Celebrating a year of friendships and milestones
FitFam Shanghai in Hongqiao district
With 2019 fast approaching and our heavy holiday dinners still digesting, we look back on a transformative year not just for our community as a whole but individually as well. We are, after all, a collective of inspiring individuals from China and all over the world, each contributing to the well-being of others in our own ways.
What makes us unique isn’t the free workouts we organize every day of the year (what AQI?), the outrageous number of WeChat groups that begin with ‘FitFam’, or the multitude of FitFam-branded stickers you may or may not have saved in your list of favorites. It’s not just about the big events, parties and planking selfies. It’s about the people.
It’s about you.
So as we prepare to welcome the new year, let’s sit back and buckle up for a beautiful journey down memory lane with some of our biggest accomplishments from the past 365 days, engraved in our memories with sweat, laughs, and Insta-worthy snaps 🤳
China’s fittest family grew… a lot.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was FitFam. What started out as only a few dedicated friends in the cold Shanghai winter of 2015 unexpectedly became an international community of more than 5,000 members, all of whom have benefited from high-quality workouts from our volunteer leaders who continuously time out of their own schedules to keep us all active.
This year, we welcomed over 30 new workout leaders around mainland China and Hong Kong. That’s a lot of new burpees to sweat to!
Thank you
👏👏👏
Adam Kalimi
Alex Smith
Alfred Cullen
Amy Cao
Bernardo Amaro
Carolina Lozano
Caroline Bridges
Cathy Lei
Chan Corry
Erik Thorbeck
Fabiana Fonseca
Greg Corry
Hans Hendrickx
Ijaas Yunoos
Ioana Kraft
Jenny Petterson Oesterlind
Juliet Zhao
Justin Zhou
Lauma Delmane
Linda Li
Mark Predmestnykov
Meredith Bosco
Michael Cheung
Michael Liu
Michelle Hendrickx
Natalie
Natasha Lappos
Noor Maasarwe
Pauline Robichon
Sandrine Jeanneteau
Samantha Gao
Samuel Fung
Sébastien Legrand
Steven Lee
Sujin Cho
Veronica Chen
Virginie Libaud
You made us proud.
They fought in the ring, relentless, as dazzling supporters in suits and dresses screamed their names from surrounding dinner tables. They came out to motivate at the break of dawn and when dusk fell, day in and day out, and received much-deserved awards for it.
They beat the odds (from a China perspective) and placed first in races spanning well over 50 kilometers, and took their incredible involvement in the fitness community to the next level by obtaining physical training certifications.
Congratulations
👏👏👏
Andy Griffiths
Edita Wu
Evgeniya Nadezhkina
Hannes Hultman
Harriet Gaywood
Igor Valentic
Katie Arnold
Kelly Chen
Veronika Vadovicova
Vy Vu
Xiaowei Zhang
Yann Payen
Some of you braved the snow.
Back in January, Shanghai’s “snowstorm” was no match for FitFam. Some of our Winter Warriors bundled up and braved the elements while capturing a few epic photos along the way.
We invaded more space.
As our number of FitFammers and leaders grew over the past year, so has the demand for more free fitness. As such, we’ve expanded our frawesome (that's free + awesome) capabilities to 29 more locations.
📍Shanghai, China
Adventure Run, The Grand Kempinski Hotel, Pudong (outdoor)
Fast Paced Run, 20km Jing’an Workers Stadium (outdoor)
Fuxing Park HIIT (outdoor)
Fuxing Park Yoga (outdoor)
Jiaotong University Xuhui, Track (outdoor)
Long Slow Distance Run 20km, Runners Hub, West Bund (outdoor)
Minhang ECNU (outdoor)
Mixpace, Zhongshan Park (indoor)
naked Hub Yoga, Fuxing Lu (outdoor)
The Executive Centre (TEC), Pudong (outdoor)
The Executive Centre (TEC), Puxi (outdoor)
The Living Room, Jing’An (indoor)
Tongji University, Putuo District (outdoor)
Tribe Yoga (indoor)
Webox (indoor)
WeWork Dongchang Road (indoor)
WeWork Guangdong Road (indoor)
WeWork Xujiahui (indoor)
Xiangyang Park, Old Xuhui (outdoor)
YCIS Regency Park Campus, Pudong (outdoor)
Zenergy Yoga (indoor)
Zhongbei, ECNU (outdoor)
👇
📍Beijing, China
JunWang Fu Square, Chaoyang Park (outdoor)
naked Hub Dongdaqiao Yoga (indoor)
👇
📍Hong Kong
Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island (outdoor)
Tamar Park, Admiralty, Hong Kong Island (outdoor)
👇
📍Changzhou, China
Qingfeng Park, Zhonglou District (outdoor)
Renwu Art Training Center (indoor)
DSC Sports Fitness Center (indoor)
👇
We teamed up and challenged ourselves.
You know how much we love our occasional challenge and, with your help, we took over Shanghai streets and fields in typical FitFam fashion. Nothing better than a friendly competition here and there to get the adrenaline kicking.
Your response? Challenge accepted.
April 9-15
Spring Challenge
7 days, 7 themed prizes, 318 participants
Our annual Spring Challenge invited members and friends to complete 5 workouts in 7 days while also building healthy eating & drinking habits thanks to our amazing partners.
June 4-16
10-Workout Challenge
2 weeks, 32 locations, 182 workouts, 270 participants
Your mission: complete 10 workouts in 2 weeks at any of our 32 available locations around Shanghai. The only caveat: participants could not log in more than one workout per day.
October 27
Halloween Huangpu Hustle
30 volunteers , 34 teams , 6 photographers, 10 partner venues
Hundreds of people came together to celebrate the spookiest holiday of the year. The costumes, the challenges, and the FitFam spirit made the 3rd annual FitFam Halloween Huangpu Hustle our best event yet.
December 1
FitFam 3rd Birthday Workout
1 workout, 120+ FitFammers
To mark FitFam’s third birthday (they grow up so fast, don’t they??), our entire community came from all corners of Shanghai for one massive workout at our long-time location supporter, Cages, and naked Hub to sweat, eat, and smile.
We ran a whole lot of kilometers together.
To some of you, running is your bread & butter. For others, this was their Mount Everest. Regardless of your experience and level of fitness — as for anything else at FitFam — we all came together to motivate and support one another. And together, we achieved a whole lot of greatness.
April 21
Shanghai Spartan Sprint & Super
16+ km, 40+ obstacles, 76 FitFammers
No stranger to Spartan races, FitFam put on his meanest face this year with teams of 10 and 66 participants to compete in the Spartan Super and Sprint, respectively.
April 22
Shanghai Half-Marathon
Personal records and first-timers, 21km
Many of our FitFam runners came out to compete in Shanghai’s half-marathon race on the Pudong side of the city, braving the spring heat as they made their way from Lujiazui down south along the Huangpu river.
September 8
5K Color Run
1 unicorn, 126 participants
Unicorns, white t-shirts plastered in bright colors, and a few burpees along the way. That’s what awaited our FitFamily at the Shanghai 5K Color Run race in Pudong! With 126 participants, the FitFam team was by far the biggest.
November 18
Shanghai 10K and Full Marathon
10+ supporters , 57 runners, Tons of GU gels & snacks
It was wet… It was cold… But rain or shine, those conditions didn’t stop our FitFammers from coming out to run! Some of them had been training for this moment for months, and many had prepared for it together.
We got very techie.
Lots of good things happened around the connected FitFamosphere. First, we officially launched our new website at www.wefitfam.com to help promote all our wonderful stories and events.
After months of intense coding and coordinating, we finally began testing our very own FitFam Mini Program which was then rolled out across all of our China locations to ease the registration process and help you locate workouts near you. To access, search “FitFam” in the Mini Program section of the WeChat search.
Want to know what’s on the FitFam agenda for 2019? We upgraded our WeChat official account from FitFamShanghai to FitFam (ID: FitFamChina) so you and your pals can stay updated on all-things FitFam and free fitness. Scan the QR code below to access our China account.
We made a few toasts to celebrate.
From birthdays and post-challenge soirees to Hawaiian Christmases and smaller get-togethers, our friendships extended far beyond the field — and it showed.
You moved us with your gratitude.
“I really appreciate everything that you have done for us. I have so much gratitude for FitFam.”
“I would like to thank FitFam for making sports and exercising less lonely and a lot more fun and happier.”
“I began feeling the improvement of my body strength after attending FitFam workouts regularly in the morning, and I made lots of new friends along the way. I have fabulous memories of the last few months and I’m proud to be one of the members of FitFam. I keep telling people around me about FitFam as well!”
“Thanks for giving me a reason to sweat every Wednesday night! I’m thankful for that. Merry Christmas and happy new year in advance!”
“You guys are so great to provide such a wonderful community and promote healthier lifestyles. I really appreciate it and would like to volunteer however I can for the community.”
“I’m not out here to eat cookies. I’m here to lose weight, be healthy and make myself a better person than I was the day before. And I can do that every day with FitFam.”
FitFam isn’t just a community of free exercises. It’s a place where friendships are made. A place where smiles are shared, WeChats are exchanged, and lifelong bonds are created. Thank you, once again, for another incredible and memorable year.
Congratulations to everyone on their personal achievements! Let’s raise a glass (of smoothie…) to more milestones to look forward to in 2019. It won’t be easy, but if we’ve learned anything from the past 3 years, it’s to never doubt how far a high-five can take you.
