Fun family exercises to stay in shape this festive season

Yep, that time of the year is finally here. The year-end slump.

Many of us are exhausted and when we officially go on holiday from work, exercise tends to take the back seat until mid-January.

Come January 1, many people are in desperate need of help to shed the extra kilograms gained over Christmas and New Year.

Overindulging in “holiday food” will have you needing to do damage control, but if you add a bit of casual exercise during this time off, you could lessen the blow.

My suggestion is to perhaps try and involve the entire family in some kind of physical activity on a daily basis.

Even 30 minutes of physical activity each day could go a long way. That is just 2% of your day.

Picture: iStock

Let me give you some examples.

1. Choose a different 30min family activity to do every day. For example:

• Monday: walk around the neighbourhood;
• Tuesday: play football in the garden;
• Wednesday: swim or play water games;
• Thursday: cycle, if you have bike;
• Friday: dance to music in the living room;
• Saturday: jog or run around a park;
• Sunday: play a ball game (tennis, basketball, cricket etc.).

Obviously this all depends on what the family has access to, so feel free to personalise your diary to fit in with your family.

Picture: iStock

2. Create a four-week (30 day) fitness challenge that you add to every day and challenge each other as a family. Start with 10 repetitions of a particular exercise and add five or 10 reps each day. For example:

• Push-ups challenge, where you start off with 10 push-ups on day one and add five every day.

• Plank challenge, where you start off with 30 seconds plank on day one and add 10 seconds every day.

• Sit-ups challenge, where you start off with 10 sit-ups on day one and add five every day.

• Burpee challenge, where you start off with 10 burpees on day one and add five every day.

• Squat challenge, where you start with 20 squats on day one and add 10 every day.

You don’t have to do them all. As a family, you can choose one challenge and stick to it for the entire 30 days.

It would be great if you chose a time when you are all together so you can do the challenge at the same time.

Picture: iStock

3. Challenge

Plan to run your first 5km in six weeks, by mid-January. This will ensure you keep active right through the festive season.

All this challenge needs is 30min of your time, three times a week.In fact, this can even be done with teenage children.

Make sure the pace is not too fast in the first week so you can determine your best pace.

Week 1: from today:

• Run 5min, walk 5min;
• Run 5min, walk 5min;
• Run 5min, walk 5min;
• That’s your 30-minute session done. Repeat this on two other days.

Week 2: December 16 to 22:

• Run 6min, walk 4min;
• Run 6min, walk 4min;
• Run 6min, walk 4min.

Week 3: December 23 to 29:

• Run 7min, walk 3min;
• Run 7min, walk 3min;
• Run 7min, walk 3min.

Picture: iStock

Week 4: December 30 to January 5:

• Run 8min, walk 2min;
• Run 8min, walk 2min;
• Run 8min, walk 2min.

Week 5: January 6 to 12:

• Run 9min, walk 1min;
• Run 9min, walk 1min;
• Run 9min, walk 1min.

Week 6: run 5km

So there we go, I’ve given you basic ideas to keep you active that literally only require 2% of your day this festive season. Start today. Don’t delay. Good luck!

Zulu is a qualified biokineticist and cofounder of PopUpGym. Follow her on Instagram: @letshego.zulu; Twitter: @letshegom; Facebook: Letshego Zulu

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