Warm weather family workouts

I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to stick with exercise if it isn’t just a little bit fun. Ok, a whole lot of fun. And when the weather is gorgeous, the last thing I want to do is hop on the treadmill. So I created a fun family workout that you can do with kids of any age.

You don’t need any fancy equipment – just a jump rope, soccer ball, and hula hoop. In case you’re wondering, yes, some of these exercises are silly, but I promise you’ll work up a good sweat while giggling over who has the funniest crab walk.

Warm up for 2-3 minutes with your favorite version of tag. Our family usually goes for “freeze tag”.

Once everyone is good and warm, set out the equipment and designate stations for each exercise. This is a circuit-style workout, so each family member will start at a different exercise and then switch, eventually visiting each station. Each exercise will be performed for one minute.

Here are the exercises:

Hula Hooping: Shift your body from side to side, doing your best to keep the hula hoop from touching the ground. Contract your abs and keep your core tight.

Jump Rope: Keeping your elbows and knees soft, jump rope as many times in a row as you can. (Sticking your tongue out is optional.)

Soccer Touches: You might remember this one from soccer practice.  Standing directly behind a soccer ball, take your right foot and gently touch the top of the ball.  While bringing the right foot down, bring the left foot up and touch the top of the ball.  Repeat in a dynamic motion.

Crab Walk: With hands and feet on the ground and stomach pointed up, walk backwards across the grass.  Halfway through the exercise (or when you reach the end of the grass), reverse the motion and crab walk back to the starting position.

Hand Walkouts: From a standing position, reach down and touch your toes (ahem, or do your best).  Place your hands on the ground in front of you, and keeping your core strong, walk your hands out until you are in a plank position.  Pause (or do a push-up, if you want an extra challenge) and walk your hands back towards your body, returning to a standing position.  Repeat.

And that’s it!  Work your way through this circuit, then collapse your smiling red-faces in the grass for some simple stretches.  Let each family member take a turn leading their favorite stretching exercise.

Leila’s favorite is the butterfly.  Here are her instructions: Pretend to catch a butterfly in your hands, then take a peek and tell everyone what color your butterfly is.  Put it in your pocket and gently flap your knees up and down.

I hope you have as much fun as we did.  What is your favorite way to work out as a family?