Physical activity is essential to a healthy lifestyle for your kids. Exercise helps children do better in school, it can manage weight and also lowers heart disease risk. Fitness activities at an early age will go a long way in helping your child build healthy habits, but don’t expect them to care or even understand these things. Their focus is on having fun, and that’s what you should encourage them to do.

Below are some ways you can exercise with your children:

1. Make Time To Play

Set aside 45 minutes three times a week to do fun exercises with your children. Make it part of your after-dinner or after-school routine. If your kids are below 7 years, they may like hide-and-seek or hopscotch. Older children may like to shoot hoops or play soccer. You can also plan one family activity each weekend. This may be as simple as taking them to the playground or going for a hike with your teenager.

1. Walk, Run and Roll

Let your kids accompany you when you bike, run, walk, or in-line skate. Toddlers, babies, and preschoolers may ride in a bike trailer, jogging stroller, or a bike seat. While you run, jog or walk, grade-schoolers and older preschoolers can get their work out on bikes, in-line skates, scooters, or on tricycles. If you are a cyclist, find a trail-a-bike that can turn your bike into a tandem-style that your kid can use.

1. Join a Class

Most gyms offer programs that you can enroll in with your children. The classes are guided by a trainer so that you can focus on having fun. One of the most rewarding activities that you can do is help your kids build motor skills and coordination while you both stay fit. Once you go to the gym, you will be motivated to commit, and this can keep you motivated to always exercise with your young ones.

If you don’t want to enroll in a gym, you can find sports activities that you can join or coach. For instance, teaching four-year-olds how to kick a soccer ball can wear anyone out. The aim is to make choices that will keep your kids active. You will not only feel better, but your kids will also associate workouts with playtime.

1. Make Exercising A Game

You can have a little play with push-ups. Nonetheless, modify strength training moves and the push-ups to match your kid’s ability. For instance, when you are doing the normal push-ups (toes on the floor, back and legs straight, and elbow bent), your child’s push-ups can be from the knees, or they can just lie on their stomachs and straighten their arms.

You can also engage them in simple chest presses, triceps raises and bicep curls with a set of hand weights. Younger children can use weights such as water bottles, wooden blocks, or bean bags, while older ones can use 1-2 pound weights.

1. Go Outside

In today’s digital world, one of the major losses is outside playtime. Most of us don’t see nature as being critical, and kids get used to screen time from a very young age. One of the easiest ways of exercising with your kids is by going to a local playground. When pushing them on the swing, include some burpees to prevent them from choking. You can also play the pirate ship game, and alternate who chases whom.