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Everyday Ideas for Boosting Activity

Posted: Feb. 1, 2007

Energize yourself

• Schedule physical activity for times in the day or week when you feel energetic.
• Convince yourself that if you give it a chance, physical activity will increase your energy level; then try it.

• Plan ahead. Make physical activity a regular part of your family's daily or weekly schedule and write it on a family activity calendar.
• Invite a friend or family member to exercise with you on a regular basis and write it on both your calendars.
• Join an exercise group or class. Enroll your children in community sports teams or lessons.
• Select activities requiring no new skills, such as walking, climbing stairs or jogging.
• Exercise with friends who are at the same skill level as you are. Create opportunities for your children to be active with friends.

• Find a friend who is willing to teach you some new skills.
• Take a class to develop new skills and enroll your children in classes too, such as swimming, gymnastics, tennis, etc.

• Select activities that require minimal facilities or equipment, such as walking, jogging, jumping rope, or stretching and strengthening movements.
• Identify inexpensive, convenient resources available in your community (such as community education programs, park and recreation programs and work site programs).

• Develop a set of regular activities for you and your family that are always available regardless of weather (such as indoor cycling, aerobic dance, indoor swimming, stretching and strengthening movements, stair climbing, rope skipping, mall walking, dancing and gymnasium games).
• Look at outdoor activities that depend on weather conditions (such as cross-country skiing, outdoor swimming and outdoor tennis) as "bonuses"— extra activities possible when weather and circumstances permit.

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