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Fun Ways to Exercise

Over the years my body has taken a beating.  Yes, it has gone from hero to zero in about 10 years.  I blame it on my occupation as it requires me to sit for long periods of time.  Regardless of my woes, I have added on about 50 or 60 pounds since getting out of the Army many years ago.

Over the years I have tried to get back in the habit of eating health and working out daily.  What inevitably happens is that I begin to work weird lousy hours and it takes a toll on my family time.   I start to spend less time with the wife and kids things start to get rough for me.   Whenever I get free time I decide to skip working out and just hang out with the family.

Keeping active while having fun is important. Not just for me but for my kids.  I don’t want my children to view exercise as “work” and I don’t want to spend time away from the family just to exercise.  So I thought I would share a few things the my family and I do from once in a while to be active and exercise while having fun.

Bike Ride

Yes I know it’s not rocket science but how often do you ride bikes with your kids?  This isn’t something we do on a regular basis but do it once in awhile.  My son is still trying to figure out this bike riding thing so it can be tough to ride in our neighborhood.

Walk or Walk the Dogs in the Neighborhood

This is something we do quite frequently.  We walk  in the neighborhood with and without our dogs.  It gives my wife and I time to just talk with the kids about anything we want and not have the interruption of movies, games and whatever else comes up.  We can walk an hour and not even realize it.

Bouncy House Fun

This is something new for the family.  We recently started going to a place called Pump it Up which is an indoor bouncy house play area.  The great thing about it is that parents can go on the bouncy houses too.  The wife and I were exhausted after bouncing around and going through the obstacle course a dozen times.  Great exercise for the family, TRUST ME.

Water Slides

What? Waterslides is exercise.  If you don’t believe me then climb the 6 or 7 stories to the top of the waterslide 50 times.  Tell me how your legs feel the next morning.  Sometimes I feel like I have to train just so I can have fun at some of these places.

Exploring Shops that Look Fun

Finding reasons to get out and walk will take us to the mall or some shopping center we haven’t been to.  We will walk, window shop, eat lunch and just explorer.  Sometimes we will do this in places like the Pike Place Market or some new random shopping location that just looks fun.

Bounce on a Trampoline

Bouncing on a trampoline is exhausting. Yes for a small investment you too can own an over sized trampoline.  After showing my wife and kids the few tricks on the trampoline I could do as a child we started playing games on the trampoline to keep it exciting.  The handful of games we play makes for a ton of fun and exercise with all the jumping and laughing.

Don’t have a trampoline?  See if there is a Trampoline Nation in your area and take the family.  Trampoline Nation is on the “to do” list for my family.

Park

We typically head to a park where there is a little lake and a play set for the kids.  We will walk around the park, feed the ducks and then play with the kids on the play set.   This activity gets us out of the house and active.

Zoo

We do this a few times a year and walking of course is one of the requirements if you want to see all of the animals.  Our nearby zoo is full of slopes and hills.  Everything is fine until I have to walk back up the hill and that is where I really get my exercise on.

Roller Skating

Another one of the fun ways to exercise is to go roller skating.  My kids and I are a sweaty mess when we get done roller skating.  If you are new to roller skating like my wife is, you will find that as long as you try to roller skate you will get plenty of exercise.

Some of the aforementioned activities cost money and some don’t.  I know one of the biggest barriers for me to exercise is time or the energy when I have time.  Whether it’s the summer or winter we have to keep our kids active to keep them healthy and happy.

What do you do to have fun and exercise or keep active with the family at the same time?

Comment below to let me know.

Andrew