Form a team and take the getfit@mit challenge

What does it take to start an exercise program and stick with it?

Will power? Motivation? Determination? A clear goal?

What worked for Ruth Fishbein was peer pressure.

In the spring of 2003, when MIT's Center for Health Promotion and Wellness sponsored the "Tour de MIT," a fitness challenge for MIT Medical employees, Fishbein, MIT Medical's performance improvement and risk management coordinator, joined one of the teams. "Before the fitness challenge, I did try to exercise," she says, "mostly walking, but I was not terribly consistent."

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Once the competition got underway, Fishbein found herself going for almost-daily walks and bike rides. "I exercised even when I didn't feel like it," she explains, "because if I was just letting myself down I could live with it, but I couldn't let my team down."

And she kept up the pace even while away on vacation. "One week I submitted my exercise log by email from Italy ," Fishbein says. "Honestly, my biggest exercise challenge in Italy was managing not to twist an ankle while walking on the cobblestones," she laughs. "I never figured out how the Italian woman are able to navigate those streets on their narrow spiked heels."

Being part of a team "really gave me an incentive to exercise consistently," Fishbein continues. "I had made a commitment, and I felt I had to keep up with, and contribute to, my team's total. It really kept me going."

Start the new year right

Starting in January 2005, MIT Medical and health@mit will be offering the entire Institute community the same opportunity to harness the power of positive peer pressure through getfit@mit, a three-month, team-oriented fitness challenge. The central goal of getfit@mit is to foster a healthier MIT by encouraging participants to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

Participants can form and register teams of five to eight members online, starting in early December. Activities get underway the first week in January, beginning with a lunchtime kickoff event at the Z-Center, where participants can pick up information packets and getfit@mit tee shirts, enjoy a healthy snack, and take a walk or jog around the track. Final team rosters may be submitted through the end of that week.

Once the challenge is underway, teams will participate in individual or group activities of their own choosing and keep track of their individual activity minutes. Team captains will submit time totals for their team members each week, and an online database will maintain individual records and calculate an average for each team. Participants will also be able to post messages, ask questions, and find out about getfit@mit events through an online message board at http://stellar.mit.edu/S/project/get-fit/index.html (MIT personal certificate required).

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