Looking to motivate each other to get active in the new year, the Aboriginal Student Support and Community Relations department held the ” It only takes a minute to win it!” challenge earlier this year. 

To kick things off, event co-organizer Tracy Brant (Aboriginal Centre Coordinator) sent a message to staff in the department, encouraging them to enter into a four week challenge to increase daily fitness.  Two teams of five members were formed, and each member began tracking the amount of time they spent participating in daily physical activity.

The rules were as follows:

• The activity needs to be at least 15 minutes per session
• The activity should get you heart rate up.  If it’s something like walking try to walk at a brisk pace to get your heart rate up!
• Don’t stress out and put too much pressure on yourself…it is for fun (as well as an excuse to get off the couch and get active!)

The challenge ran  from Monday, January 23 to February 20, 2012 – and resulted in a whopping 167 hours of physical activity!  As one participant, Lisa Carriere, said:

 “I felt the challenge was a great idea, it gave us a chance to get away from our desks and motivate each other as a team.  I’m sure some people could hear us laughing in that stairway thinking – Hey, sounds like they’re having fun, and we were having fun!”

It goes to show how a little bit of friendly group competition among friends can help motivate one to spend a few more minutes each day to be active.

Staff from the ASSCR posting on the "dreaded" staircase