Stridekick User Spotlight

Welcome to Stridekick’s User Spotlight, where we highlight users who go above and beyond within the Stridekick community to help others reach their fitness goals. Our second spotlight story is on Stridekick enthusiast, Rob Choi. Rob took the lockdown blues and turned them upside down by creating unique and fun challenges to motivate his friends and family. Read on to learn what he did to engage users in Stridekick and how you can make stepping more fun for yourself and the people you know!

Hello, Rob! Please tell us who you are, why you joined Stridekick, and a fun fact about you!

Hi I’m Rob. As I write this, I’m currently in lockdown No. 3 in England and I’M LOVING IT! #LivingTheDream …

When I was invited in 2020 to take part in my first ever challenge, I found the app to be great in that the interface is easy to use and the leaderboard is so addictive!

Prior to Stridekick, I just assumed that you needed to own an Apple Watch or Fitbit to take part in a steps challenge, but the app is brilliant in that it works across multiple apps and devices.

When I’m not growing my hair or telling friends how much I detest celery and coriander (especially when it’s chopped up into small pieces in the salad), I’m often planning my next trip around the world. To date, I’ve travelled to 23 countries and the list of places I want to see is increasing!

What prompted you to run challenges on the Stridekick platform?

I joined Stridekick in May 2020 when a friend invited me, and ever since then I’ve set up 4 challenges (1.3 million steps walked to date 😊).

The intention with all of my challenges has been to highlight how walking has so many positive effects. Not only has my physical health improved but also my mental wellbeing.

And one of the unexpected but pleasant discoveries I’ve made while walking have been the morning walks and seeing the red sky.

How were you able to get your family and friends onboard to Stridekick once you decided you wanted to start running your own challenges?

I’ve discovered that most people would be keen to take part if they’re invited. To quote one of the most misquoted film lines of all time: “If you build it, they will come” (Field of Dreams).

Pro Tip: Inviting friends and family on Stridekick is easy. Learn how to invite your friends and family here!

Have you tried any at-home workouts to help you stay active while social distancing? Are there any you’d recommend?

My brother brought me resistance bands which have been handy.

Coupled with the walking, I’ve also found YouTube to be a blessing with the amount of free exercise videos that are online. There’s a video for everyone’s needs and requirements.

Do you think you’ll continue to run challenges on Stridekick even after you’re able to get back together in person with your friends and family?

Definitely, I’ll be continuing to run challenges, especially in the summer when the days are longer and warmer 😊.

What has been the hardest part of growing your community, and how are you working to overcome it?

Motivating people isn’t the hardest part, but you have to keep it fresh and interesting especially for people who are taking part in their 3rd consecutive challenge.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the World” (Albert Einstein).

I send out “Weekly Updates” to everyone, trying to incorporate songs that are linked to walking in some way or another and they can choose to add this to their phones when they’re out walking/running.

Another thing I did with the 2020 December Challenge was that I linked people’s individual steps to the number of Christmas trees that they would have lit up in Trafalgar Square.

For the upcoming challenge in Feb 2021, I’ll be tracking each participant’s miles to one of 5 famous treks around the world. The person will then know when they’ve walked Machu Pichu or the Camino de Santiago.

And when we’re over this pandemic and we can travel again, I would love to hear if I inspired people to actually walk that particular trek in real life!

Any last words of encouragement? :)

“Run, Forrest! Run!” (Forrest Gump).

That’s the last quote from me 😊.

Inspired by Rob’s story? Start your own challenges with friends and family on Stridekick today!

We hope you enjoyed hearing about Rob’s experience on Stridekick and that it inspired you to get creative for your own step and activity challenges on the app! To help you get started, we recommend checking out this guide to setting up your first challenge on the app.

As Rob mentioned above, your friends and family don’t need to own a fitness tracker to take part in challenges on Stridekick. They can participate by using their smartphone as their fitness tracker instead, so anyone is welcome to join! We hope you’ll invite your friends and family to join you for a challenge soon. Happy stepping!

Interested in running a step challenge for a company or organization? Check out MoveSpring for your next step challenge.