Dr. Jennifer Page, assistant professor of English, is the first Northwestern Oklahoma State University employee to finish the J.R. Holder Wellness Center Complete 180 Challenge, a feat that took her less than seven months.
Richard Burdick, director at the Wellness Center, said the Complete 180 Challenge is open to all Northwestern employees with current employee IDs where they will complete 30 minutes of working out each day in a “turnaround” and half a year.
The challenge began on Feb. 1 with Page finishing on Aug. 22. Page said that her actual work-out time spanned six months because of taking three weeks off in May to recover from surgery. The challenge will end on Feb. 1, 2019.
In this challenge employees have the chance to win prizes based on their check-ins to the Wellness Center. The only requirements are to check in for “The Health 180” at the front desk and complete 30 minutes of exercise.
“I try to make it to the Wellness Center every day, but it can be easy to make excuses or miss work-outs after a long day,” Page said. “I thought this challenge would be a good way to hold myself accountable and stay active.”
Page said the challenge kept her motivated, and she liked how it would acknowledge every work-out, regardless of what the workout was.
“I checked into the gym once daily, sometimes twice daily, over the course of seven months because I liked the visual tracking the 180 Challenge provided,” Page said. “Seeing those stickers add up made me feel accomplished and motivated me to make regular activity an important part of my day. During the Challenge, I did most of the activities the Wellness Center offers, which allowed me to add variety to my work-outs. I never got bored!”
Burdick said there are approximately 200-250 employees at Northwestern, but only 69 are participating in the Complete 180 Challenge. Page said she was shocked so few employees have participated because the challenge offers great prizes for a minimal amount of workout time.
“Thirty minutes is about 2 percent of your day,” Page said. “I think $180 in gift cards is worth 2 percent of my day for six months,” she said. “The Wellness Center is doing a great job with campus outreach, and I hope the staff will keep it up.”
For more information on the Complete 180 Challenge contact Burdick at (580) 327-8109 or rpburdick@nwosu.edu.
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