Bored with the same old fitness routine? Mix it up with your favorite childhood activities, like Hula-hooping, hopscotch, dodgeball and jumping rope. They'll blast calories – up to 300 in under an hour – without risking injury…
Is an expensive gym membership or the long drive across town to the yoga studio taking all the joy out of your workouts?
Jumpstart your routine with favorite childhood activities– like hopscotch and Hula-hooping – that tighten and tone your body. Best of all, you don’t even have to leave the house.
Getting fit with games we played as kids – when we were doing them for fun rather than our waistlines – is a good way to stay motivated, says fitness expert Kathy Smith, creator of two dozen exercise DVDs and mother of two.
"My friends talk about playing games with their kids at the park," she says. "I believe schoolyard workouts are a natural progression” for adults.
They're easy to do and don't cost a lot of money.
Plus, they really do help you lose weight.
“The bigger you are, the more calories you burn regardless of what you’re doing,” Smith says.
As long as your activity is vigorous, you’re getting an effective workout.
In fact, you can burn 300 calories in about 30 minutes with some schoolyard games, she says.
Smith recommends adding 1-2 recess-inspired workouts a week to your regular routine.
Read on to learn how to turn your favorite games into effective exercises.
Hula-Hoop
Time: 30 minutes
Benefits: While you burn fat and calories, you’re also strengthening your core, back, hips and butt muscles.
How to start: Put the hoop around your waist and hold it with both hands. Place one part of the hoop against your body, and give it a spin.
Move your hips in a circle and rock forward and backward with your feet to keep it turning.
Don’t get discouraged if you can’t get it at first. It takes some coordination.
Caution: Warm-up first to ward off back injuries. Small circular movements have less impact on your lower back.
Calories Burned: 150
Hopscotch
Time: 1 hour
Benefits: Because it requires bending over, hopscotch lets you work the large muscles in your back and legs.
And you’ll improve balance and leg strength by hopping on one leg. Another benefit: You can play with a group of people or on your own.
How to start: Find an open stretch of sidewalk or driveway, and use a piece of chalk to draw a hopscotch board.
Don’t remember what it looks like? Draw a series of 10 boxes. A typical board combines single boxes stacked on top of one another with 2 squares alongside one another (where you switch from hopping to planting both feet down, one in each box). Mark each square with a number, 1 through 10.
Toss a rock into the first square, then jump over it on one foot. Hop through all the single squares on one foot and jump down with both feet when 2 squares are next to each other.
When you get to the last square, either jump off the board or hop back to pick up your rock. Then toss it into the second square, and start over, jumping over the square the rock is in.
Your turn ends if your rock lands outside the square you’re tossing it into, or you step on a line or lose your balance.
Caution: Watch your lower back and knees.
If you’re not warmed up, bending could strain your back. And since jumping on one foot can aggravate knees, switch up the foot you’re hopping on.
Calories Burned: 340
Jump rope
Time: 20 minutes
Benefits: Jumping rope can be an intense cardiovascular activity. Most people burn about 100 calories for every 10 minutes of steady two-foot jumping.
How to start: Because it can be hard to get the hang of jumping rope, Smith recommends this gentle warm-up:
1. Hold the rope handles, and sway your arms from side-to-side. At the same time, rise up on your toes, then lower down a few times.
Then, put the handles together and move the rope to the left side of your body and then the right [the rope will make a figure-eight on the ground].
Once you’ve mastered the swaying movement, jump for a few minutes until you find a rhythm.
Most of us can jump briskly for only 3-5 minutes at a time before needing a quick breather. Recover with the swaying technique above or, for a tougher workout, do push-ups or sit-ups.
As you get stronger, jump for longer stretches and take shorter recovery breaks, says Smith.
Caution: Choose a soft, lightweight rope. When you’re learning, you’ll probably smack yourself with the rope a few times.
Jump on a wood floor, rather than a harder surface like concrete. This helps protect knees and ankles during all that high-impact jumping.
Calories Burned: 200
Dodgeball
Time: 45 minutes
Benefits: Dodgeball is a form of interval training, meaning it alternates periods of high-intensity motion with lower-activity movments or rest.
The result: It blasts body fat and conditions muscles from head-to-toe, says Smith.
Because it involves sprinting and stopping, moving quickly and repeatedly changing direction, the sport builds both balance and agility.
Also, the side-to-side movements common in this game tone inner and outer thighs – and the leg as a whole.
How to start: Grab a lightweight ball – a dodgeball should weigh at most 2 pounds, according to the National Dodgeball League. Then pick your teams. (For a good workout, have at least 6 people.)
Throw the ball, trying to hit players on the opposing team. And be ready to move when they toss it back toward you.
Caution: Stay focused. There’s always a risk of tripping over the ball, losing your balance, falling, or getting hit too hard.
And when going from a dead stop to a quick sprint to avoid the ball, be careful you don’t jerk your body too hard. That puts stress on lower-body joints.
Calories Burned: 230
Walking or running backward
Time: 20 minutes
Benefits: You’ll kickstart cardio endurance, tone your lower body and improve agility.
How to start: Walk forward briskly to warm up, and then try walking backward.
Gradually, add in running. In the beginning, run forward for 20 feet, and stop for 15 seconds. Then turn around, and then run backward for another 20 feet.
Stop again, turn around and start over.
Eventually, you should be able to run backward the entire time, looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re not about to bump into something.
Caution: Running while looking over your shoulder can be disorienting.
Only try this activity on a track or other area with no traffic, Smith advises.
“You can really take a tumble running backward, so it’s at the top of my danger list,” she says.
For another spin, add sidestepping [moving sideways with one foot leading, or alternating feet] to your running routine.
Calories Burned: 100-300, depending on how quickly you walk and run.
Wise Ways to Warm-Up
Ready to grab family and friends to try these moves? Before you do, check out Smith’s rules for preparing your body:
1. Stretch beforehand, focusing on your body’s sore spots. If your back’s tight, stretch your lower back. If it’s your legs, work on hamstrings.
“It takes another 90 seconds, but it can do a lot to prevent you from getting injured,” says Smith.
2. Don’t play to win; play to have fun. For the first 10 minutes, find the tempo of the game and judge how your body feels doing these movements.
“As you get older, you'll require a longer warm-up to get the kinks out,” she adds.
3. Stretch thoroughly after your workout to ward off sore muscles.
These exercises may make you feel like a kid again, so make sure your body can keep up.
What’s Your Fitness Style?
Aspects of your personality determine the kind of exerciser you are. If you're in a fitness rut, it's time to put your unique interests back into the workout equation.
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