28 Days of Fitness Fun with Your Kids

Featured Writer: Alaina Holland at Holland Family Life

I am so excited to share with you this series from our fitness expert Alaina! She will have us, note I said “us”, moving all month-long as we try to shake off the winter blues away along with some of those extra holiday pounds we may have gained. Stop by each week for the next 3 weeks on Monday to get our Mommy and Me Fitness Fun moves for the week.

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{Day1} Baby Bicep Curl: biceps & abdominals

Focus: Toning your arms. Kids love repetition. Nothing could be better for your bicep curl play time. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart. Make sure your back is straight and your abdominals are in tight. Hold your baby firmly on his forearms or around his waist. Curl up and hold for 5 seconds while talking and making faces at your baby. Slowly lower baby down until your arms are straight out again facing the ground.

Do: 4 sets of 8-12 lifts, One set each facing front, side, back, other side. You will eventually come to a full circle. Repeat as needed.

Note: Only for baby who can hold his head up by himself. If your kid starts crying they are not ready for this exercise! Switch to some hand-held weights instead.

Tip: Get your exercising done as your first task in the morning. Try to do at least 20 minutes of cardio exercise 3-4 times per week. Throw in some toning exercises and this will give you confidence for your whole day.

{Day 2} Lunge 1-2-3: glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, abdominals

Focus: Toning your legs. I don’t know about your kid, but mine LOVES stairs. As exercising moms we can use this to our advantage. Strap your kid to you so they don’t wiggle away and the weight stays constant. Lunge forward keeping your knee behind your toes. Lift up stepping forward while engaging your abdominals. Repeat for the other leg.

Do: 3 sets of 6-8 lunges on each leg

Tip: Count out loud as you head up the stairs. This way you are involving your kid in a cognitive learning activity as well.

{Day 3} Crawl Wild: abdominals, back, shoulders, legs

Focus: Cardio play with your kid. Chase your kid around the living room or yard on your hands and knees. This will get your heart pumping in no time and your child will never want you to stop!

Do: For cardio workout at least 20 minutes of crawling from slow to fast

Tip: A study done by the Harvard Medical School found that playing with your children for 30 minutes is a great way to burn calories. An adult that weighs 155 lbs can burn 149 calories with moderate play and 186 calories with vigorous play. Article found on www.modernmom.com.

{Day 4} Non-traditional Jump Rope: calves, abdominals

Focus: Cardio lower leg toning. If your child is around the age of mine right now and would get in the way of your rope while you are jumping you can easily do the same movement with the rope (or any line marking) lying on the ground. Set a timer to keep you motivated. Include your kid by asking them to jump around too. Give your kid their own rope (ribbon, string) that they can play with. Sometimes they might want to copy you and other times they will just run around you. You can jump around in a circle and your kid will love it.

Do: 3 sets of jumping for 2 minutes each set with a small rest in between sets.

Tip: Eating right goes hand in hand with exercising. Make sure that you are focusing on cutting out the sugars in your diet if you want to see lasting improvements. A great way of keeping accountable to eating right is www.myfitnesspal.com. You can count the calories you’re taking in and stay motivated to cut out the sugar!

{Day 5} Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes with the Resistant Band: arms, back, abdominals, quads, & gluteus.

Focus: Whole body toning. Stand with your feet wider than shoulder width apart on top of the resistant band. Hold the ends of the resistant band (or weights) in your hands. Start singing ‘Head, shoulders, knees, & toes…” If you are unfamiliar with the song go to this YouTube video HERE as a guide. As you say the body part show your kid where it is and invite him to sing along!

Do: The amount of reps done in the video talked about above, or 3 sets of 3 times singing the song.

{Day 6} Wedding Dancing Practice: cardio

Focus: Family cardio fun. My son loves music. He will bob his head and shake his little booty any time we turn up the volume. Use this as a great exercise play time. Pick out some of your favorite up-beat songs and make a commitment that you will not stop moving to take a break until the song stops!

Do: 7 songs in a row for a solid 20 something minute cardio routine!

And your kid will be begging for more!

{Day 7} Abdominal Tickle: abdominals

Focus: Strengthening and flattening your core. Have your little one sit on your feet. Lay down and sit up contracting your abs and make a surprise face while bringing your hands to tickle your little ones tummy. Now my boy doesn’t stay put and usually finds himself wanting to do something else so I have to keep him interested. Lift your legs as your child is sitting on them for some lower abdominal work. Mix it up again by holding your little guy with your hands and moving your legs up and down. You can also sit up with your legs stable on the ground while holding your child. So be creative with how you have to change the sit ups for the new position your kid is in.

Do: 3 sets of 8-12 sit ups then change the sit up type.

Tip: Your kids look up to you so much. Give them memories of mom being fun and not just too busy for them. Playing with your kids, will get you burning more calories, and getting the results you desire at a faster rate.

For more fitness fun with your kids articles:

Baby and Me- Stroller Exercises: Part 1 and Part 2