Exercising with Your Child

Does going to the gym often rank somewhere on the bottom on your long list of daily tasks? Squeezing in time for an exercise routine can often be difficult when your life is swamped with work and daily activities, especially if you have a child (or two) to take care of. Working out doesn’t have to be hard, though!

Here are some ways that you can exercise right within the comfort of your own home and with the company of your entire family.

Tips to Sneak in a Workout with your Kids

• Teaching opportunities. While your child is eating his snack, take advantage of the free time by doing some reverse lunges or push-ups. If your child has never seen you do this before, take the opportunity to explain what you’re doing and why it’s important to stay fit and healthy.
• Make a game. Create a game where you and your child can be active together. One way to do this is to put a twist on the popular game Twister. Designate a workout to each color on the spinner. For example, yellow could be labeled as squats and green could be labeled as jumping jacks. Whoever lands on yellow has to do squats on the yellow colored circles, and whoever lands on green has to do jumping jacks on the green colored circles.
• Bathtub basics. While your little one is taking a bath, you can do some triceps dips on the edge of the tub. Entertain your child by making funny faces each time you dip down.

Fun Fitness for the whole family

• Go on walks. Incorporating walks into your daily schedule is a great way to get the family to go outside and get a breath of fresh air. A good time for this is before or after dinner when there is still daylight but it’s not too hot outside. If you plan on going on a longer walk, make sure to take the stroller in case your little one gets tired.
• Have a dance party. Dancing is a great way to burn calories and just enjoy good music with your family. Most kids never want to stop dancing once they start, so this is a great way to improve your stamina too.
• Have a sports night. Once a week, you can make it part of your schedule to head to the park with your family and play a sport together. Maybe one night you decide on basketball and the next week you decide on tennis. By introducing your child to different sports, you will help them figure out which sport they might want to play on a team in the future.

These are just a few ideas that you can use to improve your family’s physical well-being. At Prep Academy, we believe in staying healthy together as a family. By starting these healthy habits now when your child is young, you can instill the practice of leading an active lifestyle which can last a lifetime!