By this time of the year, most people have given up on their New Year’s resolutions. And a vast majority of those lost goals revolved around getting more healthy and working out. Starting something new can be extremely difficult, and you’re not alone if you’ve missed the last week or two of exercise.
Whether you’ve given up on your workout goals or you’re still going strong, there are things that you can do to add variety to your workouts to make them more enjoyable. It’s important to find something that you at least like, if not love, to do if you’re going to try to get into the habit of exercise.
We’ve found these fun activities that have the potential to work out and strengthen your entire body. Try incorporating some of these into your weekly physical activity and you’ll find that exercise doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you might not even feel like you’re exercising at all.
Dance
Whether you are 8 or 80, dancing is a great way to strengthen your bones, muscles, and entire body. Of course, you should be aware of your limits and only do what your body is capable of.
Some of the benefits of dancing as an exercise include:
- increased endurance
- improved muscle tone and strength
- reduced risk of osteoporosis (stronger bones)
- improved condition of your heart and lungs
- better coordination
- improved flexibility
If you enjoy dancing, those are some great reasons to do it!
Dancing can take so many forms too, so even if you don’t like taking Zumba classes or doing ballet, you might still be able to find some kind of dancing that you enjoy. You could take ballroom dance classes, go to community dances (country dancing anyone?), go clubbing, follow tutorials on YouTube, dance to your favorite music in your living room, there really are so many possibilities.
Jump Rope
Did you ever have jumping rope as an activity in PE class when you were in grade school? Jump rope days were some of the best days in PE. Jump rope – if you enjoy jumping – is a great and fun way to incorporate some extra activity into your week.
Health benefits of jump rope include:
- improved coordination
- strengthen ankles and feet (decreasing injuries in those places)
- improved breathing
- better heart health
- burning major calories
- improving brain function
If you want to burn off an entire day’s worth of calories, just jump rope for two hours. You can buy your own rope to use at home, go to a gym, or even look for jump rope classes in your community.
Bowling
That’s right, we said bowling. It might not be the most active sport, but you can gain a lot of health benefits from this activity if you do it on a regular basis. This would be considered more of a moderate exercise, but it sure is a fun way to be a little more active.
Some of the health benefits include:
- improved hand-eye coordination
- strengthened muscles (bowling balls are not small)
- improved flexibility and balance
- burn calories
Try joining a bowling league or having a family bowling night a couple times a month. You won’t even feel like you’re exercising.
Bike Ride
Riding a bike works your entire body. From pedaling with your legs and feet to holding the handles with your hands to holding your body up with your core.
Biking holds many health benefits, including:
- increased heart health
- increased flexibility and strength
- stronger bones
- disease prevention
- better posture and coordination
- better joint mobility
Whether you ride your bike to work, go mountain biking, or just go on evening bike rides with your family, your going to see the benefits of this activity in your week.
Swimming
Swimming is such a good activity for your health. And it’s so much better if you actually enjoy doing it. This is a great activity to do if you have weaker joints too because it is low-impact.
Healthy benefits of swimming include:
- builds endurance
- improves heart health
- increases muscle strength
- improves lung health
- improves coordination and balance
You can treat swimming like an exercise and swim laps or go the public swim at your local pool and have a blast with your family. During the summer it can be fun to go cool off and swim in a lake (and it counts as exercise).
All of these are great activities to try if you’re having a hard time finding the motivation to exercise. And if you are limited in your abilities to exercise due to an injury or joint pain, talk to an orthopedic specialist like those at Biddulph, Hunstman, and Dalling to see what activities you can do and how you can get better.