You can get a good workout from playing with your kids in the park.

Getting a workout, while playing with your kids, is a fun and effective. This integrative workout idea is from Lee Labrada’s book The Lean Body Promise. You burn calories, work your muscles, and have a good time. Doesn’t that sound better than exercising? Plus, you are spending quality time with your kids.

Here are some of the possible playground exercises:

·        Swings. Pushing someone on a swing is like a mini chest press. It works your triceps, chest, and upper back. You burn about 50 calories in 10 minutes.

·        Slide. Helping your child on the slide works your calves and back. You burn about 50 calories in 10 minutes. Don’t be shy, go down the slide yourself too!

·        Merry-go-round. This dizzying delight works your legs, butt and back as you push your kids around in circles. You burn about 75 calories in 10 minutes.

·        Monkey-bars. Hanging and climbing on the monkey bars works your abdominals, biceps, and upper back. You burn about 75 calories in 12 minutes.

·        Throw and catch. Playing catch works your arms, shoulder, and lower back. You burn about 50 calories in 5 minutes.

The important idea here is that you can integrate exercise into your daily life if you look for opportunities. Before researching the Playground Workout, I wouldn’t have thought about this venue for increasing fitness.

Thinking about play as exercise can sometimes give you that extra push you need to go out and have fun. We get so wrapped in life that taking time out for play, even with our children, may seem a frivolous waste of time. Now, in the back of your mind, you can think that you aren’t just having fun, but you are burning calories and building muscles at the same time. Maybe just that little bit of motivation is all you need to get moving.