Discovery Health - Vitality & Team Vitality plus everything else you need to know

[nathrix]

Adjustment of Vitality Active Rewards goals It is important to note that the Vitality Active Rewards goals are dynamic: they adjust upwards and downwards based on the members activity and goal completion to either gradually encourage them to the next level or to keep them motivated and engaged at the current level or a lower level should that be more appropriate for their level of fitness engagement. To ensure a smooth transition for those already on Vitality Active Rewards when the changes come into effect in April 2016, we will be adjusting goals downward for certain members to give them time to adapt their training plans to the new points changes should they so choose.

 

This was after I signed up for it.

[Tubehunter]

Most of the chaps here moaning keep surprising me at the inability to understand the publically communicated requirements of the benefits Disco put out.

 

They set their activity points on specific limits and just like BMI makes no sense for everyone, heart rate zones wont make sense for everyone but on the balance of available data from the mass of subscribers it is their only option. I say this as someone who has a realitively low HR for my age and even though I'm in a base training phase the targets are not out of reach for now.

 

The bigger question is however, are you putting in more training effort in order to make sure you reach your goals? Have you even 1 time gone to the gym purely because you wanted to make sure you met your goal and didn't drop the team you have in active rewards? If so, the benefit is doing what they were hoping for!

[nathrix]

https://www.discovery.co.za/portal/individual/active-rewards

 

Scroll down and you'll see it

VAR.PNG

 

Jip they have our nuts in a vise grip with this one! It benefits them actually, if you don't reach the goals "for some of the individuals" when they increase the goals you start paying back the money for the watch.

 

Your weekly fitness goals are set by us, but are personalised to you and adjust automatically based on your activity levels. Keep working towards your goal and be rewarded if you achieve it. If you don't, we start billing you for that watch....

Edited May 23, 2016 by nathrix ® ©™

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

This was after I signed up for it.

nope. It was presented like that at the launch last year August September

[Tubehunter]

Nathrix, how long have you been doing exercise dude?

 

Surely you must know that the only way to improve your fitness levels are to increase the training load, through either intensity or duration, hopefully both. It's granular thinking but the only option for a fitness benefit program aimed at the masses.

 

If you are regularly making your weekly targets and enjoying the benefits on a weekly basis, of course the targets will increase so that you have to beat yourself at getting fitter. If someone else on the program, irrespective of what their current fitness levels are, do not make their weekly goals, they do not get any of the active rewards and the program cannot possibly then aim to make their target more difficult. It's incentive is to get the mass of Vitality members to IMPROVE their fitness as this is what Discovery is aiming for. The stats show something like a 7% improvement in fitness across the board for all their members has a massive implication on the rate of risk benefit exposure for Disco! That is where their golden egg lies.

 

We as regular cycling members get to enjoy some benefits from doing something we would ALREADY be doing, i.e. aiming to get fitter for whatever cycling pursuits\goals we have and Disco have come up with a way to link this back to their offering that ties into their medical aid scheme and shares a little bit of the savings!

Edited May 23, 2016 by Tubehunter

[Jigghead]

This, I agree with, though as we see above if it is motivated you can opt out for a time period if you need to. 

 

Exercising at the expense of aggravating an injury, though, JUST to get the goals, is a bit silly. You're not "losing" anything. You're still getting all the discounts, just not the additional discounts or active rewards based ones. If you have the watch, though, you may have a case. Though in my opinion you (not necessarily you) should have thought of that before assuming that you'd always hit the goals even if you were injured. 

 

IE: Always assume that you may at some point need to pay one months' worth of contributions due to sickness and / or injury 

Agree 100%, although there are those...

[Veebee]

Jip they have our nuts in a vise grip with this one! It benefits them actually, if you don't reach the goals "for some of the individuals" when they increase the goals you start paying back the money for the watch.

 

Your weekly fitness goals are set by us, but are personalised to you and adjust automatically based on your activity levels. Keep working towards your goal and be rewarded if you achieve it. If you don't, we start billing you for that watch....

 

I see this is now about the watch, changes everything....

[nathrix]

Thanks for pointing out the T&C, admittedly I did not fully understood the part about individual points goal will be increased if you achieve your weekly goals as I never used the system before, so yes, I agree I'm at fault here.

 

Points goal increased for members who regularly achieve their weekly points goal and no increase for members who don't. Got it!

[Frosty]

IE: Always assume that you may at some point need to pay one months' worth of contributions due to sickness and / or injury

I'd like to add to what Myles has said...

 

Rather assume the worst... get a watch at 0% interest over 24 months, and IF one meets the targets then the amount due will decrease, and hopefully be "free".

 

No point taking the watch just for the sake of taking it. Then one may as well just buy it, not so?

 

The wife has it on my profile, because we both know it's easier for me to meet the targets. She uses the watch to workout rather than spend money on another device she doesn't particularly want to wear. We've also had to adapt her workouts to minimise the limits of the watch's HR functionality.

 

Lastly, the VAR program is just like a workout, the more you put in the more you (are likely to) get out. The same with the tracking of one's points... It requires some effort to maintain it, and ensure it's not left to the last minute to get those workouts in.

 

 

 

BTW - has anyone that missed a weekly target, seen an increase in the target for the following week?

 

And has anyone's target dropped as a result of missing the previous week's target?

[nathrix]

I see this is now about the watch, changes everything....

 

Apologies for being the idiot who fell for the sly marketing watch trickery and did not 100% read/understand the T&C with regard to individual points goal that will increase when achieving the weekly points goal. I'll make sure I get the points every week so that I don't need to pay back the money...

[HOEKVLAG]

 

The bigger question is however, are you putting in more training effort in order to make sure you reach your goals? Have you even 1 time gone to the gym purely because you wanted to make sure you met your goal and didn't drop the team you have in active rewards? If so, the benefit is doing what they were hoping for!

I struggle to average 80% HR on the trainer, but have to run just lightly faster to manage it on the treadmill. Hence I've started running a bit more (and quicker), so the rewards system has motivated me and improved my running fitness - which is probably more or less what they are trying to achieve.

 

I am, however, still hoping that the next revision would reward longer efforts at over 70%... 

[BarHugger]

Seriously back on this ? How are those meeting their goals being penalized ? If you are training, then you hope to get fitter/stronger as time passes so it makes sense for them to increase it.

 

It also keep its challenges, especially for those who are less active as they would need to get out and do more to meet the higher goal.

 

Again, everyone will soon be on 1200 so then you have nothing to complain about.

Just a thought......are you qualified for educated in the workings if the human body and acceptable heart rate levels to be trained at ?

[carbon29er]

Just a thought......are you qualified for educated in the workings if the human body and acceptable heart rate levels to be trained at ?

Are you?

 

If so please explain how 30 minutes at 80% 4 times a week is detrimental to the human body?

[Veebee]

Just a thought......are you qualified for educated in the workings if the human body and acceptable heart rate levels to be trained at ?

 

yes I am, would you like to see my certification ? Just need to pull it out of the cloud.

[Frosty]

.

On a lighter note... I see my profile photo is the same as yours, at least on Tapatalk

 

[BarHugger]

yes I am, would you like to see my certification ? Just need to pull it out of the cloud.

It wasn't a sarcastic question.....neither was it to belittle you......I just sense you don't quite have a deep understanding of healthy and acceptable levels to train at......you might think you are benefiting now but we all get older.......