Kids, Our Hidden Exercise Motivators

Lately is seems as if kids are getting a bad rap where exercise is concerned. Children experience way less unstructured playtime than in the past — as little as one half-hour a week — and childhood obesity is on the rise (I wrote about how to make fitness fun in the water here).

I don’t know about you, but winter makes it hard for me to follow an exercise routine. I really love to get my physical fitness on in the great outdoors (I’m really into trekking with polls right now), so when the weather sucks, so does my motivation.

Until one of my swim students, Avery M., put my sorry attitude to test.

I’ve know Avery since she could barely swim, and the girl is now onto doing stroke all by herself. We were in the indoor pool and I was practically doing nothing more than watching her swim back and forth when she asked me about the outdoor pool. “Is it open?” she asked. Yes; I answered. Can we go there? she retaliated.

My job is not to stand in the middle of my student’s progress, but the outdoor pool — although heated to 80-degrees — is still a cold proposition with winter’s ennui in full effect.

I thought about it. “Actually, that’s a good idea,” I told her. So we went for it.

Here I was with a swim buddy challenging me to work out with her — kids are our hidden motivators for a lot of things. Exercise included.

We had a great time, and I have a feeling next time I see Avery she is going to hold me to the challenge of swimming outside again. Also, even with just ten minutes to work with, you can create a swim plan.