The 60 Day Fitness Challenge kicks off today! Read all about it below!!!

It's July 1st, which means it's time to kick off our 60 day BlackBerry Fitness Challenge!! If you haven't heard what it's all about yet, keep reading below for the full contest details. There are lots of prizes to be won, and a couple of different ways to participate. Let's answer a couple of FAQs that popped up in response to our first post:

• Do I need twitter to participate? No. There are essentially three ways to win. Two of them involve twitter (tweeting when you're done your workout to #blackberryfitchallenge via the Gym Technik app) but the third contest is for the best improvement - the best before/after photos. These can be submitted via the Gym Technik app or via email (more details below). Also, we're going to tie a forum thread to the contest (read below) which will offer up yet another way to participate and win prizes.
• How do the before/after photos work? You're doing this for yourself, so take LOTS of before photos (front, back, sides, etc.). Be sure that at least one of the photos has you holding your BlackBerry in front of you (or today's newspaper), with the date clearly showing - that's the one we need to see asap to know you're in the event. You can take and submit your before photos anytime between now and July 15th. Of course, the sooner you do them, the more days you have to improve upon your physique for the challenge. At the end of the 60 days, you can choose whether or not you want to submit your final photos to be entered into final running of the best-improved contest. At that point, we'll want to see all your before and after photos. So again, take lots of pics!!

OFFICIAL 60 Day Fitness Challenge Forum Thread (w/ bonus prizes): I know for me to succeed in this challenge, I'm going to want and need the support of others participating. To that end, I've set up the official 60 Day BlackBerry Fitness Challenge thread in the CrackBerry Forums. If you're taking part in the event, be sure to hit the forum thread and say hello, tell us your goals, and keep in touch (we can fight the food cravings together!). When the 60 days are over, we'll reward those actively taking part on the forum thread with some sweeet prizes.

• Visit the Official 60-Day BlackBerry Fitness Challenge thread >>

So there you have it. It's time to get it on. Full contest details are below. Commit. Take the before photos. Weigh yourself. Do your own measurements. Know where you're starting at. Then let's GIVVVER for 60 days. See ya at the beach!!

60 Day Fitness Challenge Contest Rules and Details

Transformation Summer Challenge - Enter the CrackBerry & Gym Technik fitness challenge and transform your body in 60 days

Gym Technik and CrackBerry are teaming up to get BlackBerry owners to be the fittest group of Smartphone owners around. This first of it's kind 60 day fitness challenge is open to all BlackBerry owners, who want to push themselves to look their best this summer, and win or lose, we'll all win at the end. But to make it more exciting and competitive, we have some great prizes to give away at the end of the contest for those who really commit.

To be eligible, you need to have a Gym Technik account, and track your workouts and body weight on Gym Technik. Gym Technik is the Online and BlackBerry fitness app which we've covered many times in the past. The site allows you to setup workout routines for yourself, and follow and track the workouts when you hit the gym. You can track your workouts using their native BlackBerry app, or using their mobile website. To use the app, you'll need a Gym Technik premium account, which you get a 30 day free trial of when you register. And these guys believe ‘the more the merrier', and they'd like this contest getting competitive. So to help out they've announced that they will give 40% off their annual premium subscription for all who sign up and join the fun during this 60 day contest period. If you still don't want to pay for the app after your trial, you can still track for free and be a part of the contest by using their mobile website. The promo code you will need to use when you upgrade at their store is cbsummerchallenge. I can't say I've ever seen them give away their premium at this much of a discount, and at little more than 2 bucks a month, this is a great value (note: discount applicable for new premium sign ups only).

Here's how you get started

• If you don't have an account, sign up free at www.gymtechnik.com
• Setup your workouts Online by building your own, or by grabbing from their library
• Schedule your workouts on the Gym Technik calendar
• Link your Gym Technik account to your Twitter account (This one's important to be eligible for prizes)
  • Login to the Online site, and navigate to My Account > Share/Link
• Download the app to your BlackBerry by pointing your BlackBerry browser to http://get.gymtechnik.com
• Start working out! Track your workouts and body weight progress and follow the rules below to stay eligible. Contest officially begins on July 1st, 2010 and ends 60 days later on Sunday, August 29th at midnight PST.

Here's how you take part in the contest and the prizes

• When you finish your workout, end it on the app by the following steps:
  • Click the BlackBerry menu button
  • Click "End Workout"
  • You be shown a summary page of your stats. On the top a button asks "Share how you feel"
  • Click "share how you feel..."
  • Type whatever you want, but it needs to start with the hashtag ​#blackberryfitchallenge​.

Contest Winner #1:

• At the end of the 60 days, we'll query all the #blackberryfitchallenge tweets from Twitter, and randomly pick a winner
• Prizes:
  • 4 Free Gym Technik Premium Licenses
  • Withings Scale
  • $100 of free accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com

Contest Winner #2:

• At the end of the 60 days, we'll query all the #blackberryfitchallenge tweets from Twitter and create a leader board. The winner will be person at spot #1, so the person who has the most tweets (ie. Most workouts)
• Prizes:
  • 4 free Gym Technik premium licenses
  • 1 pair of Nike Free 5.0 shoes or Vibram Five Fingers
  • $100 of free accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com

Contest Winner #3:

• Best before/after picture. To participate in this, take a picture of yourself on your "start day" and upload it to Gym Technik. In this before photo, you need to make sure you're holding your BlackBerry up so we can see the date on your BB home screen (or else a newspaper that shows the date of entry). And finally at the end of the contest, when we ask for photo submissions you can simply grab the photos from Gym Technik and submit to CB (we'll post details then). CB nation will vote on the most dramatic before/after. This one's optional... If you don't want to participate, just don't submit after your photo to CB. But you can still upload to GT for your own vanity.
• Extra Instructions: You'll have until July 15th to submit your "before" photo to GymTechnik. Ideally you'll want to submit it on July 1st so you have the full 60 days to train hard. After you have submitted it via the GymTechnik app, send an email to support@gymtechnik.com, with the subject "crackberry" and let them know your username. We'd like to keep close contact with those who are really taking this event seriously (maybe we'll get a little BBM support Group going!).
• Option for non Gym Technik/Twitter users: If you want to participate in the event but are not on twitter and don't want to give Gym Technik a try, you can simply email your before / after photos in to support@gymtechnik.com, with a subject of crackberry. Be sure to attach your photo and make sure that date is clear.
• Prizes:
  • Free BlackBerry Smartphone!
  • 1 pair of Nike
    Free 5.0 shoes or Vibram Five Fingers
  • $100 of free accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com