[ Ссылка ]
HealthWorks! Healthy Living Series: Barriers and Behavioral Strategies
by The Center for Better Health and Nutrition/HealthWorks! at Cincinnati Children's
Amanda Gier, Exercise Physiologist: "We all know that exercise is important for good health. We also know that families today face a lot of barriers to exercise. For your family, these barriers may include: time, energy, motivation and lack of gym memberships or exercise equipment.
While these can make it more difficult to meet exercise goals, there are small strategies your family can use to overcome these.
If time is a concern, try breaking exercise up into smaller bouts. If your exercise goal is 30 minutes per day, you don’t have to do all 30 minutes at once.
Your child can play outside for 10 minutes after getting off the school bus. Once they come inside to do homework, they can take a 10-minute activity break halfway through.
Have them get up and dance to a few songs or do a 10-minute exercise video before finishing homework. Once they done with homework, they can play an active video game for 10 minutes, and that’s their 30 minutes for the day.
Energy is another common concern among kids and parents. We all have times we feel too tired to move.
Sometimes scheduling is the most important factor in sticking with an exercise routine. Try getting some of your exercise done in the morning, before you’re exhausted after a long day.
Do your exercise as soon as you get home from school, before sitting down to relax.
Think about what time of day you usually have the most energy – and make this when you exercise.
Feeling motivated to exercise, especially when trying to start a new exercise routine, can be tough. Here are some tips to make it a little easier:
Get the whole family involved. Kids are much more likely to be active if parents and siblings are right there with them.
Make exercise routine. Exercise at the same time each day. Or do the same activities on same days of the week. Go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And do family walks or bike rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A lot of families feel they need an expensive gym membership or workout equipment at home to meet exercise goals. But there are plenty of great options for exercise that don’t require either of these.
Kids can play outside, go to the park or go to splash pads in the summer. Jump ropes are inexpensive and can be used inside or outside.
Families can turn on music and have a dance party. Or find free exercise videos online. Be creative and use what you have to get moving.
We know it can be difficult to make changes and increase exercise.
Remember, it doesn’t have to happen all at once.
Though our eventual goal is to get everyone exercising at least 60 minutes every day, it’s OK to start smaller.
Setting smaller goals and working your way up to larger goals sets you up for more success.
If your child doesn’t exercise at all currently, start with a goal of 2 to 3 days a week. You can even start as low as 10 to 20 minutes a day.
Every few weeks, work on increasing exercise until you reach 60 minutes a day.
As your child and your family find activities they enjoy and get into a good routine, it will start feeling a lot easier to meet daily exercise goals."
--
The funding for these videos was in part provided by Master Han and the Han’s White Tiger Tae Kwon Do Annual Break-A-Thon. Thank you!
