2013 Spring Into Fitness Challenge

For the second year in a row, F&M FPS will have the opportunity to show school spirit and camaraderie by participating in the six-week wellness program, Spring into Fitness Challenge, in friendly competition with the faculty and professional staffs of Dickinson College, Elizabethtown College, Gettysburg College, Mount St. Mary’s College and York College. F&M FPS, as a team together, will have the opportunity to win two traveling bronzed trophies designed to be showcased at the winning institutions:

★ one award for the institution with the highest percentage of employees completing all six weeks of the challenge, and

★ one award for the institution that racks up the highest average of total minutes of exercise per participant over the six weeks.

HOW IT WORKS:

■ The actual fitness challenge will begin on Monday, March 18th and runs through Sunday, April 28th.

■ The definition of "exercise" for this challenge for all institutions is: Exercise is a specific form of physical activity — planned, purposeful physical activity performed with the intention of acquiring fitness or other health benefits. This means that movement or activity that is part of a person's normal work responsibilities does not qualify (for instance, the walking from building to building on campus an employee does as part of work tasks, or walking up stairs to another department).

■ Exercise in whatever form you choose, on whatever days you choose -- walking, biking, running, yoga, dance, calisthenics, stretch bands, to name just a few activities-- for at least 15 minutes or more. Exercise time should be logged in minutes.

HOW TO RECORD YOUR EXERCISE:

◆ You can use the six-week Spring into Fitness electronic tracking form which will automatically total your minutes to keep track of your exercise daily. Only exercise recorded for more than 15 minutes will qualify. Download the daily tracking form from the F&M Wellness web site: http://www.fandm.edu/wellness

◆ At the end of the week (weeks run Monday through Sunday), log into the weekly reporting form link and record the total minutes you exercised during that week (your cumulative total for the week): https://webform.ycp.edu/view.php?id=373

◆ There will be an email sent every Monday encouraging participants to log in to the web form and record the total exercise minutes for the previous week.

◆ You must enter your totals on Monday in order to be eligible for weekly drawings and for the points to count towards the F & M team total.

F&M PARTICIPANTS RECEIVE:

Beyond the larger scope of the multi-institution challenge, the F&M FPS Wellness Committee has personalized this initiative for those registering on our own campus:

★ Receive weekly emails with links and information on various health topics

★ Submit your exercise totals by the weekly deadline and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift card, one drawn at random each week of the six-week program.

★ Win one of two end-of-competition $75 gift cards, if your name is drawn from the pool of participants that completes all six weeks of the challenge.

★ For full time employees, if you are participating in the current Wellness Rewards Program, you have the opportunity to earn additional money. The current program has two monetary incentive tiers. Tier 1 is $100 and Tier 2 is $160. If you meet either of these tiers AND participate in the Spring into Fitness challenge for 5 out of the 6 weeks you will receive an additional $50.00.

★ Not a part of the Wellness Rewards Program? No problem! Simply log on to, or create, your Highmark online account at www.highmarkblueshield.com, click on "Rewards Program" on your account home page, enroll and 1) complete the Wellness Profile on the Wellness Rewards website AND 2) participate in the Spring into Fitness Challenge for at least 5 weeks, and you will earn $50.

Franklin & Marshall College

Wellness Committee

2013 Spring Into Fitness Challenge