Anytime Fitness Echuca is teaming up with Lifeline Loddon Mallee for this year’s Push-Up Challenge. Photos: Jordan Townrow
Anytime Fitness Echuca will again be completing the Push-Up Challenge this year to raise funds and awareness for mental health.
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From June 3 to 26, participants in the challenge aim to complete 3307 push-ups, which represents the number of lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2024 (the last year of available data).
In previous years, Anytime has registered directly with The Push For Better Foundation, with all local donations going to the national cause.
But for 2026, the gym has made a change to its contribution, instead teaming up with Lifeline Loddon Mallee.
All monies donated by participants registered with the Anytime Fitness Echuca team will go directly to Lifeline Loddon Mallee, specifically helping to fund the training of its volunteers and suicide prevention programs.
While the challenge is centred around participants completing push-ups, sit-ups, squats, calf raises or other tailored exercises are also allowed to be taken up as substitutes.
Participants can also do a combination of the aforementioned exercises to reach their daily output for the challenge, while a half push-up target of 1654 is also encouraged, which Anytime manager Shannon Mills will aim to reach this year.
“Obviously being in the gym industry, I'm a big advocate that it helps your mental health, so we certainly have people who are nervous and anxious walking in the door, but I always find, and from what I hear as well, the endorphins that you get from physical exercise does seem to make a difference long-term,” Mills said.
“Our goal here is to make them more confident with the equipment, so they can become independent and train on their own and reach their goals on their own as well, so it all ties into the same sort of thing of working on mental health and feeling better through physical exercise.
“For me personally, during those hard times, the gym has been a saviour to be able to have that outlet to release any stress or tension.”
Mills and fellow Anytime staff members will complete the half push-up target while working, tracking their required daily amount using The Push-Up Challenge app.
Anytime club manager Shannon Mills and her staff will complete the half push-up target for this year’s challenge.
Like previous years, the gym is aiming to raise $500, but Mills said that hitting $1000 would be a fantastic effort, particularly with Lifeline Loddon Mallee having already raised more than $3000 so far.
Locals can also simply donate to Lifeline to support the funding of mental health services in the region without participating in the physical exercises that come with the challenge.
Different donation amounts of $35, $65, $120 and $250 are suggested on the Push-Up Challenge website, with the impact of each tier explained in more detail.
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