About the getfit@mit fitness challenge

getfit@mit is a 12-week, team-oriented fitness challenge open to the entire MIT community. The goal of getfit@mit is to help make MIT a healthier community by encouraging participants to exercise regularly.

Teams of five to eight people compete based on the average number of minutes exercised each week. Prizes are awarded weekly to teams and individuals selected at random from among those teams meeting the steadily increasing weekly exercise goals. The grand prize winner isselected randomly from all eligible teams meeting the minimum average exercise threshold for at least ten out of twelve weeks of the competition.

getfit@mit is presented by MIT Medical, the MIT Health Plans, and the Center for Health Promotion and Wellness, with major sponsorship from the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (DAPER). For more information, see complete rules and Frequently Asked Questions.

Registration for next year’s challenge opens in January, 2009.

Make lasting lifestyle changes

It may be just a 12-week program, but results have shown that participants in getfit@mit are able to make lasting lifestyle changes. In each of the last three years, nearly three-quarters of getfit participants have told us they began exercising more as a result of the fitness challenge. More importantly, most of them kept it up for at least six months after the program ended!

Other benefits reported by at least a quarter of participants include:

• Weight loss
• Reduced stress levels
• Improved sleep
• Improved general mood
• Improved muscle tone
• Improved eating habits
• Improved flexibility