5 Fitness Games and Exercises for Those Looking for a Challenge

Everyone has their own way of exercising. Some people prefer to be mindful, focusing on peace and improving one’s state of mind. Some prefer to push themselves to the limit with intense workouts that help change the way they look and feel. However, there are some out there that are able to focus on themselves and others. While there are workout routines that build teamwork, and comradery, there are some exercises that deliberately pit people against one another. Whether it’s for casual fun, or purely to compete to be the best, here are five fitness games for your inner competitor.

Boxing/Kickboxing

For one-on-one matches against someone else, boxing classes are as direct as they come when it comes to a direct contact sport. Keep in mind, we are talking about boxing for sparring purposes, but if you enjoy the practice it’s worth considering competing for the sport as well. Regardless, boxing requires a lot of training that focuses on upper body strength, balance, endurance, and breath control. Competitively, boxing is fun because it measures your success directly against who you spar with. Matches aren’t necessary even or pre-determined, and there’s always more that you learn from the sport as you brawl with another person. Boxing, as well as kickboxing and other direct contact, ring sports are also great for learning valuable defensive skills to apply in everyday life.

Dance Off

Dance offs are a great example of fitness games, where success is measured by the crowd, or judges in the case of dance battles. In freestyle dance offs, you can bring anything that you want to the table without judgment. It is always a good choice to practice, whether that’s in classes or at home in the appropriate outfit. After practicing, bring what you prepare to a dance off, which puts you in a group scenario where everyone is vying for some attention. It gets your body moving, and keeps you active in a fun way. Dance battles are also fun, though more heavily organized and typically done with a judging panel. If you think you’re especially good at dancing, then battles can be a fun hobby to take up on the side to really see the results of your freestyle dance pay off.

Red Light, Green Light

In red light, green light, you compete against a group of people (from friends to complete strangers), in racing from one end to another. Along the way, one person yells out “red light” to stop running, and “green light” in order to get the competitors to move. If you’re caught moving on a red light, you’re sent back to the beginning. It might seem like this innocent childhood game is too simple to be valuable exercise, but that’s where you’re wrong. Aside from the obvious running involved, this game involves balance and timing which is useful in any physical sport. This is an especially good competitive game for children as they learn necessary motor skills, and the competitive aspect makes everyone involved want to try as hard as they can.

Musical Exercise

This is an exercise style that requires a bit of coordination, but can be especially fun in a group. It can also be played in multiple different ways, but here’s the way we’d recommend. First, set up a list of music to play and listen to as you exercise. Then, have an idea of exercises that revolve around repetitions, for example: jumping jacks, lunges, burpees etc. Now, the fun begins. Someone will start off naming an exercise to complete “x” amount of repetitions. The last person to complete then the next person to decide the next exercise. For fun, tally points for those who complete the exercise. Anyone that also fails to complete the exercise by the time the music ends would also not gain a point. The goal of this game is to push yourself to do repetitions, and try different exercises. It’s important to remember that going fast doesn’t necessarily create a great workout, but it can help you increase your individual pace gradually so that when you exercise on your own, you’re able to improve yourself.

Capture the Flag

For those who enjoy more strategic games, capture the flag is a great choice that can help you in other contact, team sports like football and soccer. The goal in capture the flag is simple, one team must capture another team’s flag and bring it back. In order to play this, you’ll need an open field or gym that anyone can run around freely in. One player is responsible for defending the flag, be it in their back pocket or on a post. Then, both sides must get to the other side in order to strategically get to the flag, or defend their own. This game is great for exercise because you’ll learn how to dodge attacks, learn balance, and spatial awareness which is helpful in everyday scenarios as well as team sports. We don’t encourage this game to be a particularly physical sport, instead use a tapping method that you find in games like freeze tag in order to eliminate players.

In conclusion, competitive exercise isn’t for everyone. The way you approach it, however, can be different no matter what you choose to compete in. You should always make the choice to be respectful of those who you compete against. Through that, you build camaraderie, make friends, and motivate people along the way to be their best self. If you show that gratitude towards someone, they will give that to you in return. We hope you enjoy your next competitive exercise.

Photo Creator: Rubin Starset / Copyright: Rubin Abdi