6. Trivia! – We showcased this idea last month with our Christmas Trivia Fitness Quiz and now it is a staple in my bootcamps. You can also have a Trivial Pursuit Workout. Every correct question means your opponents have to do 5 push-ups, and every slice of pie you earn equals 10 burpees for your opponents. I am planning a Winter Olympics and President’s Day version for February, so check my blog for updates!
7. "Tag! You're it!" – I love picking up my daughter at her pre-school and playing tag with her friends on the playground. This is just an extension of what was discussed in #1 above, but with more guidelines for structured play. We play hide and seek tag, freeze tag, elbow tag, and more. One of my favorite bootcamp memories was when I had a group of seven "30-something" moms in my backyard playing Rock-Paper-Scissor Tag. They partnered up and faced each other. Next, they played the classic game to decide who was the winner and loser…the loser was chased to a certain marker and tried to avoid being tagged by the winner of rock-paper-scissors. You would have thought it was Christmas! The laughter and fun times were amazing. They all sounded like little 7 year old girls screeching as they ran and chased.
8. Roll the Bones – Grab a pair of dice and get busy…getting in shape that is, not gambling in a back alley! Here is a list and detailed description of some body-weight only challenges you can do anywhere! Or simply make a list of your favorite exercises from 2 to 12, and try to have some really hard challenges for "snake eyes" and double 6's.
9. Kettlebell Kards – You can tell this is a fun article because I just spelled a C-word with a K! I am crazy and off the rails! Here is one of my favorite kettlebell beat-downs but you can do this with any 4 contrasting exercises (push, pull, leg, core, for example):
- Hearts – Single-arm shoulder press
- Clubs – Swing
- Diamonds – One-arm row
- Spades – Goblet squat
- Jokers – 10 burpees
Shuffle and start flipping cards! Perform the number of reps on the card. For odd numbers for Hearts and Diamonds, you can either round-up or do one more rep on one side, and make up that number later on the next odd card flip. Jack, Queen, King equal 10 reps, and Ace equals 12. For my bootcamps, I throw in some bonus work like “deuces are wild”, and we will add in a bonus core activity when a 2 is selected. See if you can get through 52 cards and 2 Jokers in 45 minutes!
10. Video Game Fitness – I am the wrong guy to write about this. I haven’t played video games regularly since I was rocking a mullet and listening to Rick Springfield while playing Frogger (sorry, photo not available). But this seems like an excellent review of this fun option you should check-out.
BREAK PAGE
11. Dance! – My wife is an amazing dancer. Tap, jazz, swing, you name it, she can do it. I knew that I greatly needed to improve my skill set to win her love (not really, but it reads well, so play along). I was blown away that after 15 minutes into my first swing dance lesson, I was dripping with sweat and frustrated that my feet had exiled from my body and refused to do what my brain was telling them to do. An older gentleman said to me, “Don’t worry, son. By your 3rd or 4th time, it will click and you will get it.” He was right. It did click for me. After my 12th lesson! Here I was a movement coach, paid to help people move better, and I couldn’t get it! But I loved it. When movement has an extra layer of difficulty (rhythm, music, fluidity, etc.) it is exhilarating! If you are not up for something formal, just put on some music and have a dance party in your kids playroom or in the kitchen as we often do while putting away dishes.
Now if I can just figure out how to swing a kettlebell while swing dancing
12. Swim/Water Fitness – Every movement you can do in a gym, you can do in a pool. The water provides safe resistance and offers a new challenge. Try swimming with only your arms or only your legs. Do defensive slides, backward walks, and high knee sprints in the shallow end. Put a set of dumbbells at one end of the pool. Perform a big set of shoulder presses, one-arm rows, curls, squats, or any other dumbbell exercise you can think of. Super-set it with a jump back into the pool and swim to the end and back.
13. TV Commercial Burpee Challenge – See how many burpees you can do during every commercial break of your favorite show. Try to beat your number every time. This is a great way to multi-task and not feel guilty about taking time to watch your favorite show.
14) Set a Timer! – Try this the next time you are staring at a dirty kitchen and just can't muster the energy to clean it. Set a timer for two minutes and see how much you can get done in just two minutes! You will say to yourself, "It's only two minutes…I can do anything for two minutes." Suddenly, you are revved-up and ready to go. Chances are the kitchen will be clean in two minutes or you will be motivated to finish it. Apply this same concept to your workouts. Timing your sets or total workout gives boundaries. There is a defined start and stop and something to compete against…the ticking clock. This is also the beauty of HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. Just do what you can do in the allotted time period and move to the next thing. Timing your workouts also gives an easy benchmark to beat the next time you train, so calculating your progress is easier. You know that if you did 100 push-ups in 7 minutes last time, then your goals is either 101 in 7 minutes or 100 in 6:59. I wrote more about this in the article Goodbye Traditional Sets and Reps! – Get Pumped with EDT and Ladders.
15. Wheel of Fitness – You have to pronounce this one like the game show – “WHEEL…OF…FITNESS”. Watch this video and make your own wheel!
