As a child, I was highly active and energetic! But then again, what child is not? That’s the beauty in childhood. A child would never wake up in the morning and say, “I’m dreading my workout today, but I must get at least 30 minutes of activity in.” No, a child wakes up at 6:30am (if you’re lucky they sleep that late) and is ready to move, play and have fun doing that all day long!

I absolutely do have days when I don’t want to move and be active, but rarely. The other 98% of the time, my inner-child comes out and I am ready to “play!” Don’t mistake your childhood and/or other past-time activities as the backseat to the “adult” workouts of running, biking, swimming, weight lifting, aerobics, etc. Those childhood activities were fun and exhaustive, exactly the way working out and being active should be!

Here are 3 past-time activities you can make “now”-time activities again:

1.  Trampolines: Growing up, I couldn’t wait to get home from school, grab a quick snack, and head outside to my trampoline. I was a gymnast, so the bouncing and flipping came naturally. We had one of the jumbo trampolines, and so I realize that for a “now”-time activity most people don’t have one. However, here are 2 ways to bring it into your “now”:

• Mini Trampoline: These are not very expensive, and you can burn mega calories on them (try high-knees, butt-kicks and one-legged jumps). Enjoy the bounce and pure energy expenditure like a child does!
• Jump Around: If you don’t have a trampoline of any sort, just jumping around is highly active! Try jumping jacks, jump squats or jumping rope. All of these are a form of plyometrics, which also burn mega calories!

2.  Tag-You’re-It: Okay, so you might not actually invite friends over to play tag, but what you can do is set up “cones” or other targets and run around “tagging” them. Set up a small mini course and do sprints in between them. Record your time and try to improve on it with each “tag-you’re-it” session. When you’re done, just like the good ‘ole days, invite your snacking BFF’s over for some #SnackJoy. After that awesome workout, surely you have earned some Mini Babybel Bonbels with dried fruit, almonds and water with fresh lemon slices!

3.  Hopscotch: Get out some sidewalk chalk or masking tape, and then get ready for a little interval training! If you remember, hopscotch is a hopping game that can be played on the ground anywhere. There are probably hundreds of variations for the hopscotch pattern, so all you need to do is create a diagram with 8 sections and number them. You don’t even need to follow the “rules” you did as a child. The goal is to hop; hop up, hop down, hop over numbers, hop fast, hop slow, turn around and do it all again! Rest when you need to, but try to make your resting intervals no more than 30 to 60 seconds for the best interval training!

Remember, living a healthy lifestyle comes to life in many ways! Never discount a past-time activity you once loved! What are some past-time activities you still enjoy?

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