The temperature’s dropping and heading outside to play soccer or softball is a total no-go. When the weather won’t cooperate, getting out and active becomes much more of a challenge. Your usually active kiddo is suddenly sidelined by the snow and freezing cold. Now what? Well, you could let them spend the chilly months sitting on the couch playing video games or scrolling through your smart phone. Or, you could check out these winter workout ideas!
Some of your child’s favorite physical activities can happen both outside and inside. How? Even though you might take your little swimmer to the community pool for aqua club practice in the summer or take your shortstop to the school’s baseball diamond when the weather’s warm, you don’t have to end the activities when it’s too cold outside to play.
There are plenty of indoor options for typical outdoor sports. Your community center or the area high school might have an indoor pool that hosts lessons or open swim sessions. Sports complexes and recreation centers may have indoor batting cages or soccer arenas for not-so-nice weather practice and games.
Of course, you can also sign your child up for an indoor winter sport. Basketball, indoor soccer, wrestling and gymnastics are all examples of ‘winter’ sports that kids can play inside.
If your child isn’t looking for an organized sport, but still wants to keep in shape, the winter weather does offer some imaginative opportunities. As long as it’s not too cold out, and you limit the amount of time that your child spends outdoor, and you make sure that they’re dressed for the weather, they can get a winter workout outside.
Use the snow as added resistance and jog around the backyard, make snow people or snowball obstacles for your child to race around, or go for a more traditional winter-activity such as sledding (that walk back up the sledding hill is much more of a workout than you probably think).
Don’t forget about the winter sports that actually use the weather to your child’s advantage. Skiing, snowboarding, outdoor ice hockey and ice skating will all keep your athlete active and in the game.
You can’t get to the local gym and the weather is way too fierce to send your child outside for a run around the yard. Does that mean exercise is out? No way! There are plenty of ways for your young athlete to workout at home. Obviously, there are weights to lift, jumping jacks to do, and pushups to keep your child in shape. But, what else? Get creative with at-home workouts, making it fun (and surprisingly interesting) for your child.
Turn your living room or play room into an obstacle course. Push two chairs near one another, hang a towel on top (going from seat to seat) to make an army crawl obstacle. Line up chairs to make it more like a tunnel crawl. You can also add obstacles to jump over, run around, or hop through. If you don’t have the room to make a full-blown obstacle course, clear some space and turn on your child’s favorite music. Dance and creative movement are easy ways to get active, and develop motor skills such as balance, coordination, and strength. It’s also an awesome aerobic workout that can improve your child’s stamina.
From doing traditionally outdoor activities inside to snow-packed action (and much, much more), your child’s winter training doesn’t have to suffer just because the weather won’t cooperate. Try switching up the workouts, spending time both outside and inside. This keeps your child excited to exercise and gets them to look forward to the different kinds of physical activities. If you’re still not sure which workouts are best for your child, ask your child’s coach for ideas that work with the specific sport. This makes for a seamless transition from season to season.