How to tell people I'm not joining the step challenge
Replies
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monkeefan1974 wrote: »Ok I guess y'all didn't catch my mild sarcasm in my original post. Mostly, I'm dealing with older ladies and I don't even want to mention weight lifting because even my own mother scoffs at weight lifting because it isn't a "lady-like" thing to do and I'll get "too muscular". (I am not muscular at all). Basically I want a light-hearted joking way to say thanks but no thanks. Even if it's a lie. Gimme a cute line to say!
Tell ‘em you have a bum knee you messed up when you were younger and you have to limit your walking or it will swell up like a cantaloupe but that they are so lucky to get to participate!
Ok that's actually not wrong! I do often complain of my geriatric knees. It's believable!
This is legit me now. Bum knee, it’s been swollen most of the winter. It hurts when I lift, it hurts when I cycle, but it hurts AND swells from walking! I was convinced I was pushing too hard with my lower body workouts, but when I stopped walking and started driving to work - knee is better. Doctor’s appointment on Monday!
Sorry for getting off topic!
I personally like the cold dead heart comment; I wish I could come up with reasons like that!
Yeah I hadn't had very many problems with my knees lately until last week when my boxer was at the vet having teeth removed. She was put under sedation and I waited with her until she woke up and probably took her home too early because I had to carry her to and from the car. Mind you, I'm a 4'11 midget.1 -
Kathryn247 wrote: »"My bionic knees/hips are leased and if I go over 4,000 steps a day, I have to pay extra."
We have the same picture. We're cool.2 -
runnermom419 wrote: »"My focus needs to be on making sure everyone else has a great challenge!"
Definitely this.2 -
Just sign up for it and be a voluntary loser.
My work does these step challenges all the time and it's not a big deal if you don't hit the 10k steps. Would it really big that big a deal to join and only log as many steps as you get in a normal day?7 -
Why not join the challenge, and lose? If you're concerned about the cost, then that may be telling you the fee should be a bit lower anyways. Besides, if you're not walking enough, you're not walking enough.
G/L!5 -
At my job, I'm on the Living Well Committee, and we are starting a new monthly step challenge program where you pay an entry fee and the top 3 steppers win cash prizes. Hasn't been completely hashed out yet. It seems like a good way to get people active, being that something like 2/3 of people are overweight these days, probably even more in my office building. But I'm not overweight and I'm doing more weight lifting these days, so a step challenge for me would be a waste of time and money. Being that I'm on the committee that is coordinating this activity, what's a better way to tell people why I'm not joining the challenge other than saying it'll put me on the fast track to skinny-fat? I have this problem where I'm too blunt with people.
Walking and getting in steps doesn't put you on the "fast track to skinny fat"...I lift weights and also do a lot of cycling and walking and I'm far from skinny fat. I don't know who told you that, but it's a bunch of bull *kitten*.
That said, I'm sure that they can see that you're fit...you can just say you're doing other things fitness wise.6 -
Give people a choice - do that step challenge for the not so fit and something else, which you also would enjoy as an alternative. People are getting used to options and choices again despite our politicians' and leaders' best efforts.1
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Ok I guess y'all didn't catch my mild sarcasm in my original post. Mostly, I'm dealing with older ladies and I don't even want to mention weight lifting because even my own mother scoffs at weight lifting because it isn't a "lady-like" thing to do and I'll get "too muscular". (I am not muscular at all). Basically I want a light-hearted joking way to say thanks but no thanks. Even if it's a lie. Gimme a cute line to say!
Eh - my grandmother, who is in her mid 80s, does very light weight lifting once or twice a week. My mom is in her mid 60s (which I wouldn't consider especially old but I know others do) and I'm pretty sure she does the same. And no, I'm almost positive she didn't get the idea or attitude from her mom.
I do think that your being on the living well committee while also choosing not to take part in the step challenge is potentially hypocritical. It is kind of coming off as, "You all should do this because you need to but I clearly don't." Also drop the idea of "skinny fat". A. it's not a thing and b. you can both walk (or do various cardio heavy activities) and do strength training. They aren't somehow mutually exclusive. Also even if you don't up your steps, or only do so minimally, is that really so bad? What's the worst that could happen?
Obviously it's up to you as to whether or not you choose to do the challenge, but be prepared for people wondering why you're on the committee and choosing not to take your own advice.
(also no, I didn't catch your sarcasm, but I admatitly am bad at doing so on the internet with people who I haven't interacted with or whose posts I haven't seen a lot of)4 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »Being blunt with people is not a problem. Tell them straight up that your fitness objectives don't include a lot of cardio and leave it at that.
I don't think that's blunt at all. But then I grew up on the east coast.0 -
"It wouldn't be fair to the rest of you"
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State that your goals are directed towards the health benefits of resistance training currently.1
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Ok I guess y'all didn't catch my mild sarcasm in my original post. Mostly, I'm dealing with older ladies and I don't even want to mention weight lifting because even my own mother scoffs at weight lifting because it isn't a "lady-like" thing to do and I'll get "too muscular". (I am not muscular at all). Basically I want a light-hearted joking way to say thanks but no thanks. Even if it's a lie. Gimme a cute line to say!
Offer to do a mini-presentation about debunking myths of strength training, and how to get started, as part of the festivities, then use the line about wanting to focus on making the competition fun for others. (Sounds like having a neutral non-participant might be needed to adjudicate disputes.
)
And - to be blunt - stop with the age/gender assumptions. I know quite a few women of many ages who've heard that strength training will help them avoid osteoporosis as they age, and are interested/scared, but have no idea how to get started. (Sometimes they think you can't strength train unless you can already lift 'heavy' things, kinda like the people who think you have to already be flexible to do yoga.) Give 'em a manageable on-ramp.
We're not all your mom. (I'm 63, BTW, so quite possibly older than some of your co-workers.)
Best wishes!17 -
Agree with the "be blunt. "
Personally, I think Step challenges with prizes encourage cheating.
Step counts are not that accurate.
I wouldn't participate because I'm not supposed to walk long distances every day if I want to put off another for surgery.
Most of my "steps" are actually conversions from swimming.
One last thing, A workplace sponsored step challenge could result in an ADA law suit by handicapped employees. Such challenges, by definition, exclude those who can't walk.5 -
I really don't get this.
First of all IF YOU HAVE THE TIME doing some cardio AND EATING ENOUGH TO COMPENSATE for the calories spent will not hurt your strength building efforts too much and it will improve your cardio-vascular health... which is somewhat of an important goal sometimes...
If you don't have the time and/or don't want to increase your steps or split your training focus... so what?
I am in all sort of Fitbit challenges. Most of the time (call it 45+ weeks out of 52) I do not change my behaviour to improve on my challenge results.
If the "participation" fee is substantial enough that it is a hardship to enter with the expectation of not winning... re-think the fees your committee is charging.
It is called participating in a challenge (to meet your own goals and encourage people who are inactive to become more active); not competing (to win at all costs and crush the evil opposition)! 9 -
If the entry fee is not financially prohibitive, I would still do it as a team building and moral thing even if it's not my personal fitness goals, and just be content with not winning. You still have to walk places in life, so you'll at least have some steps. But if you don't want to do it, just tell them that doing steps at the moment doesn't fit your fitness goals so you'll be happy to help organize and coordinate it but you won't be personally participating, but cheering for all those who do.
This.
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A coupe of women at work were putting together a fitness program and wanted me to join them. Free personal training. I’ve been lifting for over 20 years and have my routine set. And I hate working out in the morning. I thanked them for thinking of me and said I was really happy with my current fitness routine and wouldn’t be able to join them.3
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A coupe of women at work were putting together a fitness program and wanted me to join them. Free personal training. I’ve been lifting for over 20 years and have my routine set. And I hate working out in the morning. I thanked them for thinking of me and said I was really happy with my current fitness routine and wouldn’t be able to join them.
I'm with you on that, except that I love swimming 4 miles in the morning at 5AM weekdays when I'm home.
When I worked at a company that had an on site weight room that was just steps from my cubicle, I hit that every day for 45 minutes.
Yet I would never hit 10k steps or day.0 -
I'd just tell them you have other goals and priorities, because that's the truth.
BUT you might also use it as an example to the Living Well Committee that different people have different goals, and they should find a way to encourage people towards overall wellness. I'd also suggest a way to give the lesser capable people some chance of being recognized, whether it be the cash prizes or other methods. As an example, a step challenge would probably be easily won by a distance runner who already trains a lot. But the idea should be to also encourage Ms Random Name (who is obese and has bad knees) to try to better her health.
If it reaches a point of "everyone gets a trophy" then it often serves no purpose. But also remember that there may well be out of shape people who put in a huge effort in comparison to fit people, but since their total step counts (or other gauges) might be lower they will never "win". Just food for thought.7 -
our steps at work count toward HSA $$ contributions so it's a win win. Last year they did monthly challenges and ranked everyone. I could not for the life of me understand how anyone avg'd 40K steps per day. wow. I am glad they are not doing the competitive and public part of it again this year tho. I think eventually all the insurance programs are headed in that direction. Best of luck and tell us what you decided.1
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I participated in a step challenge in my workplace and it had an option to log "other" activity and converted to steps. ie cycling would earn you 1,000 - 2,000 steps per 10 minutes depending on effort.
BTW - cute dog in your pic
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I’m an independent contractor, so haven’t worked in a typical office environment for many years. So I’m still trying to get my head around why employees have to pay to participate in an employer sponsored challenge. The other question is what is the requirement/expectation for committee members to participate in the events they plan? It seems that you could enter the challenge without giving up your current workout routine. You don’t have to play to win and I would think committee members wouldn’t be eligible to win their own event.3
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SummerSkier wrote: »our steps at work count toward HSA $$ contributions so it's a win win. Last year they did monthly challenges and ranked everyone. I could not for the life of me understand how anyone avg'd 40K steps per day. wow. I am glad they are not doing the competitive and public part of it again this year tho. I think eventually all the insurance programs are headed in that direction. Best of luck and tell us what you decided.
We have this at my employer as well. Last year, I WAS that crazy person who took first place every single month. (I walked 1,000,000+ steps/month). I've never been good at or won much of anything before. I figured out that this was a way I could finally excel and be the best at something. It ended up consuming me, though, and became even more mentally exhausting than physical. This year, I'm still counting my steps and earning $$ for it, but I'm no longer participating in the challenges.3 -
I agree with the posters who say just join the challenge, not change anything you're doing and take the opportunity to cheer on the participants who are getting more steps than you.
On another note, depending on the competitiveness of your coworkers, be prepared to referee complaints that people are cheating (by counting cycling steps, running in place, having a family member wear it etc.) This stuff all came up when I participated in a step challange at work once, and there wasn't even prize money involved
Of all of the examples of cheating, how's running in place cheating? Plus the "cycling steps"? At least person doing it is actively moving, and that's ultimately the point of the challenge, correct? I would think sitting on the couch and moving your arm is cheating, but other activities can be figured into steps without calling it cheating.2 -
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huntersvonnegut wrote: »
Now the number of steps may not be great - but I would be curious to see what kind of distance was calculated from those impacts.
Let's see, expected impact weight based on 140 lbs at given stride length is say 200 lbs. Impact of 350 occurs, so stride must have been....1 -
Get off the committee.4
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How much is the entry fee? If I was on the committee, I would participate even if I lost. You don’t have to aim to win but you can celebrate with other participants succeeding in making SOME progress in movement. Just my opinion. Does participating require buying a FitBit or something?1
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I also like the idea of what someone said before, that you have some other goals for yourself right now but you’re still excited for the program and for future programs.0
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Sign up.
Strap the pedometer to your ankle.
While at work tap you foot all day long.
Register 20k-30k+ steps a day.
Continue to lift
Win the prize.
winner winner 3 -
Did OP tell us what she decided to do? @TarahByte1
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