Duke encourages faculty and staff to get fit and healthy with the Get Moving Challenge, Duke's annual wellness competition. Individuals and teams of co-workers and friends have the chance to inspire each other to achieve health goals.

LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke's employee wellness program, sponsors the exercise program, which uses an online reporting system to log and track progress and show leaderboards. During the program, individuals and teams log weekly progress in various challenge categories, including minutes of activity and steps taken. For more information about the Get Moving Challenge, please see the frequently asked questions below.

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Weekly Articles

Week 10 (March 11-17)

A Culture of Commitment

Written by Sara Cathey, MPH - Health Education Specialist - LIVE FOR LIFE

Let me just say, we are SO impressed by y'all! Every week, it is amazing to see the number of steps you take toward a healthier you! Duke embodies a culture of commitment, and y’all are proof! The care you provide for your patients, students, colleagues, community, and so many more are too! We hope the Get Moving Challenge has also helped you commit to yourself and your health goals just as you commit to others.

As we enter the last week of the GMC, take a look at where you started and where you are now. (Don't forget to give yourself a round of applause as you cross that finish line! 👏🏼🏁) While sustainable behavior changes are often small, their impact certainly isn't! So, how have you changed? What small, new pattern have you adopted during the GMC? How will you keep it going?

Here are some ideas!

  • You have a community of support around you in your teams! Continue to cheer each other on and hold each other accountable to your goals.💪🏼
  • Over here at LIVE FOR LIFE, we are here to help you meet your health goals! Whether you want to jump into health coaching, fitness or nutrition consultations, mental health and stress services, and so much more, we’ve got you covered!
  • Want to join a community of runners or walkers to keep that step count climbing? Join the Duke Run/Walk Club! This LIVE FOR LIFE program is free and starts TODAY at 5:30 PM! Sign up and see location details using the following link! https://hr.duke.edu/wellness/runwalk/
  • Finally, continue to have fun! Motivate your movement by incorporating joyful activities and challenges. If you have a fun way of moving that you started during the GMC, send it our way and we’ll include it in a shoutout for our final newsletter!

Awesome job and finish strong, everyone! 🥳

Need Help To Get Moving?

LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke's employee wellness program, offers a variety of programs and services, such as health assessments and education, smoking cessation programs, fitness activities and nutrition activities, to help eligible faculty, staff and family members reach their health and fitness goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Get Moving Challenge is a fun, team-based exercise focusing on pedometer steps, time spent exercising, and the option to track weight goals. If you choose to focus on a weight goal, you may pick to maintain, lose, or gain weight, based on your personal or medical needs.

When you register, you'll receive a welcome email that connects you to your tracking portal. In the email, you will have the opportunity to opt into daily emails that provide new recipes and exercises to add to your wellness routine. Additionally, you will get a Get Moving Challenge Bingo card with a variety of exercises you can complete each week to be entered to win one of two raffles that will take place during the challenge.

Team standings are based on cumulative results and are calculated as average exercise minutes and average pedometer steps per participating team member. Your team's average for a specific category will be calculated based on the number of team members actually competing in that category, not the total number of members on your team. But, if you have a team member competing in a category and they are not reporting their progress online, that is calculated into your team average. 

Live team standings will be available online. Metrics for each week must be entered. Therefore, standings will be most accurate after this deadline. Team members may not enter data after the weekly deadline and will be ineligible to win that week's raffle. Team members should encourage each other to enter all tracking data by the deadline. Weekly updates regarding standings will be sent out by LIVE FOR LIFE on Mondays to notify teams of their status and raffle winners.

Each member of the winning teams for both step count and minutes of activity will get a LIVE FOR LIFE prize bundle. This includes a Healthy Duke Tumbler, a Get Moving Challenge 2024 Winner T-shirt, and other LIVE FOR LIFE accessories. Both step count and minutes of activity categories have 3 leagues: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Therefore, up to 6 teams total can win. Winners will be announced once final data is submitted on March 20th.

There are also two raffles you may participate in throughout the challenge: the Striding Toward Success Raffle and the Exercise Bingo Raffle.

  • Striding Toward Success: Each week, you are required to enter your stats for the competition categories you are participating in. After submitting your weekly stats, you will be entered to win a Fit Bit Inspire 2. Winners will be randomly chosen each week. The number of steps or minutes of exercise completed does not influence your chances of winning, but rather that you entered data.
  • Exercise Bingo Raffle: Each week, complete 5 exercises from the . You can get a Bingo when 5 exercises in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally are crossed off. By the weekly deadline, submit which exercises you completed to our Qualtrics survey to get entered to win a raffle prize. On the PDF of the Bingo card, you may click the exercise names to see demonstrations and form.

Team members may not enter data after the weekly deadline and will be ineligible to win that week’s raffle.

This is a web-based program, so having access to a computer is ideal. If you do not have access to a computer at home or work, you can use a public computer at a Duke library, 705 Broad St. or the LIVE FOR LIFE offices in the sub-basement, Orange Zone of Duke Clinic.

Being a team captain is easier than you think! The captain's main responsibility is to recruit their team of at least five members. Once the competition begins, the captain also helps motivate team members and reminds them to record their progress.

Teams may have between 5-11 people. Teams are considered “competing” in standings for a category if at least 5 members indicate they are participating in a category at the time of registration. If less than five people select a category, the team will not be included in the team standings; however, each team member can still track personal progress in that category.

You can connect with other participating colleagues using the online team search.

Individuals and teams may choose to participate in up to three categories:

  • Step count
  • Minutes of activity, and
  • Weight management.

You may choose to participate in one, two, or all three categories. Of these categories, only step count and minutes of activity will be competitive categories that count toward leaderboard standings. Weight will be a secondary metric participants may choose to track; however, this will not be a competitive measure nor required. If individuals choose to track their weight, they have the option to track weight maintenance, loss, or gain, based on their personal or medical needs.

Teams will be assigned to the following competition levels based on the average number of steps reported at registration by each member of a team. Teams will compete within their assigned league throughout the competition. This organizing method seeks to create a fairer competition that accounts for how different professions at Duke may require more or less baseline steps day to day.

  • Step Count:
    • Silver League: less than 5,000 daily steps averaged by team at registration
    • Gold League: 5,001 – 9,999 daily steps averaged by team at registration
    • Platinum League: 10,000+ daily steps averaged by team at registration
  • Minutes of activity:
    • Silver League: 0-29 minutes per day averaged by team at registration
    • Gold League: 30-60 minutes per day averaged by team at registration
    • Platinum League: 60+ minutes per day averaged by team at registration

There are three total categories you may participate in: step count, minutes of activity, and weight management. You may choose to enter one, two, or all three categories.

You can change your selected competition categories any time in your My Profile section until the end of the first round of the competition. After the first round, your selections will be set and cannot be changed.

You keep track of your own progress by entering your results online daily.

Below is a list of weekly deadlines. Both weekly stats and your Bingo exercises must be submitted by these days.

  • Week 1: Wednesday, January 17
  • Week 2: Wednesday, January 24
  • Week 3: Wednesday, January 31
  • Week 4: Wednesday, February 7
  • Week 5: Wednesday, February 14
  • Week 6: Wednesday, February 21
  • Week 7: Wednesday, February 28
  • Week 8: Wednesday, March 6
  • Week 9: Wednesday, March 13
  • Week 10: Wednesday, March 20

No. Your individual weight will NEVER be available to anyone but yourself. We know this is a sensitive topic, so we protect your privacy.

If you have noticed a change in your weight since registration, simply record your new weight in one of the daily logs during Week 1 of the competition. Once the first week is finished, all weight loss calculations going forward will be based on this number. If you do not record your weight during any of the Week 1 daily logs, the starting weight you recorded at the time of registration will be used as the basis of all weight loss calculations going forward.

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity should be completed each week to realize substantial health benefits. Moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity is any activity in which you are increasing your heart rate and breaking a sweat. This includes brisk walking, jogging, biking, running, swimming, other sports, etc. Additionally, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition recommends muscle-strengthening activities (such as lifting weights or using resistance bands) that are moderate or greater intensity and involve all major muscle groups on two or more days a week. Therefore, the Get Moving Challenge defines exercise as moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity and/or muscle-strengthening activities. Please note, the maximum number of minutes which can be logged per day is 420 minutes. We chose this number as the maximum value because the time limit to finish the Tobacco Road Marathon is listed as 7 hours.

Absolutely! You may use any device or App to track your steps or minutes, but please be mindful the Get Moving Challenge defines exercise as moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity and/or muscle-strengthening activities.

If you are concerned that you might have an eating disorder or issues around your relationship with food, consider contacting the Duke Center for Eating Disorders Clinic at 919-668-0398. If you are concerned about excess weight but find that a disordered relationship with food gets in the way, consider contacting the Behavioral Health Clinic at Duke Lifestyle and Weight Management Center at 800-235-3853 for a consult.

Fitness Trackers & Apps

View a list of some of the best wearable fitness trackers and some of the best health and fitness apps to find which one might be best for you.

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