A Fun Family Fitness Exercise

By: Nicole Nichols, SparkPeople Blogger
5/20/2012 10:00 AM : 12 comments : 11,625 Views

See More: fitness, family, children, parenting, motherhood, sparkmoms,

Have you thought about how great it would be to include your family in your pursuit to exercise more regularly? Family exercise will improve the health of your loved ones, make exercise more fun, and at the same time develop stronger connections between all of you. With a little creativity, you can find a way to make it work for everyone.

Fitness Tip

Combine exercise with those dreaded household chores. Gather some small pieces of paper; on each, write down either one chore or one body weight exercise. Put the papers into two different hats, one for chores and one for fitness. Have everyone pick one of each. Maybe Dad gets to clean the bathroom and do a set of squats every few minutes until he is finished, while one of the children is cleaning the kitchen and doing forward lunges, etc—the combinations are endless. Mix it up with yard work, seasonal chores, and even some aerobic components like jumping rope.

Some fitness ideas to try: pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, running in place, single-leg squats, lunges, high knees, stretches, and step-ups.

See our exercise demos for more fitness ideas.

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Comments

RAINCLOUD1996

12

I will try it since I am not working during the summer. - 7/16/2012 3:39:10 PM
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LADYDREAMER

11

I can see this as becoming a negative association, but I can also see it working if your family is competive & you turn it into a competition of sorts. I have turn chores into a competition before with my boys & it seemed to work when the motivation (reward for winning) was right for them. - 5/21/2012 2:38:10 PM
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LYNCHD05

10

get the chores done then do something fun for exercise! - 5/21/2012 12:18:28 PM
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MSWERKS

9

This seems like an article written by someone well-meaning but who doesn't have kids themselves. I can't see this working out well in my family or anyone else's. I'm in total agreement with the dance party idea. We do karaoke on the wii and those not performing, dance along to the songs.
We also enjoy our 'adventures'. We go out our front door and let each child pick which way we turn as we go for a random walk through the neighborhood. You can even do this in the woods, just make sure you use GPS to track where you go so you can make it back safely. - 5/21/2012 10:08:27 AM
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DORINAKT

8

Ready for today ! - 5/21/2012 4:42:07 AM
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JIBBIE49

7

Okay. - 5/21/2012 12:32:46 AM
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BLUE42DOWN

6

I'm with several others - this would NOT make a positive connection for most families. Growing up there was no way to make chores fun. We did them either on threat of punishment or with a payout (allowance) depending on our doing them. Had exercises been added, we'd have simply connected those as more of the dreaded chores.

I do like the dance party idea. Making it more fun rather than adding time and another "you have to do this" to it would connect the dancing and music to fun while getting the drudgery done. - 5/20/2012 9:50:23 PM
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BTVMADS

5

This sounds like a surefire way to make kids link housework AND exercise with drudgery. Why not just turn on the family's favorite songs and have a dance party while you clean instead? It's a lot more fun and a lot more intuitive than forcing the family to choose between scrubbing and sit-ups. - 5/20/2012 9:21:23 PM
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SOCDIRECTOR

4

Love these blogs relating to family fitness. Keep 'em coming! - 5/20/2012 7:48:53 PM
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RABBITAQUI

3

Next week we plan on seing my Sister in Fairfield! So, we can see the dogs! - 5/20/2012 12:25:33 PM
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PACOISAWESOME

2

sounds fun - 5/20/2012 11:28:45 AM
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MONKEYBEE7

1

Just wondering though, couldn't this create a negative association with exercise for kids? - 5/20/2012 10:22:06 AM
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