Hey all you parents out there! Do you realize that you have a great opportunity to pass on your passion for fitness to your kids and change their lives before they go down the wrong road with fitness and nutrition! My desire is that my kids value their health from the start — not decide to make a change later in life like I did!
Many mornings, as I’m finishing up my workouts, one or more of the kids come trickling down the stairs and watch me finishing up my workout. Often, they will want to join in and do what Daddy is doing. I realized what a great opportunity that is to get my kids excited about the concept of “working out”.
My kids’ health is important to me. That was part of why I started my own fitness journey 6 months ago — I wanted to set the right example for them of how to live a healthy life with exercise and nutrition. Because Mommy and Daddy are eating right, they are learning a lot about what foods are healthy and what foods they need to either avoid or eat in moderation. But until recently, I hadn’t thought to develop a passion for exercise in my kids!
I think it’s easy for parents to just assume that kids get plenty of exercise from playing. But in today’s video game / junk food culture, that isn’t the case anymore. Why not let them see early on that “working out” can be a fun way to break a sweat, push yourself, and stay fit. I started doing what we call “P90X//KIDS” with my crew a few weeks ago, and they love it. They actually request it nearly every day! I shoot for 3-4 times per week, and I try to keep it to about 10 minutes. That way it’s not a big time commitment, it doesn’t burn the kids out, and we can keep it high intensity for the whole 10 minutes, kind of like an Insanity workout with no breaks, just switching exercises.
I start by doing 5 One-minute circuits of ABS (20 sec), UPPER BODY (20 sec), and PLYO (20 sec). I repeat the same One-minute circuit 5 times. Each workout I use a different Ab/Upper Body/Plyo exercise to keep it new and fresh. The last 5 minutes is a cardio session, which at the end of it we clap each other in, do a cheer, and then proceed to pile on Daddy usually! Some of the exercises I rotate into the P90X//KIDS workout are:
ABS: Banana Crunch Crunch (from Ab Ripper X 2), Superman Banana, Crunchy Frog, Mason Twist
UPPER: Pushups, High Plank, Chair Dips, Plank to Chatarunga Iso
PLYO: Power Jumps (Insanity), Football Drill (Insanity), Monster Truck Tires, Mary Katherines
CARDIO: Stadiums (on our stairs), Shuttle Relay (in the driveway), Sprints, Jog
I don’t have them use any weights. I choose exercises that have silly names. And most importantly, I keep it FUN. We do goofy chants, cheers, and treat it like a sport. At the end, everyone feels like they’ve accomplished something great, and Daddy is proud of how hard they worked! I believe it sets the stage for them to value working out in the future to stay fit.
Did you know that Beachbody also offers Kid fitness programs hosted by two of our favorite people, Tony Horton and Shaun T?? If you’d rather go that route instead of making up your own, I offer both from this website:
I haven’t tried Shaun T’s Kids Club, but I actually just ordered Tony Horton and the Kids this week as I prepared this blog, so I’ll update y’all on what my crew thinks about it once it comes in! Plus, it’s less than $10. Can’t beat that!
**UPDATE** I got the Tony and the Kids DVD in, and the kids really enjoyed it. It’s geared for younger kids (they say 5-12, but my 9 y.o. was about as old as I think this would appeal to). It’s about 30 minutes, has stretching and light exercises (not going to break a sweat or anything!!). But Tony acts real goofy (which was a hoot for me!!), and it’s a great DVD to get the kids on their feet, moving, and having fun for a half hour. I still like my intense, 10 minute P90X // KIDS routine for a real workout though!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
