(Strong) Arguments for Breaking Fitness Streaks
This week, I reached 250 days of continuous learning on Duolingo. That’s over eight months of daily Spanish lessons. My virtual night owl adores me! There’s just one problem: I’m no better at speaking Spanish than I was in March. I’m just better at Duolingo. At some point, maintaining that streak became more important than learning the language.
The same shift is happening with all my health-related apps. Soon, I’m more focused on the dopamine rush from a workout than on the hard work toward my fitness goals. I ‘ve written before about how chasing the concept of “feeling good” has stopped serving my well-being and instead become another item on my to-do list. And when my long runs unlock in-app rewards and my exercise bike propels me to the top among thousands of strangers, it’s easy to lose sight of my personal fitness goals. Am I truly improving, or have I simply achieved remarkable success?
Fitness gaming apps ( or “workout games” ) are popular, and for good reason: they’re a natural way to motivate, turning workouts into competitions and health goals into records. But while millions of us chase digital achievements, an important question arises: is health really something worth turning into a game?
Why Gamification Works (Maybe Too Well)
The appeal of gamifying health goals is undeniable. Traditional health advice—eat better, exercise more, stress less—can seem incredibly vague. Such general goals make it difficult for people to achieve them. Gaming apps transform these abstract goals into concrete actions to be taken day after day.
“Gamification can bring clarity and make goals more achievable,” says Chirag Arora, co-author of a study on the ethics of gamification in health and fitness tracking . With the introduction of streaks and badges, the question shifts from “How can I be healthy?” to “Can I walk 10,000 steps today ?” and this simplification can have real benefits. For someone paralyzed by the complexity of achieving good fitness, having precise instructions on what to do today (and earning points for it) can be liberating.
Game mechanics also provide genuine enjoyment, and “when you add in friends, competition, and community support, these apps tap into deep human needs for connection and play,” says Maryam Razavian, Arora’s co-author on the gamification ethics study.
The fact is, this appeal is undeniable for both companies and app developers. “These gamification techniques are really effective at getting people to engage with your product longer and more frequently,” says Doug Sarro , an associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. “The problem is that these apps and tools are designed for maximum engagement.”
In the context of fitness, this could be a win-win: more engagement with apps, more time spent on fitness, right? But what if you’ve achieved your personal goals, and the app still requires engagement? In short, these apps have a fundamental flaw: they discourage you from using them for very long.
The Power of the Series
What happens in our brains when we become obsessed with these digital rewards? Apps stimulate our dopamine system—a neurotransmitter associated with motivation, reward, and pleasure. Every ring we earn, every badge we receive, or every leaderboard promotion we achieve triggers a small surge of dopamine, reinforcing the behavior and creating a desire to return for more.
However, gamified apps are primarily focused on extrinsic motivation (badges, points, competition, social recognition). While these can be powerful motivators initially, they are inherently unsustainable. If you’re working out solely for the points, what happens when the novelty wears off and completing rings becomes routine? This leads to what Arora calls “motivational collapse,” which occurs when we rely too heavily on external rewards.
To avoid motivational collapse, Arora says that “users also need to align their external and internal goals.” After all, the healthiest approach to fitness is based on intrinsic motivation—exercising because it lifts your mood, relieves stress, gives you energy, or helps you pursue your favorite activities. Playing can help you get started, but it shouldn’t be the only reason to continue.
When a game takes over your life
I don’t think Duolingo wants me to actually learn Spanish—it just wants me to open the app tomorrow. Similarly, fitness apps never reach the final stage where they say something like, “Great job, you’re healthy now, you can exercise less.” Instead, they aim for more: longer streaks, higher scores, new challenges. “Instead of working for users’ health, these games can actually work against them,” says Sarro. In other words, longer streaks don’t necessarily mean better health. When you factor in the psychological toll, it could be the opposite.
When I posted a poll on Instagram asking people about their attitudes toward posting workout data and fitness content, I received one particularly memorable response about maintaining a streak: “I’ve had a 10,000-step streak since last year… but at some point over the past few months, I started caring less about maintaining my fitness and more about reaching that number, even when I should probably be resting.” You can get 10,000 steps by pacing your apartment at midnight, sacrificing sleep to reach your goal. You can survive an injury to maintain your streak. The goal of the game eclipses the goal of health. (The catch? Walking 10,000 steps every day is a delusional goal that may have originated in a Japanese pedometer marketing campaign in the 1960s.)
Goals that become additional pressure points in your life may not even make sense to you. “These apps try to appeal to the lowest common denominator,” says Arora, but your needs may differ from those of this imagined subgroup—it’s worth noting that for these apps, “lowest common denominator” still means targeting the higher socioeconomic groups who will buy their products, Arora adds. Simply put, app developers aren’t considering your individual needs. You may be fixated on the extrinsic motivation of achieving an arbitrary goal, losing sight of intrinsic motivations: what your health truly means to you.
How to find balance between your fitness goals
Look, I’m not planning on giving up my fitness trackers anytime soon, but I do want to change my mindset about them. Here’s how to gamify fitness to benefit your health:
Keep in mind the difference between game goals and health-related goals. Razavian says users should “focus on the enjoyment of the process itself, not on the feeling of added pressure associated with the game.” You don’t have to close the ring every day. Missing a streak won’t negate your fitness progress.
Stay connected to your inner motivation. Why did you start exercising in the first place? What do you want from your body and health? If you’re exercising solely for the pleasure of an app, you’ve missed the point.
Don’t compromise your judgment. As Sarro says, “Your job as an informed user is to resist the judgments the app makes.” You know your body, your schedule, your health needs, and your goals better than any algorithm. If the app pushes you to do something that feels wrong—whether it’s working out while injured, skipping sleep to reach a goal, or adding stress to your life—ignore it.
Realize that endless fitness growth is impossible. Just as a business rarely grows indefinitely, your body has its limits. You don’t need to set a new personal best every week. Maintaining your health is a worthy goal in itself.
Use gamification as a starting point, not an end point. Arora and Razavian’s research shows that gamification is most valuable at the beginning of your fitness journey, when you need help forming habits and understanding what to do. Once you develop a routine and understanding, you may need game elements less, which is another reason to abandon them.
Enjoy the game, but keep the long-term perspective in mind. If the game makes your workout more enjoyable, great. But as soon as it becomes another source of stress and commitment, it’s probably working against you.
Bottom line
The most important takeaway is simple: your health is not a game, even if your health app is. Remember that badges, achievement streaks, and leaderboards are artificial constructs designed to keep you engaged with the product . They may be useful tools, but they’re not the point. My owl’s approval on Duolingo means nothing if I don’t speak Spanish. The same goes for my indoor rings, my Peloton stats, and all the other game metrics I chase, which actually tell me nothing about my fitness.
Healing is a complex and nonlinear process. It requires rest and flexibility, and it looks different for everyone. It can’t be reduced to a single number or maintained through gamified willpower. And it certainly won’t end when you break the streak—so go ahead and break it.