Start 2022 with a bang with the Train In Blocks fitness competition

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Creating your fitness competition
3. Why you should create a fitness competition and what should it be?

Introduction

January is a difficult month - the weather is cold and wet, the nation stumbles around in a post-Christmas stupor and many a New Year’s resolution has already fallen by the wayside. But if you want the perfect antithesis to those January blues, then you’ve come to the right place with our Train in Blocks social media fitness competition.

The idea is a simple one: Train in Blocks will run an online, social-media based fitness competition each day for the rest of the month. Personal trainers and clients alike have to upload a photo or video of their workout - which could be anything from planking and push ups to against-the-clock sit ups, squats, punches and lunges. It can be a one off, timed challenge or a series of different routines over a specific number of days - what goes down is up to you.

From quirky, quick challenges on YouTube to full bloodied daily workout routines, fitness challenges come in all shapes and sizes - if that’s your vibe then Train in Blocks is the personal training Bible you never knew you needed.

Whether you’re new to the fitness furnace (perhaps you’re hitting the gym for the first time), or a season veteran by comparison, a competition such as this is a great way to get “up and at em” with one key buzzword at the forefront: motivation - and that doesn’t always simply just mean having the wherewithal to pump a bit of iron a few times a week.

Creating your fitness competition

The great thing about a challenge like this one is you can adapt to meet your client’s individual needs - you can start off light and build up to something much bigger and better as your confidence and level of fitness improve. Perhaps you aren’t quite feeling it one week but raring to go the next - whatever your wont, there’s no such thing as won’t.

With clients and personal trainers pulling together - united in pursuit of a common cause - achieving those all important goals is far more likely. Support is crucial, whether it be from other members or fitness experts and, in turn, your own efforts will prove to be the inspiration for others. When setting up your challenge or competition, you should consider setting an end goal within a specific timeframe - maybe it’s to lose a certain amount of weight, or to reach ‘x’ amount of push ups on a given day.

Structure and guidance are two of the most fundamental aspects of humanity and the world of fitness is no different. If members have a plan, a blueprint, for what the challenge will entail - and where it will take you - before embarking upon it they will be much more willing to stick with you and succeed in ensuring the shared vision comes to fruition. When you can see how far you’ve come, and where you still need to get to, it keeps those motivation levels high and holds your members accountable. Fitness tracking is vital - and it allows you to become a master of your own destiny.

Beyond your own mental health and wellbeing, there are many reasons why you may decide to delve into the world of the online fitness challenge or competition. Why are you running it in the first place? Maybe you want to build up your membership sales? Did you want to boost member engagement? January is a time when gyms up and down the land offer discounted joining fees to entice new members so perhaps you wish to promote everything your gym has to offer (pun intended) - or simply to enhance yourself as an expert.

Whatever your motive, an online competition is a great way to dangle the carrot when it comes to pushing through the ceiling (metaphorically speaking, of course) and attract new clients to your business or into a gym. You should set out your ultimate ‘end goal’ at the outset and, from there, structure and build up your challenge to suit the ambition of both yourself as a personal trainer and your members. You could consider offering a reward - maybe a gym discount - for any members who sign up to take part in an online challenge. This will get you a much wider range of clients and, in turn, help you appeal to a considerably larger sample size.

Why you should create a fitness competition and what should it be?

Once you’ve decided on why you’ve decided to undertake your challenge, it’s then time decide what to do. Your members, of course, should be at the heart of any decision making process - after all, you want them to get the best out of whatever you’re planning to put together - so make you work with them directly to ensure your competition provides a workout routine to tick all the boxes.

Liase with your members - most will have an idea of what they want to achieve and which area they want to work on - whether that be upper body strength, abs, glutes or tummy. When doing a challenge like ours, your clients will probably already have a target in mind so talk through how you intend to help them achieve it and remember - sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

It’s also worth bearing in mind how you plan to communicate with your members during the challenge - it’s not going to work if you turn up on day one but have disappeared into the background by the end - whether its social media, texts, video calls, face to face catch ups or all of the above - you’re “keeping them accountable” and staying invested by going along for the ride, side by side, step by step.

Train in Blocks will create our own hashtag with our fitness competition specifically in mind which you can use to share your photo or video before, during and at the end of the challenge. As your content is shared on social media, make sure to comment, share and show your support and provide details of how to involve others.