We got plenty of feedback on our recent 30 Day Moving Challenge which we can use as we develop the Forever Young Club over the coming weeks, months, and years, starting with our 100 Day LEAP Challenge. We’ve distilled this feedback into the 11 Ways Our Challenge Helped Participants, set out below:

1. Purpose: The challenge gave participants real purpose and focus in their life and this motivated and inspired them to keep going and achieve their goals.

2. Moving: We understand the importance of moving and developing a “Moving Mindset” as a key part of our daily physical activity. The 30 Ways To Move document are moving ideas created by challenge participants. An explanation for each move is available here.

3. Walking: We learned to vary our walks during the challenge. Some days it was important to walk slowly and “smell the roses”. Sometimes it was appropriate to increase the pace of our walk, gradually and progressively.

4. Tracking: We learned that recording of steps in challenge worksheets, though initially demanding to complete, gave us the discipline and structure needed to achieve our daily and weekly goals and actually complete the challenge.

5. Community: This is one of the primary objectives of the Forever Young Club. Those who embraced the power of community by engaging in challenge activities were ultimately very successful in achieving their challenge goals.

6. Facebook: 151 participants joined the private challenge Facebook group. We were encouraged to post images of our daily walks and this facilitated an ever-growing awareness of our local areas and environment.

[Winner of the Facebook Group Gordon Judge Photo at top of page]

7. Zoom Calls: We had some different experiences with our five Zoom calls, during the challenge. Ultimately they demonstrated and reinforced the benefits of participant engagement and involvement.

8. Three Levels: We had three challenge levels to choose from which helped us select the most appropriate and realistic level. Conversely we learned that only three levels did not accommodate everyone.

9. Time Management: We learned how to manage our moving and walking time better during the challenge; this created the added bonus of improving our time management skills overall.

10. Work Breaks: Getting up to move during our workday, forced us, by default, to take breaks. Counter-intuitively, this helped to increase productivity, improve performance and creativity; the subconscious works miracles.

11. Time Out: The challenge provided a much-needed time out to reflect on the importance of both physical and mental health and creating balance in our lives, during a very difficult lockdown period.