Getting Fit

Getting Fit
Towns compete to get healthy
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON  Throughout history, rivalries between towns have often been downright nasty. Whether caused by competing sports teams, economies, industries, or they just plain didn’t like each other, the end result has generally been destructive — bench-clearing brawls, sabotage, even riots.

But more recently, the neighboring communities of Templeton and Athol struck up a new kind of rivalry, one sure to encourage a more productive outcome. The two towns will spend the next month competing in a FitBit Challenge to see which team can adopt a healthier lifestyle.

FitBits are electronic bracelets that, among other things, primarily track heart rate and movement. The terms of the challenge are simple — whichever town racks up the most average daily steps wins a massage provided by Blue Cross.

Holly Young, senior legal assistant for the Board of Selectmen and the team leader, said the idea for the FitBit Challenge originated with the recently hired human resources coordinator Alisha O’Malley, who was looking for programs that employees could participate in as a group and discovered the challenge offered by Blue Cross, the town’s insurance provider. The company provides FitBits to participating team members for the six-week duration of the challenge and the daily number of steps are recorded on the Blue Cross website.

“We have 26 employees from different departments participating,” said Ms. Young. “We are all excited to get as many average steps as we can and hopefully beat Athol so we can each win the massage that Blue Cross gives to the each of the members of the winning team ... however, our ultimate goal is to develop healthier habits and healthier bodies.”

Even though the challenge is still in its early days, Ms. Young said many team members have already adjusted their activities to pack in more exercise.

“I believe most of us have already changed our routines at least a bit to include more steps per day,” Ms. Young said. “Speaking for myself, I am more conscious of my daily activities and do try to get out and walk more.”

While some healthy lifestyle changes may peter out after a few weeks, Ms. Young said she believes the team atmosphere and added incentives will help drive the town to victory.

“We are definitely all more motivated because we are working as a team,” she said. “We are encouraging each other to walk and move around more and I, as the team leader, am sending emails to our group regularly to keep them motivated.”

Wearable activity trackers have been around since the early 2000s, although they have recently seen a surge in popularity, largely due to the rise of social media. Many devices have apps that connect directly to your social media platform of choice, allowing users to broadcast — or brag — about their daily activity levels.

FitBit, with six different models available, is currently leading the $3 billion activity tracker industry, largely due to the number of challenges available on its website that encourage collaboration and competition between groups of friends or employees.

Ms. Young said she hopes to see more cities and towns host similar challenges, as they encourage not only a healthier lifestyle, but a cooperative environment in the workplace.