Imagining a training circuit to do with your children is an excellent way to create a fitness routine that will benefit everyone in your household. Develop a fun programme to encourage your children to take part in physical activity as a family and to spend time together.
Why train as a family
Exercising as a family is a practical and enjoyable way for everyone to have fun and stay fit:
- Obstacles related to children’s travel to their sports lessons or, conversely, to childcare while parents work are removed.
- You can discover a common passion and share it together, which strengthens family ties and creates good memories.
- Physical activity is good for your health: Working out with your family is an opportunity to motivate each other and to progress through the collective competition.
- You can take advantage of this opportunity to make overall changes to your family lifestyle and adapt your diet, habits and sleeping patterns to your new goals.
- Many other beneficial reasons.
The benefits of sports for children
Playing sports is an important habit to establish in children from an early age. The WHO recommends a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity per day for children between 5 and 17 years old, including sports, playing outside, walking, etc.
Why do children need to play sports?
In addition to a balanced diet, regular moderate to vigorous exercise is important for children on several levels:
- Growth
- Bone development
- Weight control
- Improvement of cardiorespiratory capacity
- The development of flexibility, agility and coordination
- Other health benefits
The disciplines of endurance and muscular strengthening are particularly recommended. Sports also help to instil values, such as perseverance, respect, team spirit and concentration. Children often feel the need for it and the practice of physical activity generally has a positive impact on the overall quality of life in the home.
Why is a training circuit ideal for a family activity?
Based on a series of exercises to be done in succession, a training circuit is a fun way to encourage children to participate in physical activity. Depending on the age of the participants or your current wishes, you can determine the length of the series, the number of repetitions of the circuit, the difficulty of the exercises and the targeted muscle groups. This training technique, which involves the whole body, is often perceived as a game for children and all ages can take part in the session.
The muscle strengthening movements included in circuit training can generally be practised without equipment, indoors or outdoors, in everyday life or on holiday. By learning a few basic exercises, it’s very easy to create your first training circuit and then to modify it continuously to suit your needs.
Your family fitness programme
To get your children involved, you can present the training circuit as a challenge or a game. Don’t hesitate to put on music to create a motivating atmosphere. Here are 3 ideas for young and old to keep fit and have fun while doing physical activity.
A card game
Take advantage of a rainy afternoon to introduce your children to different muscle-building exercises, such as jumping jack, squats, etc. Show them the gestures to perform, test them together and have them make homemade cards with the exercises they have learned. While creating 20 or 30 cards, plan 3 or 4 cards per exercise. Then, take the opportunity to create a new training circuit with your children every day. Each participant draws 3 cards and performs a series of 10 movements of each exercise. To motivate the younger ones, make them guess the names of the exercises drawn at random and keep a record of the victories of each one. You can also play in teams.
Create a script for your circuit training sessions
Work with your children to develop tests to complete in order to win rewards. Divide the session into 7 stages, each with a series of 3 muscle strengthening exercises to be completed 10 times, making sure they are of progressive difficulty and length. Script the experience by turning it into a treasure hunt, a space battle or a challenge to free an object, for example, so that they can get into the game. Finish with a reward, celebrating your joint victory with a healthy snack.
Memory
This version of the family training circuit calls on the observation and concentration skills of all the participants. You can play with 2 or 3 people or in teams if there are more of you. A team works together and creates a circuit with 4 exercises repeated 5 times each. One of them performs it and then the other team designates a player to reproduce exactly the same series in the right order. As the laps go by, the difficulty can increase, for example by asking the players to reverse the exercises or to perform one out of two, for guaranteed family laughs!
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