Ways to Celebrate Your Family’s Fitness

As an adult, you know that fitness is so important for your family’s health. You know all about the benefits of exercise and how it can help you all live longer, healthier, more active and mobile lives. Your kids, on the other hand, sometimes need a little help to see the benefits of their exercise regimens and to encourage them to keep going.

There are plenty of ways to use positive reinforcement to keep your family motivated to keep working out and enjoying the gains that come along with it. It just may take extra effort on your part. Try these fun ways to celebrate your family’s fitness and create a sense of accomplishment for everyone.

Establish Clear Goals and Rewards for Meeting Them

One way to help your kids recognize how productive their exercise time can be is to set fitness-related goals with them. For example, one family member’s goal could be to run a mile in under 10 minutes. When you set these goals, set a reward, too, like a special outing with friends. Every workout gets them closer to that goal and when they’re able to run that 10-minute mile, they earn the reward they chose. While each family member has their own goals, you should discuss your goals together so you can all cheer each other on.

Make a Routine of Finding and Celebrating Accomplishments

Working toward specific goals for your physical fitness is great, but you don’t have to wait until you hit a goal to celebrate your progress. You also want to look for other accomplishments to celebrate along the way.

Make it part of your family’s routine to look for and get excited about these achievements. You could decide that once per week, during family dinner, each person in the family says one fitness-related accomplishment from the past week. It could be that they noticed that going up the stairs is easier than it used to be, or that a particular outfit is fitting better. This gets your family in the habit of recognizing the strides they’re making and thanking themselves for their hard work.

Try Fitness Challenges as a Family

Exercising as a family is always a great way to help the entire family get into better shape. If you want to mix it up, you can come up with “fitness challenges” to complete as a family. For example, a family challenge could be to complete a particular hiking trail. Your challenges should allow each person in the family to push themselves and show themselves what they can do, but it shouldn’t be unattainable. While everyone can finish it at their own pace, you’re all completing the same challenge and you can celebrate the accomplishment together.

Making Fitness a Part of Your Family’s Life

Exercise shouldn’t be something that we see as “unnecessary” or something we can set aside when life gets busy. To set up your kids for healthier lives, you want to make exercise a routine part of life for everyone, but you’ll all need some extra motivation to stick with it. The tips above can help you celebrate your family’s growth in fitness and teach your kids what a different exercise makes in their lives.

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