A mission to boost sagging exercise levels
With gyms and fitness studios closed until recently by the COVID -19 pandemic, people were left to motivate themselves to exercise. Not everyone does that so well.
A survey of more than 450,000 smartphone users in 187 countries found that step counts decreased worldwide in the period after COVID -19 was declared a pandemic by up to 49 per cent, according to a study published June 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
A group of health professionals at Mcgill University wants to help get them back up.
The Comprehensive Health Improvement Program (CHIP) has developed a Summer Family Fitness Mission — a web-based sixweek program intended to engage families to exercise regularly and together. The mission, sponsored by Veterans Affairs Canada, begins today and is free and open to all.
It’s intended to be challenging, competitive and fun as families track their daily physical activity on a virtual map across Canada and visit national parks along the way, explained Dr. Ilka Lowensteyn, an associate professor of medicine at Mcgill and the mission’s lead kinesiologist.
They choose from 200 activities, including walking, biking, swimming, gardening, yoga and golf. With each step equivalent, they earn a point — and there are additional points for such activities as posting on a message board or checking their standings.
“The idea is to get as many points as possible,” Lowensteyn said. “We are basically game-ifying your activity.”
Mcgill medical students act as health coaches, supporting participants and helping them set goals.
Eight missions have been held since last September, with more than 500 participants, and previous missions have demonstrated average increases in daily physical activity of at least 30 per cent, Lowensteyn said.
CHIP has a five-year grant from Veterans Affairs Canada to help improve the physical and mental health of veterans. Until the pandemic, enrolment was limited to veterans and their families. As of the beginning of April, others were permitted to join.
Before the pandemic was declared, 18-year-old Cailin Mcmurray, who swims competitively for Côte-st-luc at the national level, was training seven times a week.
“Doing a two-hour practice doesn’t seem that long,” she said. “Working out in the basement — using stretch cords, weights, jump ropes and stationary bike — I find motivating myself a lot harder.”
Her coach did Zoom workouts three times a week “and I tried to do at least 30 minutes of biking or ab or leg work every day,” said the CEGEP student, one of Lowensteyn’s two daughters.
“But as the quarantine went on, I slowly started to drop off.
“Having my coach messaging us and motivating us to work out did help, but I know people on my team who lost all motivation.”
In April, Mcmurray began an online mission with her mother; then she and a friend from the swim team completed a six-week mission, which ended last week. They earned steps through activities including dry-land workouts with their coach, cycling and walks on weekends — and finished third among roughly 100 participants.
What she liked about the mission was that “it held me accountable.”
“When I was swimming all the time, I didn’t care if I had a lazy day. But now, when every day could be a lazy day, it motivated me to do more, gave a competitive aspect to it and helped me keep track of my physical activity and whether I should be doing more.”
When she’s swimming, Mcmurray’s steps are in the 20,000 range nearly every day. Before swim team practice restarted a few weeks ago, 13,000 to 15,000 steps was “a good day, but other days I would struggle to get to 10,000.”
For some, motivation is not an issue. Working from home gives Linda Allen more time to exercise — and she’s doing just that. Ordinarily, she walks the dog for exercise, does housecleaning and gardening, and walks, cycles and kayaks.
She just completed a CHIP mission with her daughter, Kayleigh Beaveridge, a medical student at Mcgill and a health coach in the program. On top of her usual activities, that meant early-morning online workouts and climbing a set of outdoor steps several times a day.
“This challenge is always at the back of my mind,” said Allen, who plans to do a second challenge with her daughter as well.
“It’s just getting going, getting yourself doing something — and something you enjoy.”