Need a little competition to boost your exercise level during these cold winter months? St. Thomas is challenging Augsburg College to a fitness challenge.

 All faculty and staff can participate in the nine weeks of competition from Feb. 24 to April 27. Work out at the location of your choice for at least 30 minutes (one point) to a maximum of 60 minutes of activity (two points). Two points per day and 14 points per week is the maximum you can record.

The UST Wellness Center and Augsburg College Faculty-Staff Fitness Wellness Program will take the total number of points earned per week and divide them by the number of people participating per week. Each week, a school winner will be announced along with a UST individual winner. After the nine weeks of competition, an overall school winner will be awarded a traveling trophy.

Rules of the Competition:

• Sign up by e-mailing Lisa Keiser.
• Keep track of the number of points earned each week. (A week starts on Wednesday and ends at midnight on the following Tuesday.)
• Each week by noon on Wednesday, e-mail Keiser the total number of points you earned that week; no entries will be allowed after noon. Submit points weekly – see the schedule below.
• When submitting points, just put the week number and the total number of points in the subject line – no other information is needed.
• If you miss reporting your total by noon Wednesday, your points will not count for that week. You can participate the following week but you will not be allowed to use points from the previous week.
• New participants can start the program and begin counting points at any time.

This is a fun competition between Augsburg and St. Thomas, but the main goal is to get  faculty and staff motivated to add some physical activity into their weekly routine amid the doldrums of winter.

Every week, the school winner will be announced along with the top point leaders for UST. A traveling trophy will be awarded to the school that has won the most weeks of the competition. The Wellness Center hopes this will become a tradition and that UST can win and retain the trophy yearly.

Activity suggestions include: biking, cross-country skiing, dancing, gardening, Pilates, running, stretching, swimming, shoveling, snowshoeing, skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, walking, walking a dog, weight training and yoga. (Sorry, house cleaning doesn’t count.)

Dates of competition:

• Week 1: Wednesday, Feb. 24, ends Tuesday, March 2
• Week 2: Wednesday, March 3, ends Tuesday, March 9
• Week 3: Wednesday March 10, ends Tuesday, March 16
• Week 4: Wednesday, March 17, ends Tuesday, March 23
• Week 5: Wednesday, March 24, ends Tuesday, March 30
• Week 6: Wednesday, March 31 ends Tuesday, April 6
• Week 7: Wednesday, April 7, ends Tuesday, April 13
• Week 8: Wednesday, April 14, ends Tuesday, April 20
• Week 9: Wednesday, April 21, ends Tuesday, April 27