I want my kiddos to know that fitness should be an important part of their lives. I can do this by setting a good example and also by getting them involved in fitness as a family. But how to go about this? Well, here are 4 tips for family fitness and a free printable family fitness chart pack. These were designed for all sorts of families, so you have room to add up to 12 family members. But first, let’s get to those ideas and tips for family fitness.
Keeping your family healthy isn’t as hard as we often make it out to be. As parents, we do everything that we can to make sure that our family is healthy in all aspects. From eating healthy to staying fit, there are opportunities everywhere to keep our families healthy. Even if you are not currently very active you can make positive changes if you really want to. As you start feeling better and see results it’ll get easier to stick to your plan. In fact, you won’t want to go off it if you’ve set reachable goals and planned ahead for success.
1. Set Reachable Goals – When you set a goal, the goal needs to be something that is challenging but also possible. You don’t want to set goals that are too out there because you and your family will become frustrated and give up. When setting reachable goals be sure to write each one down. Let each family member create their own individual goals along with group goals. Being able to quickly see your goals will help you stay focused. You can also use my free printable family fitness charts to set up fun monthly fitness challenges and track your weekly fitness activities.
2. Play Together as Often as Possible – Families who play together stay together. Find fun things to do whether it’s weekly bowling night, ice skating, or horseback riding. Find something active you can all do together and do it as often as possible. What’s the point of doing fitness as a family if you’re not doing some activities together?
3. Develop Routines That Work – When you make something a priority you can turn it into a regular part of your daily routine. Be realistic about the time you have available as you create new plans. It helps to have a large family calendar where everyone can write in their activities and schedule in one place. You can also use Google Calendar and share it with everyone in the family to keep track. Having a visual reminder always helps me with things.
4. Take it Easy on Yourself and Others – Sometimes the best laid plans don’t work out, that’s okay, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and start over. When a failure happens it’s really just a chance to evaluate and review a better way to do something. Learn from failures and turn it into a success. Just because your fitness plan doesn’t go exactly right the first time, doesn’t mean you can’t always find room to improve. Figure out what works for your family and make whatever adjustments you need to make.
By finding fun physical activities to do together as a family, you’ll increase your physical fitness as well as keep your family closer. As they say, families that play together, stay together. Instead of using down time to watch more TV, or see a movie, go for a walk in the park or your neighborhood and you’ll all feel better, not only physically but emotionally too. You’ll be more connected as a family and feel good because you’re all much healthier.
Instead of pointing out one person in the family that needs to exercise the best approach is to make fitness a family affair. Get everyone involved. Make the activities you choose fun. Let everyone vote on what activities they want to do. You can even assign a weekly activities manager to keep track of things. There are so many activities to choose from such as swimming, organized sports, Frisbee and other outdoor games. Simply planning active things to do with the family over sedentary activities is a great start.
We’re considering getting a membership to our local YMCA. There are several branches in the capital district and one of the locations nearest to us also has a pool. This is huge for me. Growing up, I played basketball with my mom and we also went swimming together. Now, I want to continue that good example and pass that on to Squeaker and Sweet B.
>>>> Free Family Fitness Chart Pack <<<<
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Do you and your family do fitness activities together? Did you do them with your parents when you were growing up?
Kori
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Great ideas. We are a fencing family and I try to take a walk with my daughter every day. It gives us a chance to spend a bit of time alone together without the little ones interrupting all the time. #FeatureFridays
Fencing sounds like a really fun thing to do as a family!
I think sometimes my demands for family fun fitness can get a little demanding. These tips are super helpful and really a great overall reminder that we really need to make family fitness a priority.
Amazing tips. Pinned and tweeted. We are so thrilled to have you at our party. Please stop by on Monday at 7, so we can see your amazing projects. Lou Lou Girls
Fitness is super important in this family, and we love to stay active in this house! My kids practically live outside playing. I love this chart because my kids will love marking the chart for what we’ve done.