We as adults wish to create a future of happy, healthy, disease-free adults with our kids, it’s time we start practicing what we preach.  If we want healthy kids, it’s time for us to be models of a healthy lifestyle.

Our kids model our behavior.  Their attitudes and actions toward everything from nutrition to exercise are shaped by our own actions and behaviors.  If we want our kids to eat well, we need to eat well.  If we want them to exercise, we need to exercise.

The above modeling creates a culture of wellness in the home.  In this environment, children learn that healthy habits are a positive way of life, not punitive novelties sentenced to mom and dad for “eating too much yummy food.”

Exercising as a family is not only a fun way to improve fitness, it’s a way to cultivate the culture of wellness and develop positive exercise habits at a young age.

Below are some fun exercise-based family activities guaranteed to create smiles and sweat!

1.  Sock Play!
Everyone in the family gathers as many of their balled-up socks as they can carry.  An area is selected as the “goal.”  This can be a container or basket in living room, house, backyard, front yard, park, anywhere.  On a “go” signal, everyone tries to throw their socks in the goal the fastest.  The primary rule is you cannot throw from the same place twice.

Each “round” lasts 2 minutes then everyone gathers up his or her socks for 60 seconds.  Five “rounds” is 15 minutes of pretty intense exercise, assuming everyone is moving.   Points can be kept making a goal or basket or any other parameters.  Safety rules appropriate to the environment are established.

2.  Family Boot Camp
Each family member writes down 5 of his or her favorite bodyweight (or weighted, level appropriate) exercises, for a total of at least 20.  Exercises can be dance moves, calisthenics, martial arts, anything physical that the entire family can do.

The family then goes for a walk, jog, or run and every 60 seconds, they do one of the exercises for 30 seconds.  By the end of all of the exercises, it’s been a 20- minute work out!  Feel free to go into overtime!

3.  Hide and Sweat!
The adults in the family write down 20 physical activities on separate small pieces of paper. These are then hid around the house.  Kids are then tasked to find them. When they find them they open them and the entire family performs the activity for the reps or amount of time given.

Putting a time limit on finding all of the activities and doing all of the exercises makes it more interesting!

A family that exercises together stays together!  Create a culture of wellness in your home to help our children grow to become happy, healthy, disease free adults!

This article is written by Brett Klika. Brett Klika C.S.C.S., author of “The Underground Workout Manual- Exercise and Fat Loss in the Real World” (www.undergroundworkoutmanual.com) is a world renowned human performance specialist, motivational speaker, author, and educator. In his 15 year career, Brett has accrued more than 20,000 hours of training with youth, athletes, executives, and every day people. He uses this knowledge and experience to motivate individuals and audiences around the world through his writing, speaking, DVD’s, and free blog, www.brettklika.com. To try the Underground Workout Manual for FREE, visit www.brettklika.com.