Charge of your Health “The body is designed to be active and until recently, we didn’t have a choice as movement and physical activity were a normal part of life.
Our early forebears had to chase after food in order to survive and up until the industrial revolution most work was physical in nature.

Cars, labor-saving devices, escalators and remote controls have made for a very “easy” life. Collectively, the developed world is paying for its ability to automate simple everyday tasks and chores. The price is the growing rates of obesity and lower rates of fitness. It is worth noting that regular exercise is important at any weight and that being fit plays a role independent of weight in keeping you healthy.

Unfortunately, many people recoil in horror at this suggestion because exercise is seen as a chore. Furthermore, like many simple tasks where researchers and experts get involved, exercise has been portrayed as being far more complicated than it needs to be. “

Yet it doesn’t need to be hard. Exercise can be simple and most importantly fun.

This is why initiatives such as the weekly fitness challenge are so important. It is a program designed to get people who aren’t doing exercise to do so. It does this by encouraging those who do regular exercise to “reach out” to their family, friends or co-workers and get them active. There are 12-week cycles and each week there is a different activity. Each one is for group involvement emphasis is on fun and participation.

Geoff has designed the program to appeal to the unconverted. In other words it is fairly easy to get the message about exercise across to those who are exercising This is about reaching those who are not currently exercising regularly and helping them get started in a supportive environment.

The health benefits of regular activity are many. Whilst it may sound obvious, there is only benefit if you do it. Those who don’t exercise will get the benefits when they change behaviors and get active. The weekly fitness challenge is about getting people involved at a grass roots level and changing peoples lives for the better. I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this initiative.

http://perform-maxsystems.blogspot.com/2009/09/weekly-fitness-challenge-what-is-it.html