Do your teens need exercise motivation? Be their role model! Inspire your teens to get active with these 5 tips.
by Atomic Mommy Editors
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When it comes to exercising, teens are often the ones who need the most inspiration. That’s because they’d rather be on their phones scrolling through the latest trending videos or out with friends. But even teens need to exercise if they want to stay in shape for sports and stay healthy. What better way to help your teens than by inspiring them yourself!
There are so many advantages to having an active teen and while we all would have loved to start them off at a young age, just know, it’s not too late to start them now. Whether it’s getting them a bike from BicycleBlueBook.com or sending them to a summer fitness camp, planning an exercise routine for them to engage in will be extremely helpful in motivating them.
Here are a few more tips to help you inspire your teens to start exercising!
Become Their Role Model
There’s no right time to start getting active. So, be the role model your teens turn to instead. If you want your teen to shed pesky pounds or simply have better moods or even develop better habits in life, then you need to push them by pushing yourself first. Teens have this innate ability to observe in great detail what’s going on around them, even when we think they’re not paying attention. If they see you’re exercising, they’ll wonder why and may even ask you questions about it. Consider their curiosity as a way to open up the conversation to asking them to join you. If they see you’re having fun, they’ll want to join in too. This doesn’t only have to include exercising. This can also include eating healthy too.
Join a Club
Joining a club as an adult is a great way to stay active and be around others with the same mindset. If you want your teens to think of exercising in the same way, you can join a club that allows teens to join, too. Be sure to make your teen apart of the conversation so you can learn the kinds of clubs your teen would actually enjoy being a part of. Maybe they’d be interested in playing softball on a team with you or something a bit more their speed, like video game competitions. Trust me, those gaming competitions burn as many calories as jogging on a treadmill. So, embrace your teens’ club interests and join in on the fun together.
Plan an Active-Filled Trip
All teens love trips! They especially love trips with their friends. So, when planning an active filled trip, try to plan one that includes a friend of theirs as well. This will not only inspire your teen to want to attend the trip with you, but also to actually take part in the activities. This trip could be a weekend trip, day trip, or even a full blown vacation! You’ll want to make sure that you fill the schedule with lots of action packed activities.
Camping is always a great trip idea to go as a group because most of the activities require more than one person to do and also tend to be full of high-octane exercise which is really more fun than a workout. These activities can include mountain biking, cycling, hiking, rock climbing, swimming, kayaking, and plenty more. Because camping requires a bit of planning, you’ll need to make sure you are completely prepared and be extremely well-packed. You can get all of your outdoor needs at EcoGearFX. But if over night camping is a bit too much for you, then try doing a mini day-camp at the beach. Where you’ll still get the same fun experiences without the fuss of staying overnight!
Challenge Them
This is a great way to get a bit of fun going while exercising together. What I have to be mostly true about teens is 3 things: they love money, they love friends, and they love to sleep. So, challenge them to an exercise duel! Tell them the winner of the exercise duel wins something, whether it’s $20 bucks, a YES day with their friends, or being allowed to spend an entire Saturday sleeping in with no chores. This will certainly inspire them to exercise with you. Plus, they’ll enjoy watching you try to beat them as they kick your butt! Imagine if you beat them… your teens will want a rematch and that means, the exercise challenge continues.
Use Videos and Games
There is thankfully loads of funny exercise videos on YouTube to watch. Some of them involve epic fails and others involve hilariously gone wrong exercises. Watch some of these videos with your teens and make a game out of copying their favorites together. With this activity, you’ll be engaging their bodies and their minds, while getting some good laughs out of it as well. If copying videos isn’t your teen’s cup of tea, then try playing an exercise game meant for fun. Some of the video games for exercising offer a ton of interactive gaming experiences that are great for teens who want less outdoors and more indoors.
The Takeaway
Exercising really doesn’t have to be boring. Engaging your teens to join you in exercising is a great way to inspire them to get active and stay healthy. So, whether it’s a trip away or joining a club together, start the new year off together with great bonding and some good ol’ fashioned exercise.
