How to Choose the Best Virtual Challenge for You

Okay, before delving deeper into how you can choose the best virtual challenge for you, let’s see what a virtual challenge is. 

A virtual challenge from Conqueror Challenges is a route-based exercise challenge that encourages you to complete a certain distance on a virtual map by a certain date. You choose the route, the distance, and what kind of exercise you will do to complete your challenge. 

The experience all takes place in the Conqueror app, where you can log your distances, view your progress and enjoy all the visual benefits and incentives associated with the route you have chosen such as the virtual postcards, street view map interaction, and of course, the finisher’s medal. 

And that’s it. It’s a simple process from signing up to reaching your goal and receiving your medal. A simple process that is both accessible and fun for challengers of all abilities. 

The Conqueror challenges have a completion rate that is 4x higher than any other fitness class or course. 

And this is the key element of the virtual challenge that we are going to discuss in today’s blog—how a virtual challenge sets you up with the tools for success, no matter which individual challenge you decide to go for. 

Let’s get into it!

You can choose any challenge that will meet your own personal goals

As we’ve mentioned, there are lots of virtual challenges for you to pick from.

Whichever one you choose is 100% up to you and you can simply pick what interests you most and what suits your ability level best. 

There are three main categories of challenge: short, medium, and long. 

The short challenges are those below 100 miles in length. Challenges like Angkor Wat, the Marathon to Athens, the Inca Trail, Mount Everest, and more. These challenges are best suited to a “beginner” level challenger.

If you are just starting out in your fitness journey and you want to build your stamina up before you move on to longer distances, any short walking challenge is the perfect place to start. 

The short challenges, also known as virtual walking challenges or virtual swimming challenges, are also great for walkers and swimmers because reaching your end goal will be much more achievable with these types of exercises.

Completing the shorter challenges will, of course, take a shorter amount of time. This is great if you are at the beginning of your exercise and fitness journey and you want to start off with that great feeling of completion and satisfaction. There’s nothing better than starting your journey to fitness with a win early on. 

The medium challenges are another step up. They are 100-700 miles and include challenges such as the Ring of Kerry, the Grand Canyon, St Francis Way, and the North Coast. 

These challenges are best suited to the already active challenger and are also known as virtual running challenges. If you are someone who has a consistent level of fitness already established, these medium-length challenges will work well within your ability levels while still providing you with something motivating and beneficial for both your mind and body. 

If it was too easy it wouldn’t be a challenge at all, would it?

The longest challenges are those that are above 700 miles in length, ranging right up to the longest trail of all which is the Pacific Crest Trail, coming in at 2485 miles in length (wow). 

These virtual cycling challenges are pretty substantial in length and distance and so are best suited to those with an already established fitness level, high stamina, and/or those who want to cycle through their challenge. This could be outside cycling or indoor cycling using a Strava account. 

You could also be part of a team to take on these longer challenges. Everyone will need to purchase their own individual code to join the challenge but then you can link up and share out the distance through your app.

This will make bigger challenges a lot more manageable and allow some team building to occur. Sharing such a big challenge between friends, family, or coworkers is always a great bonding experience. 

All the challenges have the same benefits and rewards that you want from a virtual challenge—they are just tiered for ability levels and level of challenge. 

Pick whatever works best for you right now because picking something achievable is the best way for you to succeed in your challenge. Reaching too far too quickly will only lead to disappointment. 

Having such a range of distances is just one of the many ways that virtual challenges allow you to be in the best position possible to reach your goals.

Let’s move on to look at another tool for success.

You can choose any activity you want to complete your challenge

One of the main reasons that many people don’t succeed in typical fitness routines, classes or schedules is because the type of exercise needed doesn’t suit them, their interests and their abilities. 

Many gym programs and fitness classes are inaccessible to different ability levels and many of us end up feeling overwhelmed and demotivated very quickly. 

With a virtual challenge you are able to choose any activity or type of exercise that you want to complete your challenge. You are free to choose whatever suits you best and whatever you are most likely to be able to maintain and stay consistent with over time in order to reach your goals and finish your challenge on time. 

These can be distance-based activities such as walking, running, cycling, swimming, jogging, rowing, or running on a treadmill. These will be the ones you would expect from a distance-based challenge and logging your progress with them will be straightforward. 

However, the activities you can do to complete your challenge aren’t limited to distance-based activities. You can do any range of different exercises or activities and simply convert the time/energy exerted into distances you can log into your Conqueror app.

These activities could be anything including aerobics, yoga, cheerleading, crossfit, pilates, punching a punch bag, squash, weight lifting, and even more. 

There are basically no limits in what counts as activity in your virtual challenge. This allows you to continually make progress and stay motivated even if you aren’t a typical runner or fitness buff. 

This range also allows you to vary your exercise throughout your challenge, keeping any potential boredom or loss of motivation at bay. 

This is applicable for every challenge so any one that you pick will allow you to have versatile options for your exercise and so will allow you to have the best possible chance of success. 

You can set your own time-frame

Once you have picked what particular challenge you want to take part in, download the Conqueror app and sign up—you will be presented with some options for how long you want to take to complete the challenge. 

This is totally up to you and ranges from one week to 18 months. 

Setting one time-frame for each challenger to reach their finish line would never work. Everyone has very different lives, different schedules and different responsibilities, and so a deadline can’t have a “one size fits all” approach. 

Conqueror challenges give you full control over your own time-frame. 

It’s important to have a deadline in mind for motivation and consistency, but the exact timing of that deadline is (and should be) up to you. 

Whatever challenge you pick won’t affect how long you will have for your challenge—you are the boss and you decide.

This is another tool that will greatly heighten your chance of success.

You can easily record your progress

Slow and steady wins the race in a virtual challenge. 

Progress here is all about consistent steps that lead to an end goal—every little step counts and every little step is rewarded and incentivised by the way the challenges are built. 

It can be really hard to stay motivated and to keep making progress with other types of exercise because there are often no clear and visible milestones ahead. 

With a virtual challenge you know exactly where you are in your journey, how long you have left to go, and how long to go before you reach your next milestone or reward. 

There are short-term incentives embedded through the entire challenge to keep you going. You can track your progress on the map of your route, you can use street view to see where you would be on your route, and you receive virtual postcards from notable locations when you reach certain checkpoints on your route. 

A virtual challenge isn’t simply a Point A to Point B race with nothing but a straight stretch in between. 

It is a consistently motivating journey dotted with reward and enjoyment. 

It is a lot easier to keep up the good work when you can see the good work being logged, tracked and rewarded. 

You can work alone or with a team 

Different people will work better in different conditions, and that’s okay. 

When you are choosing your virtual challenge and choosing what trail to follow, you can choose whether to work entirely alone or to split the challenge up within a team. 

If you are someone who thrives on a little bit of healthy competition, working as a group will be great for you. 

You can see what progress your friends, family or colleagues are making on your map and work to keep up with them or beat them in your distances. 

You can also work together to make the lengthier challenges seem more manageable, which will help your goals feel achievable throughout the challenge. 

Whatever way works for you, it is up to you to choose in your virtual challenge. 

You know you best, so you are the best one to decide how you will exercise. 

Isn’t that exactly as it should be? 

You can be part of the greater good

No matter what challenge you decide to sign up for, you will be part of making the world a better place through helping to protect the environment. 

For each challenge, when you reach a 20% milestone in your progress, Conqueror challenges will plant a tree. 

For each challenge completed each challenger will have planted 5 trees each in total. 

If you are someone who is motivated by doing something not only for yourself but for the good of others and the world we live in, this will be a great incentive for you.

You are rewarded at the finish line

For each individual race there is a different and unique medal ready and waiting for you at the finish line. 

The medals are beautiful, and this is no exaggeration. 

Each medal reflects the culture, landscape and/or people of the route it represents, and they are all truly something to behold. 

If you are someone who is motivated by a big end goal, who loves to show off your accomplishments proudly in your home or you are someone who loves a visual aid to keep you incentivised, these medals will be great for you. 

Check out the medal for the Flower Route if you want to see an example —you’ll understand immediately what beauty I’m talking about. 

So, how do you choose?

When it comes to picking the right virtual challenge for you, it is all about tuning into yourself and what your individual goals are.

Only you can pick what challenge will be right for you and that is why there are so many great options.

The range of routes with their varying distances aim to cater for a wide audience, all of whom will be able to both take part in and succeed with their own virtual challenge. 

The range of exercises you can use to complete your challenge allows all abilities to have a fair and equal chance of success. 

The range of rewards and incentives on offer through each challenge keep you consistently engaged throughout the duration of your challenge and have been designed to hold your attention much more strongly than less structured fitness courses. 

The combination of all three of these aspects makes virtual challenges the key to success for your personal fitness routine. 

Whatever your individual goals for fitness are, you will be able to find the virtual challenge that is a perfect match for you through The Conqueror. 

I guarantee it.