“With this New Challenge Strava keeps Sports Enthusiasts on the Go Regularly.”
Strava, the world’s largest network for athletes with more than 44 million members and a further million people joining each month, is launching “The Escape Plan” today. This is a four-week challenge (also called Streak Challenge) that challenges members to play sports at least five times a week.
“Staying motivated is the biggest and oldest obstacle to health and well-being. People are more busy today than ever and the time in front of the screen takes over the time in which they move and exercise. The Escape Plan is a challenge designed to get people to put their mobile phones aside, set a realistic goal and adopt better habits,” says James Quarles, CEO of Strava.
Strava data show that regular sports units lead to staying active in the longer term – especially when activities are shared with the Strava network. Athletes who share training results with others on average five times a week have twice as many active weeks per year as those who upload activities only twice a week.
A greater variety of sports also ensures that you remain active in the long term. People who do two different sports a week also have twice as many active weeks over the course of a year as athletes who do only one sport. Athletes who do four sports a week can have almost three times as many active weeks a year as those who do only one sport.
Those who train together with others are constantly accountable and thus remain more active. Participating in a Strava Challenge and supporting the community can help people keep moving. In fact, 94% of athletes who publicly set a goal on Strava are still active nine months later. When athletes train in groups, activities such as swimming, running or cycling last on average 10% longer and cover 21% longer distances.
“Habits keep us on the ball, even if our motivation diminishes. They arise when we repeat actions in the same way and are rewarded for them. Example: daily sprints after work and the realization that you’re moving faster and faster,” says Wendy Wood, professor of psychology and economics at the University of Southern California and author of the forthcoming book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick. (Good Habits, Bad Habits: How to Maintain Positive Changes).
Strava has developed the Multi-Sport-Challenge so that more athletes can participate. The Escape Plan includes all 32 sports supported on the platform. At least 15 minutes of one of the sports offered in the portfolio must be recorded per week on five days in each case, in order to get appropriate Streak Challenge activities recognized. So far, the Challenges on Strava have always been about the individual sport, for example running distances that had to be covered in a month or challenges in which a certain number of metres of altitude had to be overcome by bike.
This way to “The Escape Plan”.
Strava is available for download for iOS and Android. With the upgrade to Strava Summit, members can customize their experience and take advantage of additional features. For more information about Strava, visit www.strava.com.