7 Challenges You Can Actually Do With Friends (and Why That Makes You More Likely to Finish)

This isn't just a nice idea. Psychologists have a name for it: the Köhler effect - the finding that people work harder when they're the 'weak link' on a team whose success depends on them. In one study, people who exercised with a more capable partner kept going for about twice as long (nearly 22 minutes versus about 11) as those exercising alone.

It holds up across the research, too: a 2023 meta-analysis of 19 studies found a large, consistent motivation boost from exercising with a partner versus going solo. Accountability, a little friendly competition, and not wanting to let people down are powerful forces - so let's put them to work.

The easiest entry point. Apps like Apple Fitness and Fitbit let you set up step competitions with friends, or you can just agree on a daily target and share a leaderboard. Walking is having a huge cultural moment - from 'hot girl walks' to viral interval-walking - and it's the most accessible group challenge there is: no gym, no skill, everyone can play.

Want to make the walks themselves count more? Turn part of them into brisk intervals, Japanese-walking style.

parkrun is a free, timed 5K held every Saturday morning in parks around the world, with over nine million people registered. It's the perfect group challenge because the hard part - showing up on a cold Saturday - is exactly what a friend fixes. Rope in a couple of mates and 'I don't feel like it' loses to 'they're expecting me.'

Never run 5K before? Do the Couch to 5K plan together first - a shared nine-week build-up to your first parkrun is a brilliant group project.

If you want a shared finish line with real stakes, HYROX - the wildly popular fitness race that blends running with functional stations - has a doubles format where you and a partner split the work and tackle it as a team. Training for a set event date with someone else is the ultimate accountability hack: you've both paid, you're both committed, and neither of you wants to be the reason you didn't show.

Pick one simple daily action - push-ups, a plank, a walk, ten pages of a book - and everyone commits to doing it every day for 30 days, with a group chat to log proof. This is the classic 'don't break the chain' challenge, supercharged by an audience. A 30-day push-up challenge is a perfect starter: scalable, equipment-free, and very satisfying to tick off together.

Cutting back on alcohol is far easier when your friends aren't handing you a drink - and when you're all in it together. Dry January has become a mainstream group ritual precisely because shared accountability works: research on participants finds better sleep, more energy, and drinking that stays lower even months later. Do it as a crew and swap mocktail recipes in the group chat. (If you're physically dependent on alcohol, though, talk to a doctor rather than stopping cold - that's a medical matter, not a challenge.)

Not every challenge is sweaty. A shared reading challenge - everyone commits to a book a month, or sets a yearly target on Goodreads - turns a solitary habit into a social one. Add a monthly call or a group chat to talk about what you read, and it becomes part book club, part streak. It's low-effort accountability for one of the highest-value habits there is.

Nothing fuses accountability and meaning like doing a challenge for a cause, as a team. Movember - where people grow moustaches and move for men's health each November - has drawn over six million participants and raised more than a billion dollars, largely through teams. Whether it's Movember, a charity 5K, or a sponsored step challenge, raising money together adds a layer of commitment that's hard to walk away from: now other people are literally counting on you.

Pick one, and set a start date. A shared 'we begin Monday' beats a vague 'we should do something.'

Make progress visible. A group chat, a shared leaderboard, or daily proof photos. Visibility is the whole point - it's what turns intention into follow-through.

Match effort, not ability. The magic works best when everyone's genuinely trying, even at different levels. You don't all have to be equally fit; you just all have to show up.

Keep it kind. A little competition is great; shame is not. The goal is to pull each other up, not to win.

Almost any challenge gets easier - and more fun - with people beside you. The science is clear that we try harder and quit less when we're accountable to someone else, so the single best upgrade to your next challenge might simply be: invite a friend.

*Harder is a social challenge platform built on exactly this idea - set challenges, submit daily proof, and do hard things alongside other people, because that's what actually makes them stick.*