How to actually exercise with your kids

For parents of young children, it can be difficult to prioritize exercise. Kids need things – a snack, a ride, someone to explain fractions – usually just when you put on your running shoes or put down the yoga mat.

Instead of skipping your workout, consider getting your little ones involved. Exercising together not only combines family time and fitness, but it is also a way to model healthy habits. Research shows that children with active parents are more likely Unpleasant be active yourself and to to grow up active adults.

Adding kids to the mix may require you to “let go of the idea that you’re going to get a perfect workout,” says Kelly Bryant, a coach at the fitness app Future who often works out with her 5-year-old and toddler. Yet there are plenty of ways to make your training a good one.

Give children a role in your regular training.

People often think they have to find a child-specific activity, Ms. Bryant said, such as a dance party or a Disney yoga video. “But basically any bodyweight workout is going to be pretty kid-friendly,” she said.

Her own children enjoy exercises that involve jumping, such as squat jumps, side jumps, skipping rope, ladder exercises and jumping jacks. “Kids love a burp,” Ms. Bryant said.

Perform the moves together or make it a partner workout, suggested Jess Sims, a Peloton instructor who leads family-friendly classes. For example, you can hold a plank while your child does five jumping jacks and five squats. Then you alternate and alternate movements for five minutes.

If children lose interest in participating, re-engage them as trainers. Ask them to count your reps or set a timer on your phone, Ms. Bryant said. “Or have them give you a block every time you complete a set,” she suggested. “Anything where you give them responsibility and authority, they love it.”

Turn sports into a game.

Ms. Sims, a former elementary school teacher, often uses “listening games” in her adult classes, where participants increase their speed when they hear certain words in a song. With kids: do a jump jack to a song your child likes, and choose a move to do when you hear a certain phrase. “For example, every time you hear Beyoncé say ‘break my soul,’ you do a push-up,” Ms. Sims said. Or march together in place through the verses and then do mountain climbers during the chorus.

Suggest a game of “exercise charades,” which Marc Santa Maria, vice president at Crunch Fitness, often plays with his husband and 9-year-old twins. Everyone writes a few strength moves or yoga poses on scrap paper and then takes turns picking from a bowl.

“You start making the move and everyone copies you,” he explained. After 30 seconds, people can shout the name of the exercise.

Be creative with how you enter.

If it’s not too cold outside, set up a race track in a park or open space. You can challenge your child to cycle a certain route while doing crunches, Ms. Bryant suggested, and then you can run that route when your child returns. Drive a few laps around the track and try to beat your best time.

“My kids will do anything if it’s a race,” she said.

To do some sprints, go to a public tennis or basketball court with a bag of small, light items, Mr. Santa Maria said. Run back and forth with your child, moving the objects from one side of the playing field to the other – giving yourself twice as many objects – and taking your time to see who finishes first. (If you have a long hallway, you can do this inside.)

Kids on bikes or scooters can also be great pacers as you run alongside them, Ms. Bryant said. Or for something simpler, alternate running and walking intervals together. “That’s how kids run,” she said. “They sprint for 30 seconds, then stop to pick some flowers, walk a bit and then sprint again.”

Use the playground.

A playground can be a great place for a full-body workout, Mr. Santa Maria said. Warm up by doing lateral shuffles around the perimeter in each direction and then use the play equipment to create different stations for cardio, core, and upper and lower body exercises.

On a swing, for example, “I jumped off and landed in a wide stance, then did 10 squats,” Mr. Santa Maria said. Or you can lie over it and have a Superman extension with cactus armswhere you train your back, glutes and shoulders.

Do pull-ups on the monkey bars, triceps dips on a bench and step-ups on the stairs to the slide, he suggested. The key is that as your child plays, Mr. Santa Maria said, “you want to take advantage of the things that are already there.”

Embrace screen time.

Many streaming fitness platforms, like Peloton and Crunch+, offer online family classes, but if you don’t subscribe, YouTube can be a goldmine of free workout videos.

Ms. Bryant said “squirmy kids” like her daughter might prefer it AcroYoga, which combines yoga and acrobatics, with regular yoga, especially if they can do it on a trampoline. They also make step aerobics videos together, where her child uses the bottom step of a staircase or “the kind of stool every parent has in front of the bathroom sink.”

Create a dance routine with moves you can learn by watching the free videos Hip hop public health, suggested Mr. Santa Maria (he stars in some of them). Sometimes he also streams an exercise video on mute and puts on his kids’ favorite soundtrack so they can sing along while he works out.

Whether you stack a few of these ideas or have time for just one, don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t feel as satisfying as a kid-free workout. “Every move is a great move,” Ms. Sims said.

Holly Burns is a regular contributor to The New York Times.