I remember reading some years ago about a structured exercise class in St. Louis that has more in common with elementary school recess than it does to a commercial gym routine. All of the activities in the class are physically active, but more importantly, they are a lot of fun. The participants do activities such as swirling hula hoops, hop scotch, bouncing on large exercise balls, running relay races, and leap frog.
The key takeaway from a class like that is not so much taking a “recess” class as an adult, although that certainly isn’t a bad idea. The important thing is finding an activity which you find fun, preferably one that involves a lot of physical movement.
Any kind of movement is good from a fitness perspective; the more, the better. However, the mental health aspect of having time to relax and recharge, even as an adult, is also very important. Everybody needs to have some play time scheduled into their day (not week; not month; day!) to maintain their health and sanity.
It does not matter if you are 8 years old or 18 years old or 38 years old or 80 years old. If everyone could find something fun that involved getting some exercise, even if it doesn’t seem like exercise, then there would not be such an obesity pandemic in the United States.
The great part of emulating children is that they model very simple behaviors that we can enjoy as adults. After all, they haven’t had a chance to learn how not to have fun yet.
Don’t let your exercise routine become a chore. Mix things up, have some fun. If you don’t think that you want to do anything for play in the same or similar manner as a child would, then think back on your daily activities that you look forward to doing every day or every week. If you are looking forward to it, then perhaps it just might be something fun.
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Blaine Moore is a running coach in Southern Maine with 20 years of training and racing experience that he shares on his blog at Run To Win.com.