Congratulations!
Brace yourselves, massive congratulations are in order!
You may have missed the RTE news last night so just in case you haven’t heard already, the three winners of the first ever “Nikafit MEP Challenge” are Alan Daly, Katy Smyth and Andrea Worthington woohoo!!!
Between them in the last 28 days, these three “Go-Getters” have accumulated a whopping 18,389 MEPs!!! That is absolutely unbelievable, when you consider that the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Physical Activity are to perform 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week for good health. In MYZONE terms, this equates to 300 MEPs per week and 1300 MEPs per month. (The guys did over 4 times that amount, EACH!)
The current World Health Organisation position statement is that people who consistently hit these levels of physical activity (1300 MEPs per month) :
“have lower rates of all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancer, and depression;
are likely to have less risk of a hip or vertebral fracture;
exhibit a higher level of cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness; and
are more likely to achieve weight maintenance, have a healthier body mass and composition”. (1)
In addition, the World Health Organisation state that:
“For further health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity to 300 minutes per week, or engage in 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week”. (1)
These higher levels of physical activity promote reductions in body fat, improvements in muscle tone and strength, and equate to approximately 2500 MEPs per month. (The guys did over double that, EACH!)
So, what the hell is a MEP anyway?
MEPs stand for MYZONE Effort Points, and they are the metric for how we measure exercise intensity in the MYZONE system (a heart rate monitoring software that we use in the gym to offer increased accountability, motivation and workout tracking for our members). MEPs are earned by exercising in specific heart rate zones over a period of time. They reward you for how hard you train, meaning the more effort that you put into your workouts, the more MEPs you will get! You can see how many MEPs you are earning at given moment in your workout by checking out your live tile either on the tv in the gym, or through the MYZONE app in your phone if you are getting some extra workouts done at home, away on holiday or simply whenever you feel like it!
Check out the MEPs breakdown image below for an insight to how Myzone Effort Points are earned. The percentages are relative to your own individual maximum heart rate which not only ensures an accurate reflection of effort but also it establishes a level playing field for everybody regardless of your fitness level.
We ran our first Nikafit MEP Challenge from the 18/09/17 to 16/10/17 and the results were amazing!
The goal was to get our “MyZoners” to push themselves harder than ever for the four weeks and they definitely stepped up to the challenge! We offered prizes for the male and female winners to stimulate a bit of friendly competition between members to increase motivation and our clients were more active than ever!
This is the real benefit of MyZone -- It increases exercise frequency and adherence. In 2016 at the IHRSA event, MyZone released stats (from two independent sources) showing that MyZone users trained 33% times more per month than non MyZone users. Exercise frequency and consistency over time is the key to long term results and that’s why we love MyZone so much!
Prizes this time around included a “Gainz Enhancing” supplement bundle from Discount Supplements for Alan, and for the girls the prize was the “Day Spa Delight Package” each from Druids Glen to help them relax after all their hard work!
Congrats again guys on winning the challenge, your names will now go down in history and people will more than likely sing songs about you! :)
....stay tuned for the next Nikafit MEP Challenge (with a twist) coming this November for your chance to dethrone the current #MEPKing and #MEPQueens and win the most luxurious prize yet!
Niall
References:
1 - http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_recommendations/en/
2 - http://myzone.org
