Family Fun Fitness Tip

Have you thought about how great it would be to include your family in your pursuit to exercise more regularly? Family exercise will improve the health of your loved ones, make exercise more fun, and at the same time develop stronger connections between all of you. With a little creativity, you can find a way to make it work for everyone.

FITNESS TIP
Whether your family enjoys an occasional trip to the arcade, or playing video or computer games from the comfort of your own home, the possibilities for fitness-related games is endless these days! Of course, children who are sedentary and play a lot of inactive video games are more prone to being overweight, but why not take your child's love of video games to help promote healthy habits? Here are some good choices for parents, family, and kids:

Dance Dance Revolution (I even love this sucker) is a simple game, appropriate for children and adults of all ages. Follow the screen's cues of moving up, down, left or right on a pad of arrows that you stand on. This game is available in arcades and for home video systems, including Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox.  DDR also has a setting for your weight & you can place it on calorie count. After your workout you can go back & see how much you burned. It's an awesome tool & I promis you ... you will be sweating even if your on beginner!

Eye Toy, which works with Playstation 2, is a small video camera that you can sit on top of your TV or other surface and plug into the Playstation console. With Eye Toy games Play, Play 2, Groove, AntiGrav, and Operation Spy, your whole family will enjoy being "in" the games you play. You'll literally see yourself in the video game and your actions make it work. Punch your opponent in Kung Fu, dance up a storm in Groove, and try other fun activities like being a soccer goalie, hitting homeruns, hoverboard, or Dancing Diva.

When at the arcade, try other active games that require agility in more muscles than your thumbs. There are options for cycling where you actually pedal and steer, shooting hoops, playing air hockey, and even balancing on a skateboard!

The most important thing is you'll be having a blast with your family while getting healthy. What could be greater then that?