Fun is like beauty…it is in the eye of the beholder.
What might be deemed "cruel and unusual punishment" by one person could be the most exhilarating adventure by another.
Here are 25 fun, creative, “out of the box” ideas to liven-up your fitness experience, but let’s not sugar-coat the fact that this still involves sweating, moving, and pushing yourself to be better. Each of these concepts could be explored endlessly with variations, and a discussion on pros and cons, but I want to keep this short and sweet so that you can get an idea and run with it. I hope you take something from this article and make it your own. Please share it in our comments below or check out our new blog section. If you expand an idea and video yourself (and some friends if possible) doing it, I will post it for the world to see!
You may have seen some of these ideas in previous articles, but how many times have you heard the same scripture, advice, or poem and it took a few times to sink in? Our daughter is a picky 4-year old eater. My wife recently read that a child needs to smell, see, and be exposed to a food 18-20 times during the formative taste bud years to give it a chance. My hope is that if you have heard one of these before, it is now hitting you at a good time and it motivates you to move in a new and creative way.
HOW TO USE THIS ARTICLE
- For the beginner – I hope this article eliminates the fear of starting a program because you think you have to go to a gym or get a trainer. You can start today with a kitchen timer, a bag of Scrabble tiles (spoiler alert), and a handful of exercises you just learned.
- For the intermediate – Monotony is your enemy! Maybe you have been training regularly and just need a change or you are looking for a new challenge. Take a concept and run with it (literally, like try an obstacle course race…uh oh another spoiler alert).
- For the advanced – You live, sleep, and eat training, but have you thought about “active recovery”? This may be the missing ingredient to break-through plateaus or give your body a much needed rest between training cycles. Try one of more ideas as an alternate day or week-long “break” from your normal routine.
1. PLAY – We start with one of the most important elements of movement that is missing from most workout programs…simply have a fun, good time. I have a new definition of what constitutes “play workout” – any movement activity that also makes you smile, laugh, giggle, or think, “Wow, this is fun!” If you have a young person in your life, then you also have the only coach or trainer you need for a fun, play-time workout. Simply follow the child around a playground and try to keep up! That means you have to climb, slide, crawl through tunnels, run, jump, throw a ball, swing for a few minutes, and repeat! I admit that on a busy playground, this may feel silly, but that is the point. Get back to moving and playing like you did when you were 9 years old. Remember how you felt invincible then, like you could play all day? You can recapture some of that glory.
The hardest part of play workouts for adults is the lack of structure. This is about taking a break from the rigid sets and reps routine you have been following and just play! The rest of this article is focused on giving you ideas on how to let loose and have a good time!
2. Scavenger Hunt – Here’s the link to my award-winning (at least in my mind) article that covers all you need to know about Scavenger Hunt workouts. But for this article, I have made it even easier. Drive or run to a large local church. Park or start at the end of their parking lot and time how long it takes you to find and do the following exercises beside the landmark listed:
- Handicapped parking spot/sign – Perform 10 squats
- A window sill – Perform 10 push-ups
- A set of stairs – if small (5 or fewer), hop up each step to the top, jog down and repeat 10 times (careful…avoid if wet or slippery). If the stairs are big, sprint to the top and down 10 times.
- An exit sign – 10 lunges each leg
- Railing up a handicapped ramp – hang under the railing and perform 20 bodyweight rows.
- Nearest street sign – 20 jumping jacks
- A fence post (any type of fence you choose) – 10 wide-arm push-ups
- Run to the opposite side of the church (or the area of the campus that you have not been to so far, or have been to the least). Once there, perform 10 burpees.
- Return to your car or the start position. Stop your timer. Repeat this another day and do it in reverse order and try to beat your time!
3. Mud, Paint, Foam, Zombies, Obstacles and more! – Sign-up and show-up to a fun race! There are so many variations of crazy races since my article about mud runs a couple of years ago. Find one close to you, invite some friends, and create a life-long memory. You are all my virtual friends, so I am inviting you right now to join me for 3 Spartan Races starting in March. I am going for the Spartan Trifecta this year and I would love to have you there with me. I will write more about this on my Faith & Fitness Magazine blog, but just know that you are invited! If you are asking yourself, “How do I train for a Spartan Race?” I've got you covered with #4…
Join me this year and let's go for the Spartan Trifecta together!
4. Adventure Runs – Here is a great way to train for an obstacle course race and incorporate some variation to a running program if it is becoming stale. Adventure runs can be done anywhere. They only require some creativity and a willingness to try some new things. Look for things to climb over, under, or through. Rather than run by a playground with pull-up bars…run to them and either try to get across or do your best set of pull-ups then keep going! Here is a description of our Adventure Run at one my church bootcamps:
- Run to the short wall by the cemetery (kind of creepy, but productive) – do 10 wall jumps or step-ups depending on your ability.
- Run to the bleachers by the softball field and climb up the back and over to the front.
- Run to the short stairs and bearcrawl up and down.
- Run to the softball field – start at home plate and lunge to first, slide (sideways run) to second, lunge to third, sprint home
- Run to benches and jump/climb over them (5 total)
- Run to the end of parking lot and lay down for the “ab exercise of the day”
Get the idea? Keep running, exploring, and see what you can discover! Here is a Power Devo that offers more insight into this idea and compares it to the conversion of Paul in Acts 9.
5) Scripture "Word(s) of the Day" – Read the NIV version of John 15:1-17 below silently.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Read it again out loud and emphasize the words “Father”, “love”, and “fruit” or any variation of those words such as loved and fruitful. Read it again out loud and every time you say “Father”, do 10 push-ups. Every time you say “fruit” do 10 squats. Every time you say “love”, do 5 flutter kicks and dollies – lay on your back with your feet a few inches off the ground. Raise and lower your legs about a foot as you count to 3 (this is the flutter part), then do a split (that’s the dolly). Your count is 1,2,3,1; 1,2,3,2; 1,2,3,3 (flutter, flutter, flutter, dolly for 5 total reps). While performing the exercise, think about what that word means to you today. This scripture offers 90 lower body reps (squat), 60 upper body reps (push-up), and 45 core reps (flutter kicks and dollies).
Here’s another good passage to try from the first chapter of 1 Corinthians –
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Every time you read “body” perform 3 lunges on each leg. Every time you read the word “part” perform 5 push-ups. Think about what “part” of the body of Christ you are. What gifts and skills is God calling you to showcase to the world? While you are training pray that God gives you clarity and strength to act on these thoughts.
