Kids Exercise

[Didkdt]

How much exercise/active movement are you managing to do with your children a d what are you doing,
Mine have been doing cycling or walks daily but it doesn't feel like enough they have missed so much sport since the lockdown and lots of it wont resume for months
There's Jo Wicks Nike and Les Mills but it's setting aside the time to do it during the week

DH and I are working so we can't go out everyday. My DC9 is doing Joe Wicks every weekday and then Les Mills in the weekend. DC5 is only doing Les Mills because Joe Wicks is too difficult/boring for her. (Not sure what the issue is but she just refuses). They are both happy to do them with us working.

In the weekend, we try to go out for a bike ride and walk.

But I agree it's a lot less than what they were doing pre-lockdown.

Oh and on Saturday DC5 does Comsic Kid Yoga too. There's a new one every Saturday.

My kids are all multi-discipline sports people. But they are NOT indoor sports fans - you would not find then doing aerobics to a YouTube video.

I have DD15, DS14, DS10 and DD5

Throughout lockdown we go to the nearby sports field after dinner - about 6pm - and have a good 90m-2h there as a family group. Mainly focuses around football (there is a goal on the field). But also u will do some run/walking with youngest. Eldest two often do a few km running circuits with me or DH. We aim for out of breath sports for at least an hour, not light exercise.

We do that every day, 7 days a week. At home we are finding our massive trampoline getting a lot of use from all of them. I set challenges to learn tricks and moves. DS14 has taken this further to move to some on-ground gymnastics (he's not a gymnast it's just an extension of trampoline moves).

We also happen to have a very large garden project in progress involving digging over and levelling 70-odd square meters of ground. Good upper body workout!

Finally, we have a treadmill. None of the kids are fans (although DD15 goes on a couple of times a week). But it's main use is the fact that DH and I do our own daily exercise indoors on the treadmill, to save our outdoor exercise time to go as a family group every day. That's changed this week - I did my first outdoor run in ages today, it was great, now that outdoor exercise is unlimited.

With difficulty because despite being active in other ways, DD (6) resists certain types of exercise. Eg she refuses to do Joe Wicks 😲...
She has always been reluctant to do exercise that feels like exercise iyswim, but will happily burn energy if it's not exercise for exercise's sake... Eg in normal times running around with her friends, games, dance class etc. I know other kids who enjoy Joe Wicks workouts much more, I think that different exercise suits different people down to individual personalities.
We do cosmic kids yoga (which she likes) and I can recommend it. However not much of a cardio workout. Family walks are good once we are out, as she will often end up running, playing tig with us, doing handstands in the park etc on the way. So more than just a walk!
Exercising in the home is harder because if she realises it is exercise then she won't do it! 😁
we've tried family discos, but she spends more time designing complex choreographed routines for us all than dancing. Had some success with Just dance on the Wii.
We ordered a doorway pull up bar and she enjoys spending time on that swinging by her ants and "practising gymnastics".
In general though out of the house is easier for us. She became very reluctant to leave the house at all for a while but we persevered and once she is out she enjoys it.

My son (4) is doing Joe Wicks in the morning, well, his interesting interpretation of Joe Wicks.

We go out for at least two hours a day, about 45 minutes of that is walking to where ever we are going, then there’s lots of running around, bit of football etc. He’s normally much more active as he would usually do dance, rugby tots and swimming.

They were doing joe wickes but the novelty has worn off now. We go for a 5 mile walk most days. That’s about it really. They’ve taken a liking to skipping so often take their ropes on our walks

Very little. DD (14) will usually do a daily walk now (and can certainly now keep up with my pace, which she couldn't in the beginning, so that's something). She used to play tennis a couple of times a week, and hasn't been able to do that, but has done a couple of (easy) drills. Now the courts are open again, hoping to get both children some one on one coaching.

DS (12) is hardly doing anything. Bought him a trampoline at the start of lockdown, but he doesn't use it as much as he promised! Can only get him out on the odd walk (although enjoys it when he's out).

Neither child is sporty, so they're not missing it, but I do fret a bit over it - DH and I are doing quite a lot of exercise, and always have, so it's not through lack of modelling.

I do a daily walk (or cycle or scoot) with DS1 and then bring a ball for when we get to the field. I think he needs more tbh ad he's never as tired as after nursery (when it was open)

The sling is more practical for taking DS2 along but he starts to wriggle after about 1.5h, sometimes I leave him home but again can't leave him with DH for longer than 1-2h in case he gets hungry.

My two (10 and 8) are reluctantly doing some kind of YouTube workout (Joe Wicks, Cosmic Yoga, Mr Motivator...) or running for a mile up and down the garden on weekday mornings. They don't put in a lot of effort, but it's something they can do whilst I'm working.

We're going out for a walk every day at some point, usually an hour or so and usually involving some tree climbing, etc.

They also play-fight quite a lot and ride their bikes up and down our lane from time to time.

One is naturally active and sporty, the other isn't at all. I think they're getting enough exercise. Both look quite tanned and healthy and both eating and sleeping better than usual.

Thanks for the heads up on new Cosmic Kid videos my 6 year old is hyper mobile and not keep on JW but loves Cosmic Kids, and is also a child who is normally very active but isn't keen on exercise for exercise sake.

DD (9) used to do:

• 1 hour scooting or walking per weekday (school run)
• ran around at break and lunch
• swimming, tennis and yoga lessons (30 mins each)
• rock climbing (2 hours per week)
• karate (1 hour a week)

Now, she does:

• 30 min cycle every weekday and longer at weekend
• about 20 mins daily on the trampoline
• walking, sometimes
• online martial arts lesson, 1 hour each week

She is doing FAR less exercise. It is a bit of a worry but actually I think I'm working her harder than school ever did, so she is genuinely tired and doesnt have so much spare energy to burn.