NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS: FAMILY FITNESS
Have you been trying to find the right time to get yourself and your family into a fun fitness routine? There’s no better time than the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one to get started!
Involving your kids in your fitness routine is an easy way to make physical activity fun and creative, and also helps to keep you committed to your resolutions and goals! There are many kid-friendly exercises and games that will help to keep both you and your children healthy and active. Here are just a few ideas to help get you started:
Simon Says
It’s also easy to turn Simon Says into a fitness activity! Simply use exercises as your activities for the game. For example – “Simon Says do ten jumping jacks!” or “Simon Says run on the spot for ten seconds!” This makes Simon Says the perfect activity to encourage both active listening and fitness.
Dance Party
Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned dance party? Dancing to some fun tunes is not only wildly fun for anybody at any age, but is also another great cardio exercise option. You can even incorporate some muscle-building exercises into the dancing such as squats, “burpies”, or leg-kicks to get a great whole-body workout in for the family.
Patty-Cake Plié Squat
This exercise, found through the “ModernMom” channel on YouTube, is great for parents who have little ones that may not quite be of the age to fully and actively participate in fitness activities. Simple to do, this is basically a simple plié squat that incorporates a game of patty-cake into the workout. It will entertain both you and your child while you get an excellent lower-body and core workout!
If you are interested in viewing the instructional video for this fun activity, on the ModernMom YouTube channel – just check out this link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJi6VSraQs
Crab Races
Crab races are yet another fun and imaginative yet highly active game to play with kids. Simply sit on the ground, bend your knees and use your hands (palms flat to the ground) to lift your body. You and your kids can then race each other while pretending to be crabs. Not only is this game fun for all, but it is also a great strength building exercise for the arm, leg and back muscles.
Card Game Exercise
This game was featured on the Social as a great way to make exercising into a game. All you need for this one is a standard deck of cards. Assign one type of exercise to the black cards (ie: jumping jacks) and one to the red cards (ie: leg lifts). Then draw a card, and whichever number is on the card, do that many repetitions of the exercise!
Tag!
This is an age-old favourite for kids of all ages, and all that chasing and running is also a great cardio exercis. You can play the simple and classic version of tag where one player is “it” and must chase others and “tag” them so that they are “it” – OR you can spice it up to make it even more exciting for the kids! There are many versions of tag, for example “freeze tag” – where the person who is “it” must chase and tag someone else, and that person must stay frozen on the spot for a certain amount of time before chasing others. Creating your own version of tag to add an extra element of fun!
These ideas are just a few of the many ways that you can involve your child in healthy, active exercises – but still get in your own workout. They promote imaginative play for your kids, and are easy to do with very little, if any, extra materials other than yourself and your kids involved!
If you want to get more serious about fitness for you and your children, there are many opportunities located right here in Toronto.
One such opportunity would be Spynga, The Yoga + Cycling Studio. Spynga offers a wide variety of options for both pre and post-natal exercises, as well as classes specifically for children from toddler age all the way to preteens! They are conveniently located in the St. Clair – Bathurst area, right near us here at balafant boutik!
If you are interested in finding out about the different options offered at Spynga, you can check out the website: http://spynga.com
We hope these ideas are helpful and start you and your children on your fitness journey for the upcoming year!