Top tips to keep your kids active and healthy over the summer

The last year has taken its toll on our young people, both physically and mentally. The summer provides an opportunity for tweens and teens to get motivated, empowered, and out in the fresh air to improve their health both inside and out. Dan Chapman is a PT and Fat Loss Coach who has developed teen fitness programmes and works with young people across London to improve their health. He gave us some brilliant tips to share with you on our blog.

  1. Adventurous wild walks (medium intensity) 

Any form of movement is great but it’s got to come with an incentive for a child to be enthusiastic. As a father of two myself I like to pick a location which you could all drive to. Or if you’re lucky enough to have something nearby then walk. It could be a park , a large forest area with winding paths or a place with hills and different terrain. The great thing about these wild walks is that kids are getting fresh air and exercise as well as having quality family time . And the incentive is once you’ve all reached a certain point it’s picnic time! Works every time and they love it.

2 . Take up a fun sport (medium intensity) 

There are many group sports like tennis, football, basketball, badminton etc. All of these are great for keeping you moving and improving fitness , co-ordination and can even help towards losing weight. The good thing about these sports is you can choose to do them anywhere. Set up a net in the garden or local park and have a family game of badminton – or get a basketball net and shoot some hoops. As simple as some of these may sound they’re great options to get your child moving and off their phones. Most importantly they’re all fun options that are not your typical boring “exercise”.

3. Get active after dinner (low intensity) 

Take a family walk around the block or to the local park. The summer evenings are long and this is a great option if your child hasn’t been very active in the day. It’s something the whole family can do while the weather is warm.

4, Turn your front room into a gym and create fun workouts everyone can do (higher intensity) 

This is a simple and fun way to get kids moving.

  1. Set up simple exercise stations on the floor – you can just write them on paper, like “squats”, “push ups”, “lunges”, “jump jacks”, “sit ups”, “jump squats” etc  
  2. Set a timer for 30 seconds for each station and jump from one exercise to the other.
  3. You can also set challenges, like seeing who can complete a circuit the quickest by setting a number of repetitions per exercise like 10-20 reps and log the time it takes to complete one round . 

5. Consistency is key

It’s very important to create a schedule on a calendar so that your child is reminded that he/she has an activity to do on a certain day. I recommend choosing days where your child isn’t doing much and therefore would normally be on the sofa! We want to avoid those zero active days to mount up and instead turn them into fun positive activity days.

6. Let’s not forget about the bad foods 

Bad foods lead to – yep! More bad food! And generally more sitting around doing nothing while eating bad foods. ANSWER- Chuck out the temptations. 

Here is what to eliminate or at least limit:

  • Sugary sodas
  • Fast foods
  • Deep fried foods 
  • White breads 
  • Sweets 
  • Crisps 

7. Set them chores 

Let’s face it …Most teens are lazy and only interested in watching tv and being stuck to their phones.  Giving them chores around the house like cleaning their room or getting the bathroom looking ‘spic n span’ will not only be a sweaty active job, but they’ll also get a real sense of achievement out of it which is a boost in confidence for them.

Dan Chapman is a personal trainer and fat loss coach. He has made it his mission to help all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels to achieve what they feel has been un-achievable.  Dan uses his very own training system based on nearly 3 decades of resistance training and body conditioning – incorporating different proven training methods that help speed up the fat loss and muscle building process. This has become the core engine of Dans transformation and fat loss programmes and proves to deliver outstanding results.

Dan’s programmes for teenagers are fun , fit and informative so kids can take on board the knowledge and advice they need to lead a healthier and fitter life. 

For more information about Dan and his programmes, visit www.danchapmanfitness.com