It’s that time of year! As fall approaches nutrition and wellness challenges are in full swing for many gyms. Our main goal at Healthy Steps Nutrition is to get members into the gyms ongoing nutrition and wellness coaching program. Challenges get members fired up about improving their health and fitness, and they offer members a structured way to try out the nutrition coaching program. From there it’s a natural flow to continue moving forward with the progress gained from the challenge by joining the ongoing nutrition program.
By taking a holistic approach to nutrition and wellness, we create challenges that not only focus on diet but also encompass various aspects of overall well-being. We want people to know challenges are not only about weight loss. This comprehensive view aligns with the Healthy Steps Nutrition Framework which assesses clients:
Sleep
Nutrition
Social circle
Stress management
Lifestyle
So much more goes into nutrition choices than just deciding what to eat everyday. This is why we have added this framework into our nutrition coaching process and education.
In this blog post we will explore three innovative ways to spice up your gym’s next nutrition and wellness challenge creating a transformative experience for all of your participants.
3 Components To Consider When Running Your Next Nutrition And Wellness Challenge
Add A Performance Piece
Incorporating a performance element into your nutrition and wellness challenge can significantly boost engagement and motivation. This approach helps participants see the direct impact of their nutritional changes on their physical capabilities, creating a tangible link between what they eat and how they perform.
Start by establishing a baseline workout for all participants at the beginning of the challenge. You want to make sure your workout is one that all fitness levels can complete. In my gym we typically do a rowing workout because we have yet to find a person that cannot row.
These workout could look like:
Timed intervals for total meters or calories
A long distance row
Throughout the challenge, add in a couple of workouts that compliment the fitness test at the beginning of the challenge. This allows participants to track their progress and see how their nutritional choices and healthy diet affect their performance.
It’s important to emphasize that improvements may be gradual and that individual results can vary.
To make this performance piece more engaging, it doesn’t only have to be about ‘rowing’ or whatever you chose for your baseline test. Add in all types of fitness and consider adding a habit for fitness into clients weekly requirements.
Some ideas could be:
Create a leaderboard that tracks getting workouts in rather than absolute scores, encouraging participants of all fitness levels.
Offer mini-challenges focused on specific performance goals, like a step goal.
Provide educational content on how pre and post workout nutrition, and how the different macronutrients support different aspects of performance, linking the nutrition component directly to the physical health.
By adding this performance element, you’re not just challenging participants to eat better; you’re showing them why it matters. This approach aligns perfectly with our holistic wellness framework, demonstrating how nutrition impacts physical capabilities, overall well-being and even mental health.
Organize a Mid-Challenge Meal Prep Swap And Q&A
Meal prep is a cornerstone of nutrition challenges, but people struggle with it. Introducing a meal prep swap halfway through the challenge can reignite enthusiasm and introduce participants to new, healthy recipes they may not normally try on their own.
Here’s how to implement this effectively after you have chosen a date and time for the swap:
Create a GOOGLE sign up form where participants can write down what they are bringing to the swap.
You want to ensure that there are not 10 meals including lean protein, but no meals containing fruits and vegetables.
Suggest participants use the healthy recipes on your website, but if you don’t have any require that recipes be made up of unprocessed foods, healthy fats, and little added sugars.
Require each person bring five servings packaged in to go containers with the ingredients listed.
On a designated day, group members meet to exchange meals and have a Q&A with the nutrition coach
Meal prep swaps accomplish several things:
It breaks the monotony of eating the same meals repeatedly.
It introduces participants to new recipes and cooking techniques.
It fosters a sense of community and social support, which is crucial for long-term success in nutrition and wellness.
It addresses the “social circle” aspect of our wellness framework, creating positive social interactions around healthy eating.
This meal prep swap not only adds variety to the challenge but also builds valuable skills and social connections that support long-term wellness goals and improve overall health.
Launch a Family Nutrition Challenge
Expanding the challenge to include family members can have a profound impact on participants’ success and create lasting lifestyle changes. A family nutrition challenge acknowledges that healthy eating doesn’t happen in isolation – it’s influenced by our home environment and the people we live with.
If you are an HSN Mentoring client, we provide the framework necessary to run a family nutrition challenge. But if not, many of they key components of a family nutrition challenge are the same as an individual challenge. We focus on whole foods first, use the plate method to ensure balanced meals, and we take a holistic approach.
Additionally we include learning and nutrition education around habits that will create a healthy lifestyle, ultimately leading to long term health benefits.
The benefits of a family nutrition challenge are numerous:
It creates a supportive home environment for the participant.
It educates and potentially improves the health of entire families.
It addresses the “lifestyle” component of our wellness framework by integrating healthy habits into daily family life.
It can lead to more sustainable changes as healthy eating becomes a family value rather than an individual pursuit.
By involving families, this challenge extends beyond the individual, creating a ripple effect of health and wellness that can impact entire households.
Wrap Up
In conclusion, by incorporating these three strategies – adding a performance element, organizing a meal prep swap, and launching a family nutrition challenge – your gym’s next nutrition and wellness challenge can offer a more comprehensive, engaging, and impactful experience. These approaches align with our holistic framework, addressing not just nutrition but also exercise, sleep, stress reduction, social connections, and lifestyle factors.
By thinking outside the box and considering the broader context of participants’ lives, we can create challenges that don’t just change diets for a few weeks but potentially transform habits and health for years to come.
Free Help For Gym Owners And Coaches
WATCH & LISTEN – 4 Best Practices When Launching A Nutrition Challenge In A Gym & Top Mistakes To Avoid – HERE
WATCH & LISTEN – How To Plan, Launch & Execute A Nutrition Challenge In A Gym – HERE
WATCH & LISTEN – Turning Your Nutrition Challenge Into A Recurring Revenue Stream & Ongoing Nutrition Coaching Program – HERE
