Our Team 30-Day Fitness Challenge

At Breast Cancer UK, we are committed to empowering people with knowledge about breast cancer prevention. But this October, we took a different approach: action! To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we embarked on a team 30-day fitness challenge.

For general health and wellbeing, the World Health Organisation recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate, or 75 minutes of vigorous, physical activity weekly. So, our team fitness challenge was to complete at least 150 minutes of exercise each week. It’s a personal commitment, a team effort, and a way to show our support for breast cancer prevention in a tangible way.

And, as a fully remote team, this was the perfect way to get us moving now the months are getting colder and people tend to shy away from getting active! Many of the team touched on this when we caught up with them at the start. Hannah G, our Digital Communications Officer, said: “I want to make sure I get into the habit of benefitting both physically and mentally from regular exercise and fresh air.”

While Rosie, our Public Relations Officer said: “I’m realising how easy it is to fall into bad habits when you don’t have to leave the house… I want to try and be more active daily.”

Tiphaine, one of our Scientific Research Officers, found the ‘gloomy’ weather a big factor in her fitness journey. She said: “I think dragging myself out in the rain might take some resolve.”.

Our 30-day fitness challenge, despite the obstacles we all face, will hold our team accountable to get active and show our physical support to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Before we kicked off the challenge, we took a moment to understand our team’s fitness levels, motivations, and potential hurdles.

Our current fitness amongst the team ranges from not very much to daily walks, gym classes, netball and park runs! We all want to challenge ourselves to do even more and reach our 150-minute targets.

What did we want to achieve with our 30-day fitness challenge?

Much of the team wanted to hold themselves accountable and in turn spur on some motivation. Alex, our Public Affairs Officer said, “Having a goal of 150 minutes per week will make me think about my plans for each day and how I can allocate time for myself and my own health.” While Tiphaine and Kerri, from our science team, said they want to challenge themselves ‘to do new things’ (including a new PB at Parkrun).

Other potential hurdles we have, like many others, is ‘responsibilities outside of work’ such as family life! Lou, our Head of Content and Communications, said this is her biggest hurdle but is determined to ‘overcome excuses not to do it!’

Kerry, our individual Fundraising Manager, said this will spur her on to ‘keep up with a 5-year-old!’. Other Kerri (yes confusing!) explained how exercising makes her feel ‘less overwhelmed with being a new mum’ so she wants to continue these habits.

This insight will help us stay accountable and support each other throughout the month.

We understand that projecting a healthy lifestyle is all part of our jobs, so we want to continue this trend outside of work and ‘encourage others to start their fitness journey and reduce their risk of breast cancer.’ “It’s only fair that I get off the sofa and practise what I preach!”… “As a fundraiser it’s a bit cheeky if I let the supporters do all the work!”, as Rosie and Kerry both said.

How did we feel at the midway point?

Well, everyone was still taking part, which is a positive. We checked in to find out what has been the biggest challenge so far. With no surprise, the change in season came through as the biggest challenge. Many found it harder to motivate themselves to go outside when the days got colder and wetter.

But the upside was when they did, they found it gave them a mental boost and found they were a lot more positive. Lou said, “I live by the coast and walk along the sea at lunchtimes. The change in weather makes this more challenging, but I put some extra layers on and once you are out and walking you soon warm up. Plus, the wind blows the cobwebs away, so I’m fresh for my afternoon at my desk!”

While Hannah G said, “I always try to remind myself what a privilege it is to be able to move my body. I’m lucky to be in good health and that’s something exercise helps me maintain. It’s not always easy, but when it comes down to ‘do you want to look after yourself?’ the answer has to be ‘yes!’”

Kerri also found that being able to incorporate it into family life, like family walks, not only meant ‘the whole family were exercising and getting fresh air’ but also that ‘childcare was not a barrier to exercise.’

So, how did we do?

Most of the team found it easier to keep going knowing that others were doing it too, indicating the psychology of being accountable to someone helped keep us motivated. Over half the team felt fitter by the end of the challenge and motivated to continue. 25% said they felt stronger and had more energy.

The biggest challenge for most was finding the time to exercise. We know that finding the time to fit it into your day can be difficult. But building it into your routine is a key recommendation from the team. Thalie sums this up perfectly, “Routine is the only way for me to keep it up.”

A strong theme throughout the challenge was the change in the weather and the clocks going back putting people off from going outside. But some managed to turn the bad weather into a positive. Hannah G told us, “There was one particularly miserable day when I really did not want to go for a run after work. It was dark, cold, and absolutely hammering it down with rain. But I gave it a go and ended up running further and faster than I had in months!”

Along with challenges came wins too. For Alex, she pushed herself in unexpected ways, “I went and did both a dance fitness class and an aqua aerobics class on my own. Sometimes I put off doing exercise if I don’t have someone to do it with, but I deliberately made myself do something outside my comfort zone as part of the challenge and subsequently really enjoyed both classes.”

So, do you feel motivated to challenge yourself? Find your own routine and start your exercise journey today with our 30-day challenge. What are you waiting for?

• awareness
• BCUK
• Breast cancer
• breast cancer prevention
• Breast Cancer UK
• cancer
• Challenge
• charities
• Fundraise
• prevention
• Run
• Running