29.10.2021
Who makes the highest?
On Oct. 28, 2021, the Max Planck Institute held its Health Day with the motto "Fit into Winter". For the first time, the university sports center also took part and provided the right amount of exercise with a touch of thrill as part of the "MPI Health Day Challenge".
It was still dark and foggy when the University Sports Center team set up its stations on the grounds of the Max Planck Institute on Thursday morning. At 9 a.m., with the start of the Health Day, not only did the sun make an appearance but the first participants of the "MPI Health Day Challenge" also arrived.
At four stations the employees could prove their skills and collect points for themselves and their institute. Great prizes awaited the winners at the end.
The first station, "stacking boxes", demanded a lot of courage and concentration from the participants. According to the motto "who is the biggest impostor", the task was to stack as many (beverage) crates as possible and climb up them. They were secured by the climbing team of the university sports department and sports students of the Institute of Sports Science. A crane truck was delivered especially for this station and a base plate was made - but the effort was worth it. Throughout the day, the employees* engaged in a hot head-to-head race. However, the record was set at the very end - with 23 boxes, the "biggest impostor" was crowned.
At station two, the "cargo bike course," employees were able to try out riding a cargo bike. The team of the student health management BeTaBalance was on site and provided the BeTaBike for test rides. Those who wanted to could also participate in the cargo bike course and collect points as part of the challenge.
Another highlight was station 3 "Archery". Instructed by the Derendingen shooting club, all those interested were shown the basics of archery. They were then able to put what they had learned to the test and shoot at a target from a distance of about 7 meters. The best attempt counted towards the challenge.
Of course, the strength and fitness center was also there with its team! At the Balance Station, balance was put to the test in 5 small exercises. What may look easy to an outsider was in fact a real challenge: keeping tension, finding calm between all the hustle and bustle and focusing entirely on yourself - for many more difficult than first thought.
The challenges were rounded off with a small warm-up at the beginning.
Preparations for this day began as early as June. For the first time in this constellation, the Max Planck Institute, Techniker Krankenkasse and the University Sports Center Tübingen worked together. Certainly also due to the good weather, the Max Planck Institute's Health Day 2021 was a complete success. The Covid-19 Pandemic made the importance of health even clearer. It is all the more pleasing that the offers around the health day were accepted with such a positive response. The University Sport Center Tübingen would like to thank all volunteers, the Techniker Krankenkasse as well as the organizers of the Max Planck Institute for the great cooperation.