In March, we’ll be putting our best foot forward again during the Keep Moving Challenge, logging as much exercise time as possible for a good cause. But by now, you probably know the walking and biking paths in your area like the back of your hand, so you might want an extra challenge, or an alternative route. That’s why we’ve put some tips together to keep things fresh and fun during this month’s Keep Moving Challenge.
Strava Art
A new hype that has cropped up this past year is Strava Art, a combination of exercise and creativity. With Strava Art, you can turn your walk, run or bike ride into a work of art by plotting your GPS signal on a map.
The benefits:
- You’ll be extra motivated to keep going and finish your drawing.
- You’ll literally go the extra mile (or extra minute of exercise).
- The kilometres fly by because now you have a clear goal.
How do you make a Strava drawing? You can use the Strava Route Builder or Plot a Route. First, think about what you want to draw, then look at the map and start drawing your route. This brings us to the biggest ‘disadvantage’ of Strava Art: it takes some time to prepare your route.
When you’re done, you can upload this route to your GPS, activity tracker or phone, and you’re good to go. You’ll find fun drawing inspiration at Strav.Art. Or how about drawing the Uantwerp logo?
‘Smart Ways to Antwerp’ bike routes
Working from home is still the norm, but if you need to be on campus, you can come by bike. The city of Antwerp is becoming more and more bike-friendly. Thanks to new bike superhighways and bike junctions, it’s never been easier to get to the city.
You can use ‘Smart Ways to Antwerp’ to find the fastest route to your final destination in the city, and it even has a route planner you can download for Android or iOS. Simply add a waypoint to your route to discover new places in the city.
Walking meetings
Tired of online meetings? When the weather’s nice, ditch the computer and meet with up to three colleagues during a socially distanced walk instead. There are many beautiful places to walk near our campuses, like the open-air Middelheim Museum, Nachtegalenpark, or Park den Brandt at Campus Middelheim and Campus Groenenborger. At Campus Drie Eiken, you can discover the secret paths around campus, and the Stadscampus is close to both the historic city centre and the Eilandje, where you can have fruitful walking meetings.
Tour of the Future
While you’re in Antwerp, be sure to take our Tour of the Future (in Dutch) while you still can. QR codes can be found at five different locations throughout the city until 7 March, allowing you to bring the future to life in augmented reality.
But as we said, you have to be quick. The Tour of the Future is only available until 7 March.
Surprise me
Walking and cycling enthusiasts will already be familiar with the concept of ‘junctions’ (knooppunten in Dutch). Via www.wandelknooppunt.be and www.vlaanderen-fietsland.be (or their smartphone apps), you can create your own routes or click ‘Surprise me’ if you’re feeling lucky. Simply choose your starting junction and indicate how many kilometres you want to walk or cycle. The route planner will then calculate a route for you.
Do the caterpillar
One last original exercise tip: you can ‘do the caterpillar’ in your back garden, like Beerschot player Jan Van den Bergh after his goal against Racing Genk. Watch the video here.
