Health Related Fitness Can Be Fun!
Have Your Cake & Eat It Too!

But, who has time to fit something else into their schedule? We are so busy and we can't spare one minute for an exercise program. Besides going to the gym is such a pain.

Well, forget boring, here are 100 fun ways to get fit. Try one or try them all.

1. Action TV - do sit ups, jumping jacks during commercials.


2. Build a sandcastle.


3. Build a snowfort or an igloo.


4. Build an ice rink and host a backyard skating party.


5. Bundle up and go bird watching.


6. Buy some exercise equipment for your home and use it.


7. Challenge your neighbors to a snowman building contest.


8. Check out a “Curves” Center.


9. Check out a local museum or tourist attraction.


10. Decrease inactive time by 30 minutes and increase active time by 30 minutes.


11. Do a ropes course somewhere.


12. Do agility training with your dog – set up a course in your backyard.


13. Do martial arts.


14. Do mud painting on your windows and then wash them all.


15. Do some stretching exercises.


16. Do the Terry Fox Run or Walk.


17. Enroll your children in team sports and volunteer to coach.


18. Get some mistints from the local hardware store and paint your fence.


19. Get your feet wet…take an aquafit class or try water running.


20. Go berry picking.


21. Go bike riding.


22. Go bowling.


23. Go canoeing or kayaking.


24. Go Christmas carolling.


25. Go down to the beach and collect shells or interesting rocks.


26. Go for a hike; enjoy the local trails, research wilderness safety first.


27. Go horseback riding.


28. Go in-line skating.


29. Go skating.


30. Go surfing.


31. Go swimming.


32. Go window shopping at local shops or in a mall.


33. Grab a helmet and go tobogganing.


34. Have a ball in the snow: role, catch, kick or roll.


35. Have a family game of Twister.


36. Have a picnic in the snow.


37. Have underwater diving competitions to retrieve water weights.


38. Involve your children in housekeeping activities.


39. It’s all downhill from here; strap on your downhill skis or try snowboarding.


40. Join a dance class with a friend or partner.


41. Join the local community theatre and be in a play.


42. Jump rope.


43. Learn double dutch jump roping and do it with your kids.


44. Learn some new moves; try Tai Chi or Tae Kwon Do.


45. Make a snowman or snow sculpture or a snow maze.


46. Make a whirl pool in the bigger swimming pool.


47. Make raking your leaves a family affair but remember to warm up first.


48. Make shoveling your driveway a family affair, but remember to warm up first.


49. Make snow angels.


50. Organize a game of snow pitch.


51. Organize a scavenger hunt.


52. Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk to the store.


53. Place snoccer (soccer in the snow).


54. Place snowman tag or capture the flag in the snow.


55. Plan for activities before and after dinner and on the weekends.


56. Play badminton.


57. Play basketball.


58. Play beach volleyball.


59. Play croquet.


60. Play Fitness Wii.


61. Play Frisbee.


62. Play horseshoes.


63. Play in the surf and run on the beach.


64. Play outdoor hockey.


65. Play ringette or soccer.


66. Play water polo with your kids in the swimming pool.


67. Push your kids on the swing or the merry-go-round.


68. Put a new spin on tobogganing; try snow tubing.


69. Put up an elaborate Christmas lights display.


70. Re-discover your local park this winter.


71. Rent or borrow a yoga or Pilates video.


72. Rent some cross country skis or snow shoes.


73. Re-organize the cupboards and closets.


74. Run through the snow, jump into snow banks.


75. Run through the sprinklers with your kids.


76. Set up an obstacle course in your backyard.


77. Start your spring cleaning early.


78. Take a big blanket off the bed and play parachute games.


79. Take a friend and check out a mall walking program.


80. Take a moonlight or flashlight walk in the evening.


81. Go star gazing.


82. Take a sneak peek at spring.


83. Visit an indoor garden.


84. Take a spinning class.


85. Take an aerobics class.


86. Team sports.


87. Toss a Frisbee in the snow.


88. Try a new winter activity, such as curling or broomball.


89. Try to learn some circus skills, such as juggling, plate-spinning and stilt-walking.


90. Turn off the TV and video games and go outside and play.


91. Turn on the radio and dance.


92. Use playgrounds and obstacle courses at public parks.


93. Vacuum with vigor.


94. Walk or bike to work or school.


95. Walk the dog.


96. Walk to the library and get a book.


97. Walk to video store and rent a movie.


98. Walk your child to school.


99. Wash your car.


100. Weed the garden or flowerbeds.

Luckily, health related fitness doesn't have to be an inconvenience. It can simply be a part of our lives. You don't have to make a point of changing your schedule to accommodate it, you just have to modify your approach to daily living and choose to have a lot more fun.

Yes, you read that right, health related fitness can be fun. Imagine messing up your windows, so that you have to wash them. Get some mud, ask your children to help you do some finger painting on the windows and then wash the windows. You had to wash them any way, so you might as well make it into a game for the kids. Or use finger paint. It could make for a whole afternoon of health related fitness and the time would fly by because it would be so much fun. So get out the hose and the buckets and get to work.

Or what about another health related fitness idea. Get a whole bunch of Christmas lights on sale after Christmas (boxes and boxes of them) and then set up an elaborate Christmas lights display. Invite the neighbors and your kids' friends over for hot chocolate and hot dogs and go to town making the display. Do it in October or November before the snow starts to fly and then come December, you can light up the yard and the whole neighborhood can enjoy the show. Yet another health related fitness idea that was fun, fun, fun.

Some of the health related fitness ideas mentioned above were borrowed from Village of Fruitvale newsletter and also from www.acefitness.com

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