FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The start of the new year will also be the start of the fifth annual Get Fit! Fairfield fitness challenge, a 12-week health and weight loss challenge where teams earn points by meeting weight loss and exercise goals and completing weekly fitness challenges.
Put on by Fairfield County Parks & Recreation, the event is designed to help people kick start their goals on the way to a healthier lifestyle.
“When it comes to health and fitness, not everything has always got to revolve around weight loss,” says Lucas Vance, director of Fairfield County Parks & Recreation, explaining why the challenge is more than just tracking numbers on a scale.
“We want weight loss to be symptomatic and a result of active living and a healthier lifestyle.”
Participants in the challenge will be able to earn points for their teams in several ways: by logging 30 minutes of exercise six days a week, by meeting weight loss goals up to 2 pounds per week, by completing weekly fitness challenges issued by Health and Fitness Specialist Cameron Roseberry, and by participating as a team in a 5K run/walk in February.
For the weight loss portion of the challenge, private weigh-ins will occur at the beginning, middle, and end of the 12-week period.
Team Requirements
Teams must register by Jan. 4, and the program will run from Jan. 8 through March 29, 2024. Teams must be made up of four people aged 14 or older. The cost is $15 per person, and there will be cash prizes for the top two teams.
Vance, who himself participates in the challenge every year, says for the last three years there’s been a reigning champion team called Team Greatness – and they are definitely the ones to beat.
He says he’ll be interested to see if the field of 20+ teams that’s expected to participate this year will include one that can unseat the reigning winning team.
For those who are considering the challenge, Vance says he recommends signing up with a group of people you know will exercise with you and who can help keep you motivated.
“We see a lot of times it’s a contest between families,” he says. “And a lot of times, ‘work families’ enter as teams.”
Also, he said, some choose to work toward their fitness goals during the challenge by joining the Community Fitness Center in Winnsboro, which costs $20 a month (with no ongoing membership commitment) and includes assistance from fitness center staff for those who’d like instruction how to use the equipment or adapt their exercise to physical limitations.
Vance says the biggest success stories of the program over the last five years have not been simply the ones who’ve lost the most weight during the challenge; it’s been the ones who’ve used it to begin a healthy lifestyle that they’ve then been able to maintain going forward.
“Some of our biggest ‘losers’ over the years have kept the weight off,” he says.
“With Winnsboro’s tight-knit community, you’re going to be in this contest with a lot of people that you know, whether you see them at the grocery store or whether you went to school with them or go to church with them or whatever,” Vance says. “That kind of brings a sense of pride also to this.
“I would just really encourage people to participate, even if it’s to support a family member, a friend or neighbor,” Vance says. “We all have New Year’s resolutions, I hope, and this fitness challenge is a really good way to start off the new year.”
For more information, visit the Community Fitness Center on 5th street in Winnsboro (where you can sign up for the challenge) or contact Cameron Roseberry at (803) 815-2046.
