Get Rewarded when you Exercise

Exercise Rewards

As far as I’m concerned, exercise of almost any form is already fairly rewarding. It’s good for your health, it’s good for your general wellbeing, it makes you look and feel good, it can get you out in the real world doing cool things and visiting nice places and the release of endorphins gives you a natural high – What more could you want from a simple bike ride, run or even a walk? Well, how about some hard cold cash or money off vouchers? Yep, that’s right, there are several schemes out there that reward you financially for the exercise and activities that you do. I’ve been looking at these for a while and have recently taken the plunge by signing up to some of them. The rewards they offer vary from scheme to scheme and the activities that count differ too, so, here’s a quick round up of some of the schemes available.

The most promising looking one at the moment is the UK based Bounts as the rewards seem to be better than most, they seem to reward you for more activities than many of the schemes and they connect to a wide range of tracking devices and apps. That said, there’s no reason not to sign up to multiple different award schemes – if you’re doing the activities anyway then why not get rewarded by as many schemes as possible!

Bounts

bountsThe UK-based exercise reward scheme Bounts rewards you in points (known as ‘bounts’) when you walk, exercise or go to the gym. You simply connect your Bounts account to your favourite activity tracking app and the points start flowing in. As well as gaining points for walking, running, cycling and other exercise recorded by your activity tracker, you can also use the GPS on your device to sign in to various gyms and leisure centres. Just check in when you are at a participating venue and you will be rewarded. When you’ve amassed enough points, these can be converted into vouchers to be used at retailers and restaurants such as Amazon, Morrisons, John Lewis, Pizza Express, M&S and Cineworld.

Here’s a full list of the rewards on offer: https://shop.bounts.it/rewards.html

The Bounts app will connect with:

  • Garmin
  • Strava
  • Apple Health Kit
  • FitBit
  • Google Fit
  • Jawbone
  • Misfit
  • Moves App
  • MyZone
  • MyWellness
  • LFConnect
  • Map My Run
  • RunKeeper
  • SwimTag
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

There’s a Premuim Membership option that allows you to get rewarded for more activities and gain more points per activity, and a premium+ membership for even greater rewards.

Free Members Premium Members (£9.99 / yr) Premium+ Members (£14.99 / yr)
Up to 7,000 steps per day Up to 14,000 steps per day Up to 21,000 steps per day
Up to 1 venue check-in Up to 2 venue check-ins Up to 3 venue check-ins
Up to 20 minutes of tracked exercise Up to 40 minutes of tracked exercise Up to 60 minutes of tracked exercise
10 points per activity / check in 20 points per activity / check in 30 points per activity / check in
Up to 15 points per day Up to 90 points per day Up to 180 points per day

Steps

As a basic member you’ll need to complete 7,000 in a day to bank five points – about the equivalent of walking 5km. Premium members can get rewarded for twice this number of steps and premium+ members for 21,000 steps.

Exercise Activities

An exercise activity needs to be at least 20 minutes long to count, and you can’t break up one activity into several 20 minute ones as they have to be at least an hour apart. Cycling, swimming, working out at the gym and running all count as would other activities tracked with your GPS device. Of course, you get extra rewards for running as this also counts towards your step total.

Venue Check ins

Venue check-ins are for participating venues only and you have to be there for at least 30 minutes.

There is also an extra reward scheme within the app that allows you to spin a wheel to win more rewards. You gain spins for each activity you do and each spin of the wheel gives you the chance of winning more ‘bounts’ or maybe a special prize.

All in all, this seems like the best scheme for me so far because it rewards you with actual gift vouchers rather than just money off vouchers. However, there have been some teething problems with the app and the website and so far I haven’t got everything tracking as it should. In some cases, activities are showing up in my Bounts feed from Strava but I haven’t been rewarded for them, in other cases, steps from Garmin Connect simply aren’t syncing to the app. I’m hoping these are just teething problems and it will sort itself out.

If you are signing up then use the following link as we’ll both get an extra 100 points added to our accounts: https://bounts.it/registration?getme100points=alynyslas885

Running Heroes

Running HeroesRunning Heroes offers a similar scheme to Bounts. You gain points for your physical activities and these points can be exchanged for rewards at a number of retailers. These rewards are generally in the form of money off vouchers or special offers, which doesn’t make it quite as appealing as the gift cards available from Bounts, but it is still worthwhile signing up.

As with Bounts, if you use my referral code to sign up we both get some extra bonus points: https://uk.runningheroes.com/?r=1&code=26kw

Running Heroes will connect with the following apps:

  • Nike+
  • Garmin Connect
  • Strava
  • RunTastic
  • RunKeeper
  • MapMyRun
  • Polar
  • Endomondo
  • Manual GPX and TCX uploads

You can see a full list of current rewards here: https://uk.runningheroes.com/rewards/running

Challenges

In addition to the rewards, there are also Challenges. These provide you with a challenge such as running 20 miles within a week or earning at least 120 points in a week and if you complete the challenge you are entered into a draw to win a prize.

So far the website has worked well and connection to the various apps has worked too. I’m not sure of the exact number of points you get for each activity but it seems to be related to the time spent exercising.

Pact

PactPact is a little different and not one that I’ve tried yet as you have to put money on the line in the first place. Essentially you are gambling with your exercise! For instance, you can make a ‘Pact’ to do the following:

  • Exercise for 30 minutes
  • Walk 10,000 Steps
  • Log 3 meals per day via MyFitness Pall
  • Post photos of fruit and veg that you are eating

You then make a Pact to do up to 3 of these things for a certain number of days, and you set a penalty that you will pay for days that you don’t achieve the goal. if you don’t achieve your goal then you pay up, if you achieve it then you earn money from those who failed.

You can log steps from:

  • Fitbit
  • Jawbone UP
  • Moves App

and exercise activities from:

  • Runkeeper
  • MapMyFitness

The Pact App is available for both iOS and Android.

Nexercise

I haven’t tried this one as it doesn’t t allow you to connect with other activity tracking services. Instead you use their app to track your activity. I have an all singing, all dancing Garmin Fenix 3 GPS watch that I use to track such things so don’t want to have to carry my phone and use an app to track exercise as well. Many people do use their phones to track their activities though so it may be of use to you.

The Nexercise app allows you to log over 200 different activities. and you can  earn instant rewards (usually in the form of money off vouchers) each time you log a workout. However, the bigger rewards come through earning mPoints for each activity you log. You can log up to three workouts per day to gain mPoints, but there is a second tier of points called Nexercise XP points and you can log as many activities as you want per day for these.

You can convert mPoints into gift card rewards from major marketers such as Amazon.com, Home Depot, CVS, Walmart, and Best Buy, but it is US based.  You can redeem your mPoints for chances in sweepstakes for larger prizes, such as a $100 gift card and you can also donate your mPoints to over 20 major charities.

They also have a weight tracker and you can earn mPoints for logging your weight.

Nexercise can motivate you to pay attention to your activities and to log them throughout the day. With the huge listing of activities, you won’t feel like you are missing credit for any exercise.

Charity Miles

charityIf you feel as though you are getting enough of a reward from your exercise just from the health and wellbeing benefits then you might like the idea of Charity Miles. Instead of earning rewards for yourself, your exercise activities can be converted into donations to charities.

Just install the Charity Miles app and choose a charity. Then when you go for a walk, run or ride start up the app and log your activity in the Charity Miles App. It uses the GPS in your mobile phone to track your mileage and then converts these miles into points which are then converted into cash for your chosen charity. It works only for dedicated workouts logged with GPS, so it doesn’t count steps per day or mileage on a treadmill or stationary bike.

You can choose from over two dozen charities, including the ASPCA, Habitat for Humanity, Nature Conservancy, Alzheimer’s Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society etc.

Charity Miles is available for both iOS and Android.

Higi

HigiHigi is a new one to me and seems to work the same way as the standard rewards model from the likes of Bounts and Running Heroes. You connect it with your activity tracking apps and then earn points for activities that you do. You earn points for  GPS-based activities, steps, and higi Station and Foursquare check-ins.

Rewards come in the form of special offers. You can see the full list available at the moment here: https://higi.com/reward

Here’s a handy dandy infographic to show you how the various rewards stack up.

Higi Rewards

Higi Rewards

That works out at quite a few points per activity which is good. It is very much a US based scheme, but their website is nice and in the states they have ‘Higi Stations’ where you can easily measure Weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Pulse and Blood Pressure and gain points for doing so.

I’ve signed up to this one to give it a whirl and will let you know of any problems or standout features once I;ve used it for a while. So far though it looks pretty good. I can’t find a referral code anywhere though, so you’ll just have to sign up for yourself at https://higi.com

How they work

Where does the money come from? These apps and reward schemes are all commercial ventures, so you may be wondering how they make money and where the money to give us rewards come from. As mentioned above, some such as Pact are based on gambling with your own money to earn money from those that fail to meet their goals. The others all have slightly different business models, but in general the money comes from several streams.

  1. Some of the schemes have premium subscription models. Members pay a subscription and that generates an income. Presumably many members don’t do enough exercise to cover their subscription so a profit is made.
  2. Sport and fitness organisations pay the various schemes directly in the hope that they will increase physical activity and participation for their communities. These organisations include gyms and leisure centres and governing bodies such as the Lawn Tennis Association. The idea is that if these schemes provide an incentive for you and I to exercise more, we’ll end up visiting the gym or leisure centre more and therefore increase revenues for such establishments. In effect it’s just advertising.
  3. Rather than paying you in actual cash, these schemes tend to offer money off vouchers or Gift Cards for particular stores. Once again, these stores presumably pay the schemes a certain amount either directly or as commission on any sales made through them.

At the end of the day, if the scheme is free to join and you are exercising anyway, then there’s no harm in signing up to several of them, connecting your activity trackers and earning rewards when you sweat. If you don’t already exercise, then maybe signing up to one or more of the schemes will be just the incentive that you need to be a little more active.

13 Responses

  1. Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

    Having been a member of a few of these schemes it it looking as though Bounts is still the best in terms of returns – I had enough points within a week for a £5 voucher and they are steadily rising. The vouchers are from big name partners such as Amazon, Argos, Starbucks, M&S and Morrisons too.

    Running Heroes works well for pure runners but the rewards don’t seem as good as they are only for money off on fairly obscure partners, not the big names.

    Higi has a really nice dashboard and cool trophies for certain achievements and some of the rewards would be OK, but they are all US based so we can’t actually get them.

    I’ll let you know when I cash in my first Bounts points, but sign up now and start getting rewarded: https://bounts.it/registration?getme100points=alynyslas885

    Al.

  2. Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

    Well, it works! I’ve just received my first reward from Bounts – A £10 Amazon gift voucher that I’ve already redeemed.

    Bounts Reward

    • Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

      Thought you might like to know that Bounts is still working well for me. Having cashed in my points for a £10 Amazon voucher I’ve been holding out for a while now and haven’t cashed them in. Two reasons for this:

      1. The Amazon Vouchers ahve been out of stock for a while
      2. When they were in stock you could get a better deal on a £50 voucher than you could a £10 voucher

      I now have over 10,000 Bounts points though which should be enough for a £50 voucher when they come back in stock. Question is do I wait for the stocks to be replenished or just cash them in for several £5 Morrisons vouchers? Whatever I do, that’s £60 worth of vouchers in less than 4 months. Not a bad way to make some money.

      I’ve also joined another scheme that seems to be working quite well too. It’s called AchieveMint and although I’ve only recently become a member it seems to have back-dated my activities quite a way so I already have over 6,000 points taking me quite a way towards the 10,000 needed for a $10 payout – It will remain to be seen how the payout system works and if I can actually claim the $10 here in the UK.

  3. Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

    As far as AchieveMint goes, I have accrued over 10,000 points but have also discovered that you can only redeem your points for cash if you are a US resident.

    I have redeemed another £20 worth of Bounts points for Amazon vouchers though.

    Al.

  4. Avatar forComment Author Mum says:

    Oopps, so will you be able to do anything about the achievements vouchers or just have to write them off …at least you enjoyed the activities to get them in the first place x

    • Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

      Yep, nothing I can do about them – unless I move to the states! I didn’t do anything special to get the points though and I was still accruing points from Bounts at the same time.

      Al.

  5. Avatar forComment Author Mum says:

    Something tels me oh won’t be moving, especially to the U S x

  6. Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

    Still going well with the Bounts points, although the range of things available as rewards is pretty limited these days. Everything seems to be out of stock and they number of points required to get an Amazon voucher has increased too.

    On another note though, I’ve finally accrued enough points in Receipt Hog for a £3 Amazon voucher. Use my referral code: yenk1159 if you sign up to receipt hog.

  7. Avatar forComment Author Antony Robinson says:

    I’m signed up with uk running heroes. But, as mentioned, even though I have a huge number of points there’s very little of interest in the rewards.

    My android phone has developed the common fault with the accelerometer in that it works after a restart then stops working sometime afterwards, so apps which are based on counting steps don’t work for me.

    I tried BetterPoints as it works on GPS but unfortunately it’s GPS tracking is hopeless.

    Like you, I log my runs with a Garmin watch and would rather not carry my phone around as well.

    In short none of the available running rewards schemes seem to work for me at the moment.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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