Get Your Family Moving!

A web roundup of tips on getting your family moving:

From the Surgeon General:

• Be physically active. It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week. Even greater amounts of physical activity may be necessary for the prevention of weight gain, for weight loss, or for sustaining weight loss.
• Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise and enjoyment.
• Provide a safe environment for your children and their friends to play actively; encourage swimming, biking, skating, ball sports, and other fun activities.
• Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games. Limit TV time to less than 2 hours a day

From The National Institute for Fitness and Sport (NIFS)

• Go for family walks or bike rides
  
• Shoot hoops
  
• Play catch
  
• Try roller blading
  
• Try an new park in your area
  
• HIKE!
  Sign up for a run/walk promoting health
  
• Plan active vacations
  
• Plan a garden
  
• Check out the library for books on family fitness and activities for kids
  
• Create a reward system and track the family's progress towards their goal: (plot a map of the U.S. of
  
• how far the family has hiked, walked, or biked together
  
• Limit television and computer time to 2 hours per day
  
• Designate one or two days a month as No-TV days
  
• Take a picnic
  
• Take the family bowling, golfing, swimming, etc.
  
• Focus on fun. You can do a lot of walking during trips to the zoo, park, or miniature-golf course.
  
• Include children in household activities like dog-walking, car-washing, or lawn-mowing.
  
• Offer your children active alternatives to TV and computer, like joining a local recreation center or after-
  
• school program, or taking lessons in a sport or art they enjoy.
  
• Take the TV out of your childís bedroom.
  
• If you do watch TV, stretch, do yoga, or even lift weights at the same time.
  
• Have a contest with your children. Who can do the most push-ups or jumping jacks during a commercial break?
  
• Pop in your favorite aerobics exercise tape or DVD to get your heart pumping!
  
• Bike to the library together.
  
• Celebrate a birthday or anniversary with something active—a hike, a volleyball game, a Frisbee match.
  
• Play outside for 20 minutes every day.
  
• Pick up the pace when walking.
  
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator at malls. Jog up the stairs rather than walk.