10 Fun Ways to Exercise with Your Tween

With Sam Mathers - the Founder of Fitter Futures - Australia’s Leading Functional Movement Program for Youth.

We are all time poor. It’s not easy to find the time for all members of the family to exercise AND spend quality time together each week!  Here are 10 ways you can do BOTH at the same time!

1 Going to the beach? 

It’s a great opportunity to get some exercise as a family! Go for a swim in the surf, or long walks on the beach. Take a boogie board, or learn how to surf. Hire a stand-up paddleboard for a few hours and take turns. And there is always beach cricket or throwing a frisbee around. So many options!

2 Park Runs

These days you don’t have to go too far to find a 5km Park Run on a Saturday morning. Participate as a family – you can walk or run (or do both). And best of all it’s free!  If you want to improve your time then add an extra walk/jog into your schedule during the week to improve your fitness. You’ll be amazed what a difference it makes!

3 Bike Rides

Family bike rides around the neighbourhood, or to a destination are a great way to work on cardio fitness and to get some endurance in your legs.  Pick a destination a few kilometres away (like a coffee shop), or pack some snacks to take with you so there is a reward to look forward to when you get there.

4 Obstacle Races

As we come out of COVID lockdowns obstacle races are starting to reappear on the calendar.  Most races have an event for kids, as well as an event for adults. These events encourage participation (rather than competition). Some events you may all be able to complete together! It’s a great way to help and challenge each other and work as a team.

5 Indoor rock climbing

There are some great climbing gyms around where you can experience indoor rock climbing.  This activity is well suited to families – you can spend hours trying to get up and down walls.  If you are afraid of heights, you can always be the one standing on the ground helping to belay your tween as they climb high.

6 Hiking & bush walking

This is an easy one – just find a local bush reserve or National Park and set off for a walk together.  Make sure you take plenty of water and a fully charged phone with you. Stick to the signed tracks and use a map.

7 Walking the dog together

Walking the dog may seem like a chore sometimes, but you’d be surprised how much conversation can happen when you walk the dog with your tween. Make it a rule that no one wears headphones, so you can talk instead! Plus the dog gets some exercise too and will love you for it.

8 Active holidays

Plan holidays that are active holidays – like hiking, snow skiing or camping trips. Or if you set a goal to enter an event (like the Gold Coast Half Marathon, or Noosa Triathlon) you can plan a holiday around the event.  Having an event, or an active holiday to look forward to is also great motivation to exercise regularly so you can enjoy the experience even more!

9 Jump rope challenge

All you need is a skipping rope. Create a jump rope challenge between family members, and if you are a competitive bunch, keep score each week of how you all go. Example challenges are:  Maximum number of skips in 1 or 2 minutes. Maximum number of skips unbroken. A race for the first person to complete 200 skips (or pick some other number) – every time you trip on the rope do 5 burpees! 

Skipping is REALLY good for you in so many ways!  It improves cardio health, co-ordination, bone density, and so much more…

10 Join a gym together!

Depending on the age of your child, you may be able to both join a gym together.  At Fitter Futures, we are a gym that has programs catering to kids and teens (ages 5-17 yrs) as well as adults. Martial arts gyms often cater to families well too. 

If you and a family member can both attend the gym at the same time, then you also end up with a training buddy too which is great for keeping you both accountable. 

Want to learn more about the programs for tweens available at Fitter Futures? Follow the link below…