50 Healthy Challenge Ideas to Do With Friends

A healthy challenge works when it has three parts: one action you can do every day, a yes or no at the end of the day, and at least one other person watching. The list below gives you the first two. Your friends are the third.

Each idea comes with a rule written the way you would put it in a group chat. Copy the rule, pick a length, invite people, start tomorrow.

How to choose

• Pick one thing. A group that tries three habits at once finishes none of them. Run one challenge, finish it, then start the next.
• Make the rule binary. "Drink more water" fails. "Two litres before 8 p.m." works.
• Match the length to the habit. Seven days for a taste, 14 for a reset, 30 for something you want to keep. Research on habit formation puts the median at about 66 days to full automaticity, so a 30-day challenge is a strong start and a second round is a good idea.
• Set the floor low. The daily minimum should be doable on your worst day. You can always do more.

Fitness challenges

1. 8,000 steps a day. Rule: hit 8,000 before midnight. Studies of daily step counts find the biggest health gains between 4,000 and 8,000 steps, so this is a target with evidence behind it.
2. Daily walk. Rule: 20 minutes outside, any pace.
3. Move for 30. Rule: 30 minutes of any exercise. Walking counts.
4. Push-up ladder. Rule: day 1 is one push-up, add one every day. Day 30 is 30.
5. Plank a day. Rule: one plank, hold as long as you can, log the time.
6. Squat challenge. Rule: 50 bodyweight squats, split however you like.
7. Stairs only. Rule: no elevators or escalators when stairs exist.
8. Run streak. Rule: run at least one mile every day. Popular in running clubs for a reason.
9. Couch to 5K together. Rule: follow the same plan, three sessions a week, check in on session days.
10. Stretch before bed. Rule: 10 minutes of stretching or mobility work.
11. Bike commute. Rule: ride to work or errands at least once per day.
12. Cold shower. Rule: finish every shower with 30 seconds cold.
13. Morning workout. Rule: exercise before 9 a.m. The time is the habit.

Food and drink challenges

14. Two litres of water. Rule: finish two litres before 8 p.m.
15. No added sugar. Rule: nothing with added sugar in the ingredients. Fruit is fine. Our 30-day no sugar guide covers the details.
16. Dry month. Rule: no alcohol. Best done with a group; see the Dry January guide.
17. Five a day. Rule: five servings of fruit or vegetables.
18. Cook dinner. Rule: one home-cooked dinner a day, no delivery.
19. No snacking after 8. Rule: kitchen closes at 8 p.m.
20. Breakfast with protein. Rule: 20 grams of protein before 10 a.m.
21. Coffee cutoff. Rule: last caffeine by 2 p.m.
22. Meatless weekdays. Rule: vegetarian Monday to Friday.
23. Packed lunch. Rule: bring lunch, skip the takeout.
24. One vegetable you have never cooked. Rule: weekly, each person cooks something new and posts it.

Sleep and recovery challenges

25. In bed by 11. Rule: lights off by 11 p.m. Weekends included.
26. Seven hours. Rule: at least seven hours in bed, tracked by phone or watch.
27. Phone out of the bedroom. Rule: charge it somewhere else.
28. Consistent wake time. Rule: same alarm every day, within 30 minutes.
29. No screens after 10. Rule: TV, phone and laptop off by 10 p.m.
30. Morning light. Rule: 10 minutes outside within an hour of waking.
31. Nap ban. Rule: no naps after 3 p.m., to protect the night.

Mind challenges

32. Ten minutes of meditation. Rule: one guided or unguided session. Start with the 30-day meditation challenge.
33. Gratitude three. Rule: write three things you are grateful for.
34. One page journal. Rule: one page, longhand, any topic. See the journaling challenge.
35. Read 20 pages. Rule: 20 pages of a book, paper or e-reader. Podcasts do not count.
36. No news before noon. Rule: no news sites or apps until 12 p.m.
37. Breathing break. Rule: five minutes of slow breathing at some point in the workday.
38. Learn 10 words. Rule: ten new words in a language you are learning.
39. Digital sunset. Rule: social media off after 7 p.m.
40. Daily photo. Rule: take one intentional photo of something you noticed.

Screen and attention challenges

41. Under two hours. Rule: phone screen time under two hours, per the phone's own report. Our screen time challenge has the full plan.
42. No phone at meals. Rule: phones face down or away at every meal.
43. First hour phone-free. Rule: no phone for the first 60 minutes of the day.
44. Delete one app. Rule: remove the app that costs you the most time, keep it off for the whole challenge.
45. Grayscale. Rule: phone display in grayscale all day.

Social and connection challenges

46. Call someone. Rule: one voice call to a friend or family member a day.
47. Compliment a stranger. Rule: one sincere compliment to someone you do not know.
48. Weekly dinner. Rule: the group eats together once a week, in person or on video.
49. Write a note. Rule: one handwritten note or thoughtful message per day.
50. Walk and talk. Rule: take one phone call a day while walking.

Running it as a group

Put the challenge somewhere the check-ins will not get buried. A group chat works for a week and then dinner plans and memes push the check-ins out of view. Quests was built for exactly this: the Quest has its own roadmap, the check-in is one tap, and everyone can see who has done today's action. Pick any rule above, create the Quest, send the link.

Two more tips. Agree on what counts before day one, in writing, so nobody argues about whether a walk to the fridge is a walk. And plan for the middle: most groups wobble between day 10 and day 20, so schedule a check-in call or a shared reward for the halfway mark. The guide to running a 30-day challenge with friends goes deeper on both.