Team fitness challenge ideas

What makes a good team challenge

The best team fitness challenge ideas have three things: everyone can take part, the team only wins if everyone pulls their weight, and it's fun to watch. If your fittest person can win it alone, it isn't a team challenge.

We run a team fitness competition ourselves, STRENGTH Showdown, for teams of four with no more than two men per team. These ideas aren't our event format. They're simple challenges you can run at your gym, your office or a park with friends.

Quick challenges (under 30 minutes)

• Relay sprint. Each person runs a short distance and tags the next. Simple, loud, done in five minutes.
• Plank chain. One person holds a plank at a time. When they drop, the next goes. Add up the total time for the team.
• Rep pile. The team has to hit a total number of squats, push-ups and jumping jacks, split however you like. Fastest team wins.
• Wall sit stack. The whole team sits against a wall. Last team with everyone still sitting wins.

Partner workouts

• You go, I go. One partner does a set while the other rests. Switch. Great for mixed fitness levels.
• Medicine ball pass. Sit-up and pass the ball to your partner at the top.
• Mirror drills. One leads, one copies. Then swap.

Longer challenges (a week or a month)

• Team steps. Add up every step the team takes in a week. Post the total each day.
• Class passport. Each person tries a new class every week, and the team scores a point each time.
• Distance to a city. Walk, run or bike the distance from your city to another one, as a team, over a month.

For offices

Keep it light. Not everyone at work wants to sweat in front of their manager. Mix in challenges that are about showing up, like a step count or a class passport, not only about who's fastest. Team building is part of what we offer companies, and our page of wellness events for employees has more ideas. If you'd like us to run the day for you, see corporate wellness events.

Make it fair

• Mix fitness levels on every team.
• Offer an easier version of every move.
• Score the team, not the individual.
• Warm up together first. Nobody wins with a pulled hamstring.

Team names

Half the fun is the name. Use your gym, your street, your office floor or an inside joke. Keep it something you'd be happy to hear shouted across a park.

Ready for the real thing?

If your team gets hooked, sign up for a real one. STRENGTH Showdown is our team fitness competition: teams of four, outdoors, with a crowd on every side and a prize pool shared between the winners, a charity and the community. New dates go on our home page calendar when they're set.

Questions people ask