Those with kids

raneylfrick

Hey guys,
So, I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old and would love to get them involved in some of my exercises. I was wondering what you guys do to keep your young ones active with you? It would be fun to get some good suggestions! I live near a lake, so commonly we will walk down there, but my son (3) is always really tired and wanting to be carried by the end. I need to keep it closer to home. We live in a rural area, so lots of space! Thanks!

XtyAnn17

We usually pop open the garage door and they ride bikes and scooters while i exercise in garage

thinby40

My kids love to dance so I try and dance with them. Do you have the Wii? They have a lot of great exercise and dance games that are fun and you can work up a sweat. If not, just turn the radio on and have fun!

SaraSpiker

I have a three year old and a sixth month old, so if I don't go to the gym that day I try to exercise along with a workout video. My infant thinks it's funny to watch me, and my three year old likes to mimic whatever it is I'm doing: Zumba, yoga, dancing to the Wii, etc. It gets her jumping around while I can squeeze in my workout!

Snackman88

They try to do Insanity with me no lie lol

raggyanndoll

When I first started exercising, my then 4 year old LOVED Wii Fit. She would do everything with me, especially the yoga. When I started 30 Day Shred 6 months later, she did everything with me. During some of the harder workouts, I got her chanting, "Don't quit! Don't quit!" Now I am doing Insanity and she does the warm up with me and then watches for a while. My daughter is now 5 years old and just recently walked a 5K race with my husband while I jog/walked it. She did the whole thing. After I finished the race, I went back and found her and my husband and she "jogged" a little bit with me to the end. We made a big deal out of her finish and took her picture and posted it on Facebook.

We also live in a very rural area and have trails nearby. We have been thinking about getting a jogging stroller so we can go the pace we want.

You are a great example to your children and exercise can be fun (even when it sucks to us adults)! Your attitude is the key.

CrazyCatLadylovescats

I homeschool. I recently bought Family Time Fitness for homeschoolers. It is supposed to be for ages 5 to 13, but you could adapt for the younger one. It has been fun for my kids to do, and gets all of us exercising daily. It is scripted - that is, tells you exactly what to do, for how long. There are even videos of kids doing the exercises. It is adaptable for inside or out. http://www.familytimefitness.com/ There is a free two days worth of exercises that you can download to see if you want it before you buy.

All of use have found that we have muscles that we didn't know we had - and this is only on the first week! I can see how it is going to help my kids with balance and coordination. There is very little equipment needed - some cones or markers, jump ropes, bean bags and hula hoops.

natesangel

i've been doing jillian michaels (30ds and now Ri30) as i go up in weights my almost 3 yr old steals my old set (she's currently working with two 3 lbs and trying to use the 5 lbs!) she does some to all of the workout with me, she has learned that the louder i grunt and groan the better i do when she jumps in beside me!
as for the walks… ergo soft shell carrier is good to 45lbs, i don't leave home without it, when she has walked her limit, she goes up on my back and that's my 'boost' of workout for the walks (add 35 lbs to your back and hike home the long way!)

Poniesarepretty

Hi! Here are some of our favorites (when the weather is nice of course!):

*Set up a badmitton net outside and play balloon/beach ball volleyball
*Soccer (the 2 year old just chases us...my 5 year old is learning the moves)
*Get the 5 yr. old on a bike and you and the little one walk behind and try to chase big brother ....my little one loves this one
*tag
*frisbee in the yard
*kick ball
*red light green light (oldie but a goodie)
*Red Rover (with three this is kinda hard but we try)

Ok, thats all I can think of. Good luck and have fun!

For a lot of these my littelest one just runs around and tries to copy us, it is very cute and she gets tired in about 20 min from all the running.

MyOwnSunshine

Sometimes I take my daughter to the park and let her play on the playground equipment while I do a bootcamp-style workout (sprints, pushups, triceps dips, squats, lunges, jogging around the sidewalk that encircles the playground and basketball court).

Other than that, I don't know of anything I could do that would allow me to exercise at the level of intensity I prefer while my daughter is there. I enjoy doing activities outside with her, or going for walks, but those aren't very intense.

momof2osaurus

I know of some people with kids who, when the grown-up turns on an exercise video, the kids will attempt to do it too! And usually they're better at it than the grown-up.

LondonEliza

I do yoga with my two, it is hilarious to watch them get themselves into knots coming out of downward dog ect. but lovely to see how bendy and strong they are.

When we started out, we used a great book called My Daddy is a Pretzel to show us the basic kid friendly moves and I thoroughly recommend it.

Children make great dumb weights - lie on your back and lift your youngest slowly up and down on your arms. You will have a giggling child in no time! Another good one is to sit on the sofa and let (one) child sit on your shins while you raise your legs as near to 90 degrees as you can. You will really feel a muscle burn after that one, I can tell you.

After that, play catch, kick a ball, anything that gets them and you moving is great.

DesertFox15

I have two nieces around your kids' ages who never seem to run out of energy. I've coached youth soccer before; thus, when they come over, I set up 4 cones around 10 yards apart from each other on a straight line. One at a time, I have them run to the first cone, come back, run to the second cone, come back, and so on. Make sure you have a stop watch- my nieces always want to run it faster the second time! We have a board at my house where I record their times and the first thing they say upon entering is that they want to beat their time! Good luck!

raneylfrick

Wow guys...thanks!! I just started the 30DS today (while the kids are at Dad's), but if it's like any other exercise video I've done, my son will try to get under me so we can chat. We'll see how this goes! Did any of you start out with the same problem?? Do they adapt pretty quickly if you stick with it?

queenbear5

I take my kids rollerblading all the time. We love it.

ChrissieP80

My son is not quite 4 and he loves to do exercise with me. The harder moves he just sits on the couch and cheers me on. He loves Jillian Michaels 30DS (all the different 'levels' and 'circuit 1, 2, 3' is like a computer game to him!). He also loves any dancing game such as Just Dance (I bought the kids version and he loves it).

dirtnap63

I also have a 5 and 3 year old. Our gym (local Y) has childminding and kids activities 5 morning per week and 4 nights, so I take them there while I work out. We also have a pool which they love during the summer.

kahukusquest

I know this may sound weird but stick with me here.....We are a military family and are stuck in an area of the country that is very wet and cold during the winter. There is NOTHING to do here out side with the kids during this time of year. So to get some energy out we have started to do night time Nerf wars inside the house. We turn out all lights and carry flash lights. The ipod is turned up loud with some kind of really good music to get your 10 year old and 40 year old hearts going. And then its go time! A good hour or more later and everyone has some good survival stories. I have even caught myself plotting new hide outs during the day while cleaning house

alyssa92982

They do some asylum with me, they jump through the agility ladder;) and love it!!

sundaywishes

Hope this thread is still in My Topics when I have little ones

RenewedRunner

Ride bikes, play ball, do yoga (my kids LOVED yoga poses when they were little)

I used to push them both in a jogging stroller. They had to walk a bit with me but it worked for when they got tired and pushing 50-60 pounds of kids is a good workout!

We would also go to a track at a local school and they would play in the middle while I ran (they still do this to some degree at the paved loop by our house). They always have to do at least one lap with me (one mile) 3x a week. That is how they earn their TV/video game time!

Edit: Do you have a gym or a Y around? Our Y used to offer Mommy and Me classes, they were amazing. I also signed them up for swim lessons there and while they swam, I worked out. I feel less guilty if my kids are also occupied while I take my "me" time!

RenewedRunner

Oh, and there are a A LOT of road races that offer kid runs. My marathon I will be training for has a kid run and my boys are soooo excited about it. They have been watching me run for years, and now they love it when they get to race.

Some of them even have activities for kids as young as your 3 year old. A race in our old hometown had a "Diaper Dash" and was a .25 mile run for the little little kids. The bigger ones could do the mile dash.

stumblinthrulife

My daughter does gymnastics. She likes to come to the gym with me on the weekends, and normally runs around a little and does some body weight exercises. It's a small community gym, and there's rarely anyone there, so she's not a bother to anyone. This last week on the way to the gym she said she really wanted to lift weights with me, and was bummed that she's not allowed to use any of the machines. I took a quick detour to Target, and bought her some little 2lb and 3 lb pink and purple dumbbells to use while I lifted. During my rest period I'd teach her some exercises and she'd then do them while I did mine. It was too cute for words. Here's a pic -

jas369

Shaun T (insanity) makes a Fit Kids Club DVD, and we just got it for our kids. Our almost 6 year old really enjoyed it, and we did it with him. It was more of dance and whatever, but it was 24 minutes (the program we choose) and gets the heart rate going! Check it out on amazon or somewhere of your choosing!