Disclaimer: I received a $50 Amazon gift card to review FitnessBank as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!
A few months ago, I decided to take a little break from running (and really fitness altogether). I figured I would take two weeks off to give my body a rest and then jump right back into it. Then, the apocalypse happened and suddenly I was quarantining and homeschooling with very little motivation to do any type of fitness activity. But then right around that time, I learned about FitnessBank and Des Linden’s Spring Step Challenge.
Basically, it’s a challenge group where you try to average the highest amount of daily steps to win prizes (more on that later). But the accountability of the challenge group motivated me to get back outside and try to get in 10,000 steps on as many days as I could! But of course, the kids are out of school so I had to get creative with my steps!
The first couple of weeks, we headed out on a few nature walks!
Thankfully, once or twice I was able to sneak out for a solo run. 🙂
But alas, the kids eventually grew tired of our nature walks. They decided it was too boring and hot to walk “a thousand miles” every day. Which meant I had to get even more creative. So for many days, I walked many laps around the pool while they swam. The kids even called it my “daily nature walk”, but I’m sure I looked a little crazy walking around in a million circles. Luckily, the weather was usually pretty beautiful!
Finally, I began to incorporate the kids into my walks – either by piggy back rides or following them along on their scooters. We even found some neat sidewalk art!
So what exactly is the FitnessBank app? Is it free?
The app is free and you don’t need to register a bank account to get started! However, you could invest some money ($100) and make interest on it with the more steps you rack up. It’s also pretty quick and simple to get your profile set up.
What is the Des Spring Step Challenge?
The challenge runs from April 1st-May 31st, 2020. You can win by topping the leader board or just by participating in general. Learn more about the rules and prizes here!
How are the steps tracked?
You can choose to sync the app to your Apple Health, FitBit, or Garmin. At first I was syncing with my phone, but since I don’t always have my phone on me – the steps weren’t averaging accurately. I switched to Garmin and things started to track better. The app takes an average of your daily steps, not an accumulation – so don’t worry if you have some “off” days, you can make up for it later on!
Were there any opportunities for the app?
One issue I had was that my steps didn’t always reflect immediately in the app. Sometimes they would and sometimes it would take a few days.
Overall, I liked how this app helped motivate me to get moving again. I really was in a rut and the accountability of Des’ challenge group pushed me both physically and mentally. And it was fun to explore some new nature spots!
How about you? Have you tried the FitnessBank app? What did you think?! Maybe I’ll see you in the next challenge!
~Sm
The Swag Mama 
I feel Fitness Bank is bit misleading with the steps to apy. I get over 15,000 steps or more a day and I’m only getting a 2%apy. I signed up to try to get the 4.5% however it’s like this your daily steps is somehow converted to average steps a day so they say in the app I’m only doing less than 11000 steps a day so I don’t meet the requirements for the highest apy. I guess I have to do 20,000 a day maybe just to get the 4.5%. Max I can do is over 18000 steps if I focus really hard but that’s just taking a huge toll on my body.