Exercise ideas for non-sporty teen.

[mollyfolk]

My 12 year old doesn’t like sports. She doesn’t like contact sports at all and isn’t great at dance or gymnastics either. She was in a swimming club that had training 3 days a week and recently gave that up. So now I’m worried about her getting enough exercise throughout her teen years.

We do stuff as a family but with full time work and 2 other very sporty children with trainings to go to, I’m just worrying that our weekly bike ride/hike won’t be enough.

Has anyone a non sporty teen that has another way to exercise?

🐴🐴🐴

Horse riding? Yes I wouldn’t have thought of that one. We can certainly give it a go.

Hula hoop

Skateboarding? Some indoor skate parks do girl only nights and they're generally very friendly and supportive.

Walking, skipping, hoola hooping, yoga, boxercise?? There's a great website called Fitness Blender and they have 100s of free videos which are excellent

Can you do exercise with her (if she's not chronically embarrassed by you)?

Maybe do a video at home together, a yoga class or go swimming together?

Roller skating

My 12 year old watches funky feats on tictok or facebook and has taught herself to skip and tries to do the tricks.
Shes out and time it's dry practicing now

She is not yet chronically embarrassed by me. I go to a small gym twice a week and I run twice a week. She steadfastly refuses to join me on either on these. We could certainly go swimming together though. She is good at swimming and will continue with the levels doing one class a week. Maybe we could have another swim night.

she might go for this we’ll try it out.

My DD loves swimming & does weekly lessons; she also wants to do the life guard course & to try water polo. Might be options?
Horse riding too - DD loves that but it is expensive.

Is joining a gym an option? I was a teen that despised PE at school, and team sports. But I joined my local council gym when I was about 13 because at that time they had extremely cheap rates for teens and loved it. It was within walking distance of my house and an easy bus ride from my school so it was perfect.

She loves swimming. She just didn’t like the competitive aspect of swimming. I think it’s a shame how all activities seem to become very competitive at 10/11, I’ll definitely look for a lifesaving course she’d love that.

Will also look into horse riding. She is a very nervous child but she loves animals and I found her carefully removing a caterpillar from a path in front of our house yesterday so they wouldn’t be hurt. She might go for the animal aspect of it.

Sailing cadets/kayaking/sea cadets/SUP/kite surfing etc all good options. Many sailing/yacht clubs have a youth programme and some are very reasonable.

Fire cadets also have quite some physical programs.

Roller skating. Ice skating. Ice hockey. Parkour.

Do you gave any friends/relatives with a dog? Dog walking.

Ice skating, roller skating, climbing, circus skills...

I know this is a bit old now but did you find anything she liked? I’m in this position now.

Indoor rock climbing or abseiling? Or outdoor if you're in that type of area?
Street dance, break dancing?
Yoga?
I hate exercise but love using the cross trainer. They do have one in the park but it's pretty crap. But she could join a gym and use one there?
Or gentle weight lifting?
Roller skating?
Ice skating?

We found rowing. She likes it. Again not interested in it competitively.

She also joined scouts and they go on hikes and play active games.

She kept up her swimming once a week and has recently joined a karate class.

so overall we are keeping her active and not forcing her to do anything. Which is important.