Active Abu Dhabi's Move Challenge Added 2.31 Million Steps This Summer

Active Abu Dhabi and the citymoov app turned a summer of mall walking into 2.31 million steps, and the Active Abu Dhabi Move Challenge was the engine behind the number. Across July and August 2026, residents moving through five Abu Dhabi malls logged those steps and covered 1,735 kilometres, according to the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre. For anyone who spent the hottest months indoors, it is proof that ordinary trips add up. Here is what the challenge actually counted, why those steps matter, and how to keep the habit going once the campaign is over.

In this article

1. What the Active Abu Dhabi Move Challenge counted
2. Why your daily steps matter
3. How to add more steps without changing your day
4. Turning steps into a lasting routine

What the Active Abu Dhabi Move Challenge counted

The Move Challenge, powered by the citymoov app, invited shoppers to turn everyday errands into movement. According to the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, participants recorded 2.31 million steps and 1,735 kilometres over the two months, with a new location-based challenge dropping every two weeks and 20 prizes along the way. The challenge ran across five malls:

• Al Dhafra Mall
• Al Foah Mall
• Al Wahda Mall
• Dalma Mall
• Al Khalidiyah Mall

citymoov, the free app owned by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre and available on the App Store and Google Play, was built around access rather than competition, so there were no leaderboards to chase. Dr Rashed Alsuwaidi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, said promoting physical activity is less about launching initiatives and more about making movement an easy, enjoyable part of everyday life. It is not the authority's first nudge of this kind. Active Abu Dhabi also ran a First Steps challenge with a 6,000-steps-a-day target at Umm Al Emarat Park, open to all fitness levels, in cooperation with Emirates Foundation and PureHealth.

Why your daily steps matter

You do not need a mall campaign to benefit from walking, but a target helps. The World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening work on two or more days. Just as important, the WHO is clear that any amount of movement is better than none, and that regular activity helps lower the risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes and some cancers. Daily steps are one of the simplest ways to chip away at that weekly total, which is exactly why a step challenge works so well: it makes the goal feel reachable instead of daunting, and it rewards the small trips you were going to make anyway.

How to add more steps without changing your day

The Move Challenge worked because it fit into trips people were already making. You can borrow the same idea without an app or a prize:

• Take a lap of the mall or the block before you start shopping, not just on the way back to the car.
• Swap one short drive a day for a walk, or park at the far end of the car park.
• Turn phone calls and catch-ups into walking meetings.
• Break up long stretches of sitting with a two-minute walk every hour.
• Finish the evening with a family walk once the heat drops.

The point is to stack small movements through the day until the weekly total looks after itself. A pedometer or the step counter already in your phone is enough to see the number climb, and watching it rise is its own motivation.

Turning steps into a lasting routine

A summer challenge is a great start, but the real win is a routine that survives once the leaderboard switches off. Pairing your daily steps with a couple of structured sessions a week, a strength class, a treadmill interval, or a group workout, is how a walking habit grows into all-round fitness. That is where a GymNation in Abu Dhabi earns its place: it gives the steps somewhere to build, and a GymNation membership keeps you moving on the days the weather or the schedule works against you.

Ready to get started? Fill in the enquiry form and the GymNation team will take it from there.

Sources:
menafn.com
gulfnews.com
who.int
zawya.com

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.