Working to Incorporate Fitness into Everyday Life

Our 2016 Spotlight Families are finding ways to weave fitness into daily routines

Here we are at the half-way point for the Fit Family Challenge. The honeymoon is over. Have you found a way to incorporate fitness into your family life? 

Spotlight Family Update: The Hamiltons

Darlene Hamilton has found a way to fit one strength training fitness class per week into her schedule! She loves the fact that someone else is thinking of what to do, telling her what and how to do it; plus there is a specific time to be there each week, so she can MAKE the time for it. Her cardio program is a part of her daily life. Walking from work to lunch is an easy way for her to fit cardio into her schedule. And Darlene has found that she really enjoys this as an effective way to destress and enjoy the great outdoors.

It is important to find pleasure in your workout program. No one is ever going to be successful at fitting in exercise if they don’t enjoy it. So I encourage you to find something about exercise that you LIKE. It doesn’t have to be the exercise itself; it can be the environment you are in when exercising, like Darlene. Or maybe you like music, so you listen to your favorite tunes while exercising. Or maybe it is talking with a friend while exercising.

Darlene has also been consistent with her family event each week of going to the Greensboro Aquatic Center and swimming with her boys. They have not missed a week, and now it is scheduled into their daily life! Darlene and I are looking forward to meeting again in late June to reassess her fitness level and see the progress that she has made.

Spotlight Family Update: The Griffins

Kelly was unable to make her appointment in time for this blog. May is such a busy month for moms and kids. On our strength training session in early May, we learned how to do super simple strength training exercises like squats from a chair and rows with a tube. Kelly and her kids have been able to incorporate these into their schedules almost every day.

Simply performing 20 squats from a chair whenever they think about it during the day and getting together after school to perform the rows and chest presses with the tube wrapped around a banister in the house — it only takes five minutes or so to do these, which makes strength training easy. Walking is harder to fit in, but by taking the time Kelly spends at ball games with her younger kids, she and Rebecca are walking the track and climbing over the monkey bars to fit in their cardio.

All in all, our Spotlight Families are doing a great job making health and fitness a new priority in their lives.

Julie Luther, a member of our 2016 Fit Family Challenge Panel of Experts, is the founder and president of Julie Luther’s PurEnergy Fitness Center located at 1905 Ashwood Court in Greensboro. She has worked with business, community organizations and individuals for over 26 years in promoting mind body wellness. You can contact Julie at julieluther.com, follow her on twitter @julieluther2008 or “like” PurEnergy Fitness Center on Facebook.