How to Achieve Physical Fitness for the Whole Family

When your entire family is working together towards a common goal, no matter what it is, your chance of success improves dramatically. The old joke asks, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is, "One bite at a time." When your family is also focused on helping you eat the elephant, a seemingly impossible task gets accomplished in a much shorter time.

While eating an elephant is certainly an unenviable and impossible sounding chore, it is often times just as difficult for a family in today's society to remain active, stay fit and keep healthy. Processed and fast foods are everywhere, teens and adults are more sedentary than at any other time in humankind's history, and mobile Internet technology has everyone's face stuck in a smartphone or PC display.

That is why it is more important than ever to take certain proven steps towards becoming a more physically fit family. And actually, in many ways, the family dynamic can make physical fitness and better health easier to achieve as a team than it is on the individual level. Children are already conditioned to receiving direction from their parents, and parents are consistently and consciously striving to set the best example. This creates some easy-to-follow steps towards family physical fitness which will increase your overall chance of success.

Assign a Coach

All teams need a coach or manager who leads the actions of the group. Someone in your family needs to direct the physical fitness activities of your "team". This works most effectively when it is mom or dad, and remember that the coach should set realistic but challenging goals. The family fitness coach should hand out schedules, provide input and motivation, and then follow-up on performances.

Schedule Family Fitness Outings

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The different ages and fitness levels of your family members will dictate that not everyone can lift the same weight, run the same distance or swim the same length. However, team activities like hiking are excellent for overall body health, hiking is doable by everyone, and it also allows the family to bond. Schedule family fitness outings which get you and your children away from computers and fast food, and you will find your family growing closer together while also becoming more physically fit.

Incorporate Nutrition As Well As Exercise

It is well known that exercise and nutrition form the two most important components for physical fitness and health. Exercise is great, and as little as 30 minutes per day can deliver a significant health benefit. But correct diet and nutrition is important as well, meaning more fruits and vegetables, less fried and fast foods, more preparing your own meals and enjoying them as a family, and less artificial drinks and sodas.

Hold An Accountability & Rewards Night

To help achieve your family's physical fitness goals, schedule one night a week where all members of the family enjoy a "rewards meal", openly discuss their successes and failures of the previous week, and motivate each other for the week to come.

Especially with the children in a family, hard work delivering an enjoyable reward like pizza night and positive affirmations from other family members will go a long way to guaranteeing compliance in future fitness activities.

These are just a few of the simple and inexpensive ways even the busiest family can create a physical fitness attitude that is looked upon positively by all family members.

Try to schedule exercising and workouts at the same time and on the same days whenever you can, to instill a sense of order and repetition. Always reward yourself, your spouse and your children with positive input when it is earned, remember that everyone falls and stumbles from time to time, and the chance of success for your family's physical fitness plan will improve dramatically.

6 Fun Ways to Add Exercise to Your Child’s Day

Childhood obesity is becoming a growing problem in many countries - ours is one of the worst.  Things are getting so bad that more and more children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a disease that used to be isolated to older, overweight adults.  As parents, it is our responsibility to help keep our child’s weight and health in check.  A great way to do this is by getting your children to exercise more often.  This can help them to lose weight and simply be more healthy - and it will instill in them healthy habits that can benefit them throughout their adult lives.. 

Here are a few tips to help you get your child up and moving - and enjoying it:

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1.  Sign them up for group sports.  These are not only a great way to get a workout, they also promote socialization and self esteem.  Plus, most kids think sports are fun - not work.  If you find a sport your child really likes, they’ll want to practice all the time and get more and more exercise.  Try to enroll your child in a sport that promotes aerobic activity, and that they really enjoy. 

2. Don’t rely completely on sports.  Some kids just don’t like sports.  If this is the case, you need to make adjustments to the plan.  If they really don’t enjoy it, they won't stick with it or reap as many benefits, so find something else for them to do.  Many fitness centers offer a variety of classes for children including martial arts, dance, and even yoga. 

3. Work out together.  Children learn a lot of their behavior from their family.  That means, if you sit around all day and don’t work out, that’s probably what they’re going to do.  Setting a good example for your child by getting regular exercise is healthy for both you and them!  A great way for you to both get a workout is to find something you both enjoy and do it together.   

4. Make it fun.  You may enjoy the quiet time you get on a running on a treadmill, but your child is probably going to complain. So put yourself in their place - just running in place is pretty boring for a kid. Instead of doing normal adult workout routines, make up games, play tag, play sports, or dance.  It doesn’t really matter what it is, just make sure it’s fun and entertaining for your child.  Be creative, and see what fun active games you can come up with.

Dance Dance Revolution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5. Cut back on T.V. and video games.  The best way to keep your child from playing too many video games is to stop the problem before it starts.  If you allow your child to veg in front of the T.V. for hours at a time and then cut back, they’re going to be angry.  It’s best to limit times of inactivity from a young age.  If you’re having trouble getting your kids to give up the games, buy games that require physical activity like Dance Revolution or various active games available on the Nintendo Wii.  This is a great compromise where you both win - and you may even find yourself playing along!

6. Fit it in where you can.  Today's children often have almost as busy schedules as adults do.  If you don’t have a large open chunk of time for your kids to get exercise, you can squeeze in small activities when you do have a few minutes free.  Try a "5 minute jump rope break" in between homework sessions, or a 15 minute game of tag outside before dinner. This is more natural for kids anyway - they don't naturally schedule an hour to work out if you think about it - if you let kids run around and play how they want, they will exercise via bursts of activity.

These are just a few ways to get your kid up and active.  They may be resistant at first, but keep trying.  Starting good exercise habits when your child is young is a vital part of a healthy adult lifestyle.