Health » Family fun fitness & health

Keep your family fit and healthy

It's really important to include our whole family if we want to make a lifelong healthy investment

for both as parents and for our childrens future well being.

However that can be quite a challenge, especially if a new baby is on the scene, sleepless nights and toodler tantrums!

At BloomingFit we want to make sure all the family is as fit and healthy as can be so we have pulled together

fresh, fun ideas that can easily be slipped into the most hectic schedule.

Before you know it, the whole family will be glowing and energized

and they won't even realise they've been following an 'exercise' activity

Exercises for every day fitness....

Fruitful Friday:

Fresh fruit and veg are at the heart of a healthy die but encouraging children to eat them can require ingenuity!

Create sticker charts to track how many portions of fruit and veg each member of the family eats across the week: green for veg, red for fruit. The person with the most stickers at the end of the week gets to choose Friday's food: in the event of a tie, the most green stickers wins.

Ready, Steady, Cook:

Introducing your children to home cooking from an early age will boost their interest in food as well as avoiding the unhealthy hidden baddies, such as sugar and salt in many pre-prepared foods. Start off with simple meals such as decorating home-made pizzas for very young children, then gradually introduce more complex recipes as their abilities develop.

Garden workouts:

If you've got a garden it's a great outdoor resource to give the whole family a burst of activity. Install a netball post, football goals and a badminton/tennis net so you're more likely to head outside for a kick about or some goals practice. You can buy the equipment quite cheaply, or even pick it up for free through websites such as Freecycle

Go healthy snack attack:

Having healthy snacks to hand means you won't need to buy sugary stop-gaps when you're out and about.

Raw veg and chopped-up fruit are all great at providing slow-release energy.

Also home made oat bars are a great snack and the children can help bake them.

These prepared healthy snacks will help avoid them craving another sugar rush within the hour

Decorate plastic pots together and encourage older children to pack their favourite healthy snacks themselves

Hula Hula:

Hula hooping is one of the fastest growing exercise forms in the country. Benefits can include weight loss, strengthened muscle tone across the abdominals and in the thighs, buttocks and arms. But you don't have to go to a formal class. Just a few minutes a day in the sitting room will help trim your waist and get your children giggling with glee. See who can keep their hoop up the longest or try choreographing routines to music.

Weekly exercises for fitness....

Simon says... get active:

Traditional games are great for introducing short bursts of activity, which is ideal for children as their heart rates increase much quicker than adults and they overheat much more quickly. For example, play Simon Says or Copy Cat, but make all the actions quite vigorous: ten star jumps, hop like a frog or flap your arms like a bird.

Get splashing:

Even if all you do is wallow at the edge of the swimming pool, the squeeze effect of the water on your body will improve your circulation and make your heart work slightly harder, but obviously the more active you are, the bigger the benefits.

Weighted toys are great for getting children to overcome their fears and go under the water with their eyes open: turn it into a competition to see who can retrieve the toys first. Take it in turns with your partner to play with your little ones while you do some serious lengths (15 minutes burns off 175 calories). Challenge older children to mini challenges, such as who can swim the fastest length.

Grow green fingers:

Growing your own food is a great way to get children interested in what they eat and eating fresh fruit and veg.

Simply and easy produce to grow include strawberries, beans, carrots, pumpkins and peas.

And the children get real joy when they pick them and either eat them straight away

or bring them inside to create a dish.

Wicked walks:

Walking is the most natural form of exercise and a great way to spend time as a family. But boredom is the enemy. Create themed walks, so there is a purpose to it for the children. For example, collect leaves and berries and make a collage back at home or win points for spotting different types of wildlife and insects.

One, Two, Skip A Few:

10-minutes skipping has the same health benefits as 45-minutes running. It improves your heart rate and blood pressure, promotes fat loss, improves flexibility, co-ordination and balance and improves muscle tone. Invest in a 4.5m rope so the whole family can play skipping games together. Visit www.skip-hop.co.uk for traditional skipping games.

Jump for joy:

Trampolines aren't just for kids. They're a great way of boosting your circulation with fresh oxygen and strengthening your muscles and joints. Take it in turns to perform two-minute routines and give one another marks out of ten. Or hold a Bunny Bounce and see who can do the most jumps in a minute - it may not sound long, but you'll be out of breath!

Monthly exercises for fitness....

Get on Your Skates

Skating can give you all the outstanding aerobic benefits of running or jogging, without the strain on your joints. Simply skating round a rink can burn up loads of calories an hour. Most rinks run family sessions and offer beginners' lessons, if either you or your children are a bit wobbly. During winter, many places set up outdoor rinks: find one at www.enjoyengland.com and search for ‘ice skating' to find outdoor rinks near you.

   Borrow a dog:

Research shows that dog owners get more exercise than people with gym membership

averaging five hours 38 minutes a week.

If you have older children but don't have a dog, visit your local animal rescue centre

and offer to walk some of the pooches in their care.

Make sure any dog you exercise is safe with children and follow any restrictions about lower age limits for children.

Better still if you can, get a family dog who will be a loyal and trusted fiend for life!

Family Olympics:

Invest in some simple sports equipment, such as football cones, balls and bean bags and stage a family Olympics in your sitting room, garden or nearest park. Try relay races, dribbling a ball between the cones, juggling bean bags - the sillier the better! And add some competition: boys v girls or kids v adults. Great for improving cardio, co-ordination and balance skills.

Get on your bikes:

Even small amounts of cycling can have a great impact on overall health. Use tag-on bikes or stabilizers for small children and take babies along in a child bike seat, then follow the three golden tips for successful family cycling: 1) Dress for the weather - cold fingers will cut your trip short. 2) Avoid hills - children hate them (visit www.sustrans.co.uk to find safe, family-friendly rides near you). 3) Break up the cycling with a stop at a playground, a café or a castle.

Disco Divas:

Kids naturally love to dance and it's a great cardio and muscle movement workout. Plus listening to upbeat music will lift your mood.

So turn the volume up and enjoy some family fun time with your children and get some exercise at the same time.