It's Exercise with Your Child Week! School might be out, but that doesn't mean learning stops. As a teacher, you know the importance of stretching the mind, but don't forget about the muscles. Get active and promote a healthy lifestyle while spending some quality time with your child. Start by making a fitness routine to follow for the week. First, decide what type of fitness routine you want. Take a look at the Cause and Effect chart below. Decide on the effect you want from your workout. Then, find out what action will cause that effect. From there, review the list of exercises tailored to each option. Make your custom fitness routine and use our Daily Fitness Chart to keep track of your progress.
Need help coming up with fun exercises to do together? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Yoga — If you want a more relaxing experience, Yoga is great for stretching, getting flexible, and practicing proper breathing techniques. You and your child will feel relaxed and refreshed after this workout.
2. Pilates — If you want something a little more upbeat, try Pilates. The moves are similar to Yoga, but focus more on being active. Target your core, lower or upper body, and see some strength and flexibility return to your muscles.
3. Walking — This is a great low-impact workout to do together. Pick a nice scenic route to follow. Catch up with things that have been happening in each other's lives. Set an end goal, like reaching a place that sells all-natural smoothies as a reward. Need something more intense? Try jogging or running instead.
4. Dance — This one is great and requires no instructions to follow. Just turn on some upbeat tunes and let the music take you. Pick your favorite song and create a dance routine. Try to learn a new dance form. If you have access to a video game console, play along with a dance-style game.
5. Frisbee — Grab your Frisbee and head outdoors. Play a game of catch, or take things up a notch with Ultimate Frisbee. Make up your own rules of the game. Get others to join in. Use this concept with any type of sport.
Want even more of a challenge? Try our Cardio Workout to calculate your key to losing weight. Find your specific heart rate zone and use a heart rate monitor to make sure you stay on track. Try to stay within this zone while you move through different cardio workouts, like aerobics, walking, biking, and even dancing.
We challenge you to keep this fitness routine going after this week. Follow your plan for a couple weeks. See if your goals are slowly being met. Make small changes to better your plan. After about 2 months, look over your plan. Was it a good plan? Did you achieve or are well on your way to achieving your goal? Write a blog of your experiences. Would you recommend this fitness plan for others? Ask others to participate. Make a month-long challenge that follows your plan.