What is a step challenge?

Virtual route

Walk a virtual route and pass milestones to see which team or user finishes first.

Counting steps

Use your phone or a wide range of activity bracelets/smart watches to count steps.

Converting activities

Have you been cycling, swimming or playing football? Convert over 70 different activities into steps.

Team and individual

Motivate your teammates to be active while competing in the individual results.

App and website

Download the Wellstep app from the App Store or Google Play, or log in via www.wellstep.se.

How many weeks?

Start the step challenge on any date and decide how long it will last.

Make a success of your wellness initiative with a step challange

An important factor behind a successful wellness initiative is the possibility to do activities together where there is the opportunity to encourage each other, which strengthens the community and motivation. Step challenges have become popular and continue to be popular for a number of reasons:

  • Participants have fun
  • It is very easy to take part
  • The activity does not take much time
  • Positive impact on the workplace
  • Businesses save a lot of money, including from reduced sick leave.

How does the step challenge work?

Register steps

To register steps, log in to the competition page, the website or the Wellstep app. The steps are counted using either a pocket pedometer, Fitbit/Garmin activity trackers/smartwatch or a pedometer app that automatically transfers the steps to Wellstep. Wellstep supports Google Fit, Apple Health, Pacer and other brands that support Health Connect such as Samsung Health.

Converting activities

In the step challenge, it is possible to convert around 70 different activities into steps. Once an activity such as football, swimming or strength training has been done, it is easily entered into Wellstep by entering the number of minutes. The possibility of converting activities motivates participants to try new forms of exercise. It is also possible to turn off the conversion completely if you want the challenge to be all about walking.

More features in the step challenge

You compete both in teams and individually. Each team has a marker on the map and the results per group and individual results are presented in tables and lists on the competition page. If the teams are of different sizes, an average value is calculated and it is therefore possible to have different sized groups. You can also choose not to be part of a team and only compete individually.

All participants have a default step target of 10,000 steps/day and this can be easily changed. In the step competition, a step barometer allows you to see how you are doing in relation to this goal. The personal step goal allows you to compete against yourself and be competitive to make improvements. This is important because not everyone has the same motivation as the most diligent who have already managed to collect the most steps.

If you want to limit the number of steps, you can do so in three ways:

  • Maximum number of steps per activity
  • Maximum number of activities per day
  • Maximum number of steps per day

It is also possible to set a limit on how many days back in time you can record steps/activities.

At the end of the step challenge, participants are invited to answer some simple questions about exercise habits and such. The results can be very helpful for you as a company when evaluating the step challenge and planning new wellness activities in the future.

The results of the competition can be followed during the step challenge both in the tables where you can see which teams and participants are leading, but also, above all, on the map showing the virtual route from start to finish

Possibility to publish the activity (steps, activities and bonus missions) you registered in an activity feed visible to other participants. It is also possible to complete the post in the activity feed with a text and image.

The route from start to finish goes through a number of milestones. The date passed by the teams/participants is recorded and allows, for example, to award milestone prizes.

To motivate each other, you can write posts on the competition page. Cheer on your team members, tell your colleagues about walking routes or why not brag about your new step record! A message can either be shown to all participants or only to your team.

Wellstep is available in both Swedish and English. Login details can be sent in both Swedish and English, and each participant can choose which language they want when logging in.

It is also possible to divide the teams into departments and compare the different departments with each other.

Physical condition is an important resource for having the energy to do what we want to do. Wellstep now includes a question-based test where all participants can test their own fitness level throughout the challenge and find out how good it is. The test gives you a so-called test value. The recommendation for a sedentary office job is to have a test value of at least 35. The test value of 35 is approximately what is needed to oxygenate the body and brain for a full working day and to have energy left afterwards. It is also considered to be a threshold for not risking ill health related to the fitness level. Achieving a test value of 35 requires about half an hour of heart rate-raising exercise daily. At the end of the test, the participant decides whether to save the results. The fitness test, which is question-based, is available in both step competitions and activity challenges and is based on an adaptation of a published scientific article in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Do you have questions about the step challenge?

Contact us if you have any questions about the features of the competition, how to get started or if you have any special requests for your step challenge.

More features in the step challenge

Premium

Do you want a simple competition or one with more features? Step challenge premium includes features that provide extra engagement and motivation.

Register health-related bonus missions for physical, mental and social health, e.g. spent time in nature, tried a new activity, ate a piece of fruit or helped a colleague.

Encourage employees to do activities together. Not only is it more fun to exercise together, sometimes you need someone to make sure it actually happens!

Motivate participants to more exercise while contributing to charity.

Match the competition page and app with your company profile. You can choose colors and add your logo if you wish.

Publish messages in Slack or Teams about e.g. the best team/participant of the week or when a team has passed a milestone.

Examples of bonus assignments

Pedometers

In the step counting competition, each participant needs to count their steps and here you choose whether to buy a physical counter to keep in your pocket or use a step counting app on your mobile phone. Wellstep works with all types of pedometers, including a wide range of activity trackers and smart watches.

Wellstep supports automatic synchronization of steps for Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung Health, Pacer and all other brands that support Health Connect (Android) and Apple Health (iOS).

We also sell physical pedometers, a simple and thin pedometer of high quality. You carry it in your pocket, hang it around your neck, or attach it to your waistband with the included clip.

Virtual routes – Where do you want to go in the step challenge?

You choose which virtual route you want to walk. There are both shorter and slightly longer routes to suit different types of competition setups with large or small teams and different lengths of competition periods. Not all teams need to have the same number of participants, as the competition weights the steps so that there is no advantage or disadvantage in being more or less than others. In the calculation below, choose an average number of participants per team. If you only want to compete individually, count 1 person per team. For a team competition with a wide range of participants, we recommend a step size of 1 person. If so, please let us know when ordering. Below you can see which virtual routes are available. By selecting the step size and the number of people per team, you can see how much time per leg it takes to walk. It is also possible to create your own routes, please contact us for more information. We recommend a competition period of 4-6 weeks. This is a good time to get started for people who need a little more time to get started. At the same time, the challenge does not feel too long, which reduces the risk of giving up.

Calculate the number of days:

Average per participant:
– 10 000 +
steps/day
Number of participants per team:
– 5 +
participants (on average)

From Stockholm to

Falun 21 miles 6 days
Gothenburg 41 miles 11 days
Oslo 43 miles 12 days
Malmö 55 miles 15 days
Copenhagen 69 miles 19 days
Haparanda 87 miles 24 days
Berlin 91 miles 26 days
Prague 117 miles 33 days
Amsterdam 119 miles 34 days
Nordkap 139 mil

40 days
Paris 157 miles 44 days
Chamonix 169 mil

48 days
Milan 180 miles 51 days
Monaco 202 miles 57 days
Rome 220 miles 62 days
Istanbul 225 miles 64 days
Barcelona 259 miles 74 days
Malta 266 miles 76 days
Casablanca 360 mil

103 days
Gran Canaria 448 miles 128 days
Dubai 551 miles157

days
Mumbai 710 mil

203 days
Sri Lanka 865 miles 247 days
Cape Town 1121 mil

320 days
Beijing 1240 miles 354 days
Hong Kong 1278 mil365

days
Tokyo 1460 miles417

days
Sydney 1808 miles

517 days

From Gothenburg to

Copenhagen 27 miles 8 days
Stockholm 41 miles 11 days
Berlin 61 miles 17 days
Budapest 130 miles37

days
Tromso 142 mil

41 days
Rome 191 miles 54 days
Malta 247 miles 70 days
Gran Canaria 425 miles 121 days
Dubai 536 mil

153 days
Sri Lanka 883 miles 252 days
Beijing 1234 miles 352 days

From Malmö to

Stockholm 55 miles 15 days
Paris 110 miles 31 days
Rome 168 miles 48 days
Madrid 215 mil

62 days
Malta 223 miles 63 days
Gran Canaria 401 miles 114 days
Sri Lanka 868 miles 248 days
Las Vegas 1016 mil

290 days
Beijing 1210 miles 345 days

Other routes

Öland 14 miles 4 days
Östersund – Trondheim 23 miles 6 days
Crete 23 miles 6 days
Around Lake Vättern 26 miles 7 days
Around Lake Mälaren 26 miles 7 days
Around Lake Vänern 35 miles 10 days
Copenhagen – Oslo 50 miles 14 days
Haparanda – Stockholm 87 miles 24 days
Smygehuk – Treriksröset 173 miles 49 days
Treriksröset – Smygehuk 173 miles 49 days
Linköping – Paris 144 miles41

days
Linköping – Dubai 540 miles

155 days
Lund – Barcelona 206 miles

59 days

What do our customers think?

  • It has really worked as a good motivation to move more!
  • A real push to start training again. Will continue to use the pedometer after the competition as inspiration and control of step goals, because there are not many steps on a regular working day at the office 🙂 I want to do this again with my colleagues!
  • It has been fun to be part of the competition! It’s also very nice that it shows in the clothes, which have become bigger ;o)
  • It’s a nice competitive element, and some colleagues who don’t normally exercise get started this way. Nice to see “how far you go”
  • A nice way to compete with yourself, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Get off one station earlier and walk the last bit. Another advantage is that you can push each other without chasing and stressing steps. So it’s a good way to exercise.
  • Has encouraged many “couch potatoes” in the company to start exercising. Perfect! It has also generated a lot of engagement and “talk” in the company. Diet and exercise have been the subject of much discussion at the coffee tables!

Try the step challenge for free!