9 Best Fitness Challenge Ideas In 2024

Staying fit without partaking in fitness challenges is like eating dry, unchewable overcooked chicken

Partaking in a fitness challenge is like eating soft, saucy, marinated for 3 days delicious chicken.

Just last year I was prepping for military training in Canada, and I decided to do a fitness challenge, to in a exciting way, quickly get better at pushups!

I started with doing 100-200 push-ups each workout, and committed to adding 20 push-ups each workout.

Very quickly I went from doing 30-50 pushups in 1 set to 60-75 in 1 set. (and about 500 pushups a workout)

And my workouts became like eating fresh, saucy, juicy, marinated for 3 days chicken.

Below, are some fitness challenge ideas to make your workouts,like eating soft, juicy, and marinated for 3 days chicken!

My Top 3 Fitness Challenge Ideas

1. Pullup Fitness Challenge (all-around good fun)

Benefits

• Increase the amount of pull-ups you can do
• strengthens and builds your upper body
• May win the carnival game where you have to hang for 100 seconds for $100

Pullup Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 7, 14, or 21 days

1. commit to doing 1-3 sets of as many pullups as you can.

Pullup Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

If you can’t do full pull-ups, either try assisted pullups or hang for as long as you can

2. Squat Fitness Challenge (gruelling but rewarding)

Benefits

• Increase the amount of squats you can do
• strengthens and builds your lower body

Squat Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 10, 20, or 30 days

1. commit to doing 1 set of squats till you can’t anymore
2. + 1 set of 1/2 the amount of squats you did on your 1st set.

(e.g I did 50 squats before I couldn’t do more, I’ll do 25 squats on my next set)

Squat Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

If doing a full-air squat is difficult, try doing squats with a chair, or a bench under you for additional support

3. Pushup Fitness Challenge (authors pick)

Benefits

• Increase the amount of pushups you can do
• strengthens and builds your upper body

Pushup Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 7, 21, or 33 days

1. commit to doing 1 set of pushups that’s done until you can’t do anymore
2. + Do 10 negatives after that set (see video to learn how)

Pushup Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

If doing a full pushup is difficult, try doing knee pushups, or incline/ wall pushups

The Rest Of The Fitness Challenge Ideas (#4-#9)

4. Healthy Eating Fitness Challenge

Benefits

• Feel more energized, and happy
• Be healthier
• Get better results from your workouts

Healthy Eating Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 7, 21, or 33 days

1. Swap out 1 unhealthy item you eat daily, weekly etc with one healthy item
2. Eat that healthy item instead of the unhealthy item each day/week

For Those Who Dare

1. Pick 1 fitness challenge that you will do each time you don’t follow through implementing this challenge
2. Complete the additional fitness challenge you picked on the days you don’t follow your new healthy eating fitness challenge

Healthy Eating Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Try eating half the portion of the unhealthy item and eating half the portion of the healthy item

5. Walking Fitness Challenge (keep your heart healthy :))

Benefits

• Low impact easy way to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke
• Increased cardiovascular ability

Walking Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 30, 45, or 60 days

1. Commit to taking a walk daily
2. Start 10 minutes
3. Every day add 1 minute of walking time until you get to 30 minutes or a greater number of minutes you are satisfied with

For Those Who Dare

1. Supercharge your walking by walking outside, ideally in nature – watch as the way you feel, mental clarity and focus all improve

Walking Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Start at 5 minutes of walking a day and add 30 of additional walking each day

6. Plank Fitness Challenge (boost overall strength)

Benefits

• Increase core strength and upper body strength
• Be stronger in all other areas of life (lifting, other exercises, etc)

Plank Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 15, 30, or 45 days

1. Perform 1 set of plank for as long as you can
2. Perform 2 additional sets of plank but stop when it starts to feel like in 10-20 seconds you won’t be able to plank anymore

For Those Who Dare

1. Perform each set of plank until you can’t plank anymore

Plank Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Go into plank form, hold for a few seconds, then rest, for 10-30 seconds – repeat 3-10 times daily until you can hold a plank for 15-25 + seconds

7. Sleep Fitness Challenge (boost workout recovery)

Benefits

• Feel more energized and strong each day
• Experience increased post-workout
• Experience what it felt like to sleep like a baby

Sleep Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 30, 45, or 45 days

1. Sleep 10 minutes earlier than you normally do
2. Every 3 days, sleep an extra 5 minutes earlier
3. Repeat until you are sleeping 30-60 minutes earlier or at a time that satisfies you

For Those Who Dare

1. Sleep 30 minutes earlier on your first night
2. Then sleep an additional 5 minutes earlier each night until you sleep at a time you know to be healthy

Sleeping Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Don’t look at your phone 10-30 minutes before going to bed – and take 3 deep breaths each night before crawling into bed

8. Friend Fitness Challenge (thrilling)

Benefits

• you’ll discover them soon 😉

Warning: You may hate your friend after this 😉

Friend Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 30, 45, or 45 days

1. Without telling your friend what you’re doing, Ask your friend to pick any exercise/movement off the top of their head
2. Ask them to pick an interval or rep range of that exercise they think you could do but that would challenge you *tell them you are curious to see how strong they think you are, don’t tell them what you are really doing yet)
3. Perform that exercise/interval daily

For Those Who Dare

Tell a friend they can pick the exercise and movement you do and the amount of reps/time you do it BUT tell it to the friend you wouldn’t want to tell.

Friend Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Perform half of the number of reps/time your friend tells you, or perform it every other day

9. DIY Fitness Challenge (boost workout recovery)

Benefits

• results in whichever area you desire most

DIY Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 30, 45, or 60 days

1. Pick 1 area of your overall health and fitness you would like to improve
   1. e.g better cardio, stronger arms, stronger legs, etc
2. Identify 1 exercise/movement that targets that area
   1. tip: search on Google Exercises for [are you want to improve]
3. Perform that movement/exercise daily for an appropriate amount of time

For Those Who Dare

1. 2x everything above
   1. Do double/double everything above

DIY Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Do the exercise/movement every other day instead of daily

What Are Fitness Challenge Ideas?

Fitness challenges are an easy way you can make your workout 10x more fun, while getting 10x more results, without a lot of additional effort in a very short time.

Fitness challenge lengths

A fitness challenge isn’t typically a 1-year plan or even a 3-month routine. It might be something new and exciting you try for 30 days, or even for 1 week! Like doing an extra 30 jumping jacks on every even day of the month!

What can be a fitness challenge?

Almost anything can work as a fitness challenge, even taking the stairs instead of the elevator every Wednesday of the week.

See the 9 fitness challenge ideas, 1 of which you are 99.99% guaranteed to try and love!

TLDR: Fitness challenge ideas

1. Use a fitness challenge to
   1. make your workouts something you look forward to
   2. increase your physical ability and better your overall health
   3. Push yourself and change yourself
2. Try the walking Fitness Challenge for a simple fitness challenge anyone can do no matter their experience, gender, etc.⬇️

Walking Fitness Challenge (keep your heart healthy :))

Benefits

• Low impact easy way to lower risk of heart disease and stroke
• Increased cardiovascular ability

Walking Fitness Challenge Idea

Every day for the next 30, 45, or 60 days

1. Commit to taking a walk daily
2. Start 10 minutes
3. Every day add 1 minute of walking time until you get to 30 minutes or a greater number of minutes you are satisfied with

For Those Who Dare

1. Supercharge your walking by walking outside, ideally in nature – watch as the way you feel, mental clarity and focus all improve

Walking Fitness Challenge Idea (beginner/modified version)

Start at 5 minutes of walking a day and add 30 of additional walking each day

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FAQ – Fitness Challenges

How do I create a fitness challenge with friends?

Try the Friend fitness challenge (challenge number 8) or ask a friend to partake in any of the above challenges with you! Take turns picking the challenges you both commit to!

What is the best fitness challenge?

The best fitness challenge is one that gets you closer to your health and fitness goals.

Check out the list of the 9 best Fitness Challenge ideas FOR INSPIRATION!

Are fitness challenges safe?

How you partake in and how you do the fitness challenge is what makes it safe or not.

Suppose you just suffered a stress fracture in the shin.

In that case, it probably isn’t safe to start a squat challenge.

Please use your rational thinking and/or consult with a licensed medical professional if you aren’t sure if you should partake in a fitness challenge.

(this article is medical advice, it’s for informational and entertainment purposes only)