Working out as a family

Next week is the launch of our new program called Family Boot Camp. Plus it's the start of summer break and parents all over the country will be counting the days until school starts back up again. But for some of you this is the time of year when you get to spend quality time with your kids and build memories that will last a lifetime.  Some of these memories are simple things like playing in the front yard, or in our case exercising in the back yard or neighborhood park.  Yes we are crazy, and our kids love it. My daughter has her own workout DVD's and she's 4...she loves them. 

One of the things we get a lot of questions about  is how to get in a workout when you have kids.  This is also one of the biggest excuses I hear from people about why they don't workout.   "I never have time because of the kids"  or "My kids have me too worn out by the end of the day to work out".  Well I have two small children and my wife and I both work out 4-6 times a week. So that excuse will never fly with me. You just need to know how to incorporate your kids into the workout...or get up and work out before they do, which isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Now some people are just using this as an excuse, when really they just don't have the motivation to exercise, but for some people they really just don't know how to make it work with kids around. The key  is getting your children involved and making it fun for everyone.  The great things about kids is they are full of energy and want to run around and get energy out. Trust me you will be the one having the hard time keeping up and to them it's just playing. 

Parks and playgrounds are great places to get a workout it and you will be surprised at how hard it is to do stuff you could easily do as a kid. Like monkey bars or balance beams.  Here are a few ideas for playground workouts. Most of these can be done with  a small child on your shoulders...and they will love you for it. Or if they are too heavy just have them do it next to you. Start by doing 2-3 sets of 30 seconds to a minute depending on your fitness level.
- Step ups on a park bench or beam
- Squats
- Lunges
- Jumping Jacks
- Swinging (Keep your abs tight for a great core workout)
- Push ups
- Tag
- Hide and Seek
- Jump Rope
-Bear Crawls
- Frog Hops
-Hop Scotch (It's really a lot harder than you think)
- Partner Situps ( Sit facing each other with legs interlocked and sit up..High five at the top of the situp)

Or you can just pile your kids on you and walk for a couple hundred yards !!!

  This is a link to a video we made last yeah to give some tips on fun ways to exercise as a family. Enjoy.
Mt Trashmore Family Workout