Which online fitness program is best?

We have a growing division in this country and if I could be so bold, maybe in the world. It is a division between the have’s and the have nots. I’m not speaking of money or power. I’m speaking of the fundamental fitness of our society. We all know that staying physically active and engaged is crucial for long term health and yet that engagement is often out of reach. Do a search on fitness or exercise and you are going to see images of folks that clearly have already gotten the concept but where are the rest of us? Where does our engagement start?

We all have excuses for why we can’t make a change. Work, kids, lack of energy, lack of time… pick your preferred rationale, but one way or another there just isn’t enough positive to move us forward or simply get us off the couch.

Many of the latest studies on habits point to the need for making small changes over time. If we take that philosophy to exercise and fitness, perhaps the best approach to getting started is finding a way to enjoy small adjustments in our lives. With that approach we first need to determine what we enjoy.

For many of us that thought map leads to sports, games, activities, and competition. It may be in your distant past or it may be right now, but odds are you have experienced the joy of playing something against someone. It might have been an organized sport or a game of Aggravation (if you don’t know this one, find it… such a simple but great family game. Take it from a family that has likely approached the 1000 game mark). The game/event that is played is nearly irrelevant, what brings the enjoyment is the friendly competition.

I would challenge that the second most important thing to do is to find the right group?

If you are an average Joe or Jill and try to explore the world of online fitness it is a reasonable bet that you are quickly going to go back to the latest Netflix release. Seeing the level of fitness displayed in these online spinning classes or watching the CrossFitters destroying their WOD’s is just fundamentally depressing for so many of us. Sure in some deep hidden place, we might want to be that ripped for a day or two, but the path from couch to cut looks is… shall we say a bit intimidating???

A less recognized problem though is the negative effect of joining a group of folks just like yourself and trying to use group love and support as a motivator. Check out this article discussing a study on social support for fitness. It actually points out that the use of social support groups for fitness motivation can actually be a deterrent. It also points to the one differentiator in these groups that can make a positive impact… Competition.

Competition often gets a bad wrap, because people constantly make the jump to Winners and Losers. That’s not what real competition is about. Real competition is about trying to do better. It could be better than everyone, better than a group, or just better than you did last time.

Competition is inherently a motivator. At Competition Dojo we focus on the positives of that motivation and remove the barriers of intimidation.

How do we make competition and fitness less intimidating?

The variety of events in our program is intentionally designed to give everyone an opportunity to fail miserably. If you join us for a year and don’t find a single event where you struggle, we haven’t done our job. The struggle isn’t about not being able to run a marathon or not being able to do 100 push-ups, it is most likely about being pushed out of your comfort zone and being asked to participate in something you’ve never tried before. Ever played Disc Golf? Ever juggled a soccer ball? Ever tried indoor rock climbing? Our goal is to spread the competitive edge across all our subscribers.

We don’t ever want to forget the fun. As a subscriber to Competition Dojo you are asked to participate in one core event per month. In addition to that core event we often have other optional events and with many of our events core or optional we will try to bring the Fun Factor. The Fun Factor, is a simple but sometimes crazy add-on for our events with the singular purpose of bringing a little more fun and social to the event. As an example, in our annual 5K event we will have a Fun Factor of wearing your favorite costume during your run. The Fun Factor is always optional, but it is also a competition in itself. You might not be the best at throwing darts, but if you’ve got the best singing voice for that great pub song, you just might pull out the win in the Fun Factor or if you can combine a solid “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” while still hitting a couple triple 20’s maybe you can win the combined event.

The virtual world allows us to increase the ways our subscribers can compete. Sure, you will always be able to see an overall ranking, but you can also slice the data to see where you rank in your location, against your age group, against your gender, etc. You will be able to break things down to smaller groups and grow your ranking there first and then expand your group. We want everyone to constantly challenge themselves but we don’t want people to feel constantly challenged. Subtle but important difference.

Which online fitness program is the best? We claim it’s one that combines accessibility, competition, inclusion and fun. Competition Dojo... Come see where you rank!