They defied the heat and triumphed
Despite the early summer heatwave, over 500 KTH employees exercised and socialised as part of KTH Active Together. The winners can now be named – both who did the most exercise and who did the most to encourage their team mates and fellow competitors.
For the third time during the pandemic, our employees have been invited to take part in our exercise competition, this time in the May-June period, where they exercise as they see fit. At the same time, they have stayed in touch and encouraged each other with comments, images and videos via a special app.
“In my team, we have not only gone on long walks and power walks, but also done yoga, tennis, cross trainers, body building, pulse workouts, running , cycling, squash and gardening work. On a personal level, I have been walking the dog and doing yoga at home,” says Johanna Franson , a communications support officer.
She is a member of the “KomIgen” team, social score category winners in the competition, i.e. the team that was best at sharing their experiences and encouraging both their team mates and other competitors.
“Even if the competition is clearly an initiative to get us to do more exercise, for me and I think for many other employees, it has been just as much appreciated for the social side. It is fun to get to know your colleagues by seeing photos of their homes, local area, family members and pets.”
Double sessions
The winning team in the category of the most active group entered under the name “IPU&DESIGNCOM”.
“It is fantastic that what began purely as looking to inspire people to exercise together, even if remotely, has actually resulted in victory,” says Hanna Bernemyr , a researcher within internal combustion engineering, and one of six members of the team.
She has engaged in a combination of horse riding, high-intensity workouts and power walking. She feels the key to their success is that the team members have encouraged each other to do one exercise session every day of the week. And many of them have done double sessions on top.
“Every member of the team has used the app every day, which has been incredibly inspiring. We have posted items to spur each other on to do more exercise and to really complete that session that felt a bit of a struggle to start with.”
Heatwave rethink
Over the past few weeks, many participants have changed their exercise routines on account of the heatwave:
“I have swapped some daytime group high-intensity workouts for more relaxed riding or yoga. My colleagues have moved their body building indoors to a cool gym, others have gone swimming, SUP (stand up paddleboarding) or kayaking. And we have all encouraged each other to do an extra power walk late at night.”
Both winning teams are keen to take part in more exercise competitions in the future – even after the pandemic:
“Absolutely, it’s a brilliant initiative. It inspires you to do more exercise and you get the opportunity to interact in a fun way with colleagues from other parts of KTH you would perhaps never have bumped into otherwise,” says Franson.
Hanna Bernemyr agrees:
“It is something we all need. Not just for our health and well-being, but also for how we do our job, for our sense of togetherness and the we-feeling in the workplace.”
Text: Christer Gummeson