Children’s Fitness Academy; Gifts for under £10

Christmas needn’t be about spending loads of money and sitting down watching christmas movies all day. It can be about fun, fitness games too – for all the family! 

Why not buy a fitness gift for under £10 – you will be suprised at how much fun you can have and how much better you feel about eating all those mince pies! 

Here’s some cool ideas for you; 

Nike basketball £9.99. shoot some hoops or make a team and see who can keep hold of the ball for the longest. 

Skipping rope £9.99 from Sweaty Betty – put on some music and each take a turn to skip to the whole song. You can also count who does the most jumps without getting their feet caught. 

Pedometer – wrap up warm and go for a walk after dinner – a pedometer will count exactly how many steps you take – compare with the rest of your family when you get home. 

Speedo goggles – ok so you may not go for a swim on xmas day – but how about on Boxing day? 

Londsdale boxing gloves – great fun! Pair up and get someone to hold the pads – punch for two minutes, then run on the spot for 1 minute. Repeat five times to work your arms and heart – lovely! 

Fitness DVD – there are loads to choose from! Get the family involved and see who can keep up for the whole duration. Grannie and Grandad too!! 

 

Children’s Fitness Trainer – doing her own fitness things!

I learn a lot writing for Health and Fitness Magazine, especially when it comes to how to use your workout time effectively!

At the moment I am on a strict Paleo diet – where you literally eat like a caveman e.g. If you couldn’t get it back in the caveman days then you don’t eat it. So lots of green veg, nuts and fresh lean meat so to be honest I haven’t got the energy to go and do some crazy long and hard run at the moment. So instead of sitting down and wishing my energy levels would rise I went to my local park and did some running drills.

I basically found a football pitch and did one minute of skips, running backwards, side running, high knees and leg kicks mixed in with two minutes of sprinting up one end of the pitch and then recovering to the other end. I got a really good workout, all without being too far away from my house.

Next week I plan to do hill sprints. I would have finished the 14-day strict paleo by then so should well and truly have my energy back.

The thing is you really need to listen to your body when exercising. I knew I couldn’t afford to go all out today so I didn’t BUT the key is I didn’t skip my workout. I tailored it to my needs and did what I could.

Exercise is definitely a way of life and this is what I want to get across to your children – exercise is fun and a necessity – especially if they grow up to have office jobs. It really does help to get moving before or after work to counter-balance all that sitting down, the yummy office lunches and off course it helps concentration levels too!

Meet the UK’s new childrens fitness trainer – Lucy Miller

So who is she?

Lucy Miller (that’s me :-)) is a ex national gymnast and currently The Fitness Editor at Health & Fitness Magazine.

 

She qualified as a level 3 NASM personal trainer three years ago and after transforming many clients into lean, mean fighting machines, she decided to dip into childrens fitness, where her passion really lies. So she enrolled in The Fitness Industry Education’s (http://www.fitnessindustryeducation.com/ChildrensFitnessCoursesforallages.aspx), level 2 Instructing Exercise & Physical Activity for Children course in July and the rest is history!

Since then she has been working with local schools, designing and co-ducting workouts to improve children’s fitness flexibility, strength, stamina, balance and co-ordination.

Her main aim is to increase their enjoyment of exercise because it makes such a big difference when it comes to other areas of their lives!

The fact is that regular effective exercise will improve concentration, enhance enjoyment of other hobbies and motivate children throughout their formative years – it’s so important!

How to keep your children active this autumn….

The darker nights might be upon us but that’s no reason to stop moving!!

Why not have a dance party? Crank the music and get your kids to show you their stuff – you can join in too – there is nothing more fun than a good old boogie! Try it – you will walk away with a huge smile on you face, I promise!!