Revisit Your Childhood and Get Fit With These Fun Exercises!

Lots of us believe that taking exercise has to follow a set routine at a specific time. In a way, it's almost like scheduling a set of chores, and it's one of the reasons many of us quickly go from being eager to making excuses not to when it comes to working out. It doesn't have to be like that!

You can easily put the fun back into exercising and enjoy getting fit, simply by revisiting parts of your childhood. You see, much of the play that we did as children was also exercise - we just didn't know it at the time. Now, I'm not suggesting you rush over to the nearest jungle gym and start swinging from the top bars (unless you have a burning desire to). No, what I have in mind are fun activities that raise your heart rate, don't alarm passers by and make you feel happy while getting you fitter. So without any further ado lets look at four fun childhood activities you can revive for your health's sake:

1. Hula Hoops. This has got to be one of the most fun ways to trim your waist! Hula hoops are also good for general fitness. You may be surprised how tricky these are to use at first, but don't let that put you off - you'll have a fun time learning. There are hula hoops made specifically for exercise nowadays, heavier and wider than the toy version; the extra weight helps make it easier to revolve the hoop around your middle.

2. Skipping. Skipping is one of the best cardiovascular exercises around, burning between 100 and 200 calories in a fifteen-minute session. It's also great at building your endurance levels. All you need are supportive exercise trainers, an inexpensive jump rope, plenty of room to swing it and enough puff to do it for a little while! It's hard work, so build up slowly. For a fun element, add in friends to take either end of the rope. Remember double-Dutch and trick jumps?

3. Trampolining. You can't have failed to notice how many trampolines can be seen in back yards nowadays. And with good reason - they're fun! They're also great at getting you out of breath. If you can get the kids off it long enough, using a trampoline will give you a great cardiovascular workout and help strengthen your bones. It's fairly low impact too, so easier on the joints. You can get a mini exercise trampoline if you don't have kids as an excuse to buy a big one! One thing to remember on the larger trampolines is to add in a safety net (so you don't end up on a TV bloopers show).

4. Be a kid with your kids. Get out and about with your kids and be active! Whether it's playing rounders in the park, tag in the back yard, swimming at the local pool or running up and rolling down a hill, playing with your kids will help you get fit. And it will keep them fit too! Moreover, you'll be setting a great example to them.

Reliving your childhood activities can help give you a great fitness workout as an adult. Remember, it's all about having fun!