London, ON – With the first two weeks of the in motion™ Physical Activity Community Challenge now complete, Londoners of all ages have been answering the call to add more physical activity to their lives. The Challenge, first of its kind for London, calls on local residents to make a month long commitment to add exercise to their daily routine, even five extra minutes. So far, more than 1,000 people have registered using the in motion™ mobile software app and have completed more than 394,000 minutes, or 273 days of physical activity. There are also a number of people who are tracking their minutes of activity using the in motion™ paper tracking form available on the in motion™ website.

“We’re thrilled that so many people have taken up the in motion Challenge, and it would be great for those who have been sitting on the sidelines to sign up and take part,” says Marylou Albanese, in motion™ Chair. “We’ve had a lot of people put teams together to challenge each other and a lot of them have been planning events to keep their friends, family and co-workers motivated and involved. Everyone wins when they get physically active.”

There are an almost limitless number of ways that people can be physically active, but so far walking, general fitness, biking and weight training have been the most popular forms of exercise during the Challenge accounting for almost 80,000 minutes.

It’s not too late to register. Visit www.inmotion4life.ca to download the mobile app and track physical activity minutes – participants can even enter minutes of activity logged before they signed up for the Challenge, as long as they occurred in October. Those without smart phones can use the paper tracking form. Completed forms can be dropped off at any London Public Library branch at the end of October, at which time those minutes will be added to the community total.

The in motion™ Physical Activity Community Challenge is a collaborative effort of Middlesex-London in motion™, the broad-based community initiative whose goal is to promote healthy and active living in London and Middlesex County.

Media Contact:
Trudy Sweetzir, Communications Assistant, Middlesex-London Health Unit, 519-663-5317 ext. 2448

Spokesperson:
Marylou Albanese, in motion™ Chair

in motion™ Physical Activity Community Challenge Statistics and other information

• 972 users have registered for the in motion™ mobile app
• 265,710 minutes of activity have been logged to date using the in motion™ mobile app
• Over 90 teams (or communities) have been created
• 326 users have met their “weekly goals”
• The range of individual goals in large:
  - 51 users have a goal between 5-15 minutes of physical activity per day
  - 255 users have a goal between 20-30 minutes of physical activity per day
  - 118 users have a goal between 32-45 minutes of physical activity per day
  - 247 users have a goal between 50-60 minutes of physical activity per day
  - 96 users have a goal greater than 80 minutes of physical activity per day
• The most frequently reported activities are:
  - Walking (44730 total minutes / 1126 entries)
  - Fitness (13140 total minutes / 254 entries)
  - Biking (10985 total minutes / 234 entries)
  - Weight Training: 10680 total minutes / 210 entries
• The average minutes of activity in October are 150 min/user.
• Some interesting team names can be found in the Communities section, such as:
  - “The Armchair Waterboys (and girls)”
  - “Beacock Babes”
  - “MJ’s Dynamic Duo’s”
  - “Five Guys and a Pregnant Lady”
  - “Sneakers”
  - “It’s a Secret”