ACE’s mission is to get people moving. We do this by educating and certifying exercise professionals and health coaches, providing resources to communities to get moving, producing research and content to help consumers learn how to safely move more, by advocating for policies that create greater access to being active and by hosting our annual Congressional Fitness Challenge (CFC).

The CFC is a steps challenge that occurs at the beginning of every year, where staff and members from offices and Congress compete to see who can move the most in a six-week period. This year, we made it even easier for participants by teaming up with MoveSpring, a walking challenge app company that syncs to most activity tracking devices and apps to automatically track steps – that means participants just have to worry about stepping and leave the rest up to technology. This upgrade to the challenge allowed us to enroll a record number of participants and offices this year – with over 700 staff and members from 64 offices taking on the challenge to get moving.

We are currently at the halfway point and Congress is moving like crazy. In three weeks, they have walked a collective 126,856,505 steps or almost 25 times from Capitol Hill to ACE’s headquarters in San Diego. Teams and individuals are averaging a large number of steps each week and motivating their constituents and communities to follow their lead in living healthy lifestyles. Check out our leaderboard to see if your Senator or Representative is walking the talk!

The challenge has been a big hit amongst participants this year. One participant has taken the challenge very seriously, so much so that her family couldn’t believe how dedicated she was to get in her steps:

"Me:  I am going walking.

Husband: WHAT?!?!?  WHY?!?!

 Me:  I am a part of a number of steps contest.

 Husband:  You aren’t on the honor system, are you?"

Another has been moving so much that they have seen positive health benefits:

“4 pounds gone!” 

And others have realized how little they moved before tracking their steps in the challenge:

“It was a great first week, I am now realizing just how little I step.”

We are so thrilled to see participants living out our mission and enjoying being active. The challenge concludes on March 18, 2018. The winning teams will be awarded an ACE CFC plaque to display in their office and will have bragging rights on the Hill for the rest of the year. Follow along the remaining three weeks on Twitter by following @ACEAdvocacy or using hashtag #ACECFC.