Tag Archives: Kids

National Exercise With Your Child Week

Yes, I know. You know. There is in fact a national celebratory “week” for everything. Shark Week. Mashed Potatoes are Best with Butter Week. I Locked Myself Out of My Apartment, Again, Week. This Selfie Makes Me Look Cute, Right? Week. But if you have a family –especially if you have a family!– the most important week of them all is National Exercise With Your Child Week.

Don’t have kids? That’s cool. Don’t care to have kids? I don’t care.  Kids are the future, and they’re truth-tellers. Ask a kid something. Anything. Something that you really want to know. Something with which you’ve been struggling. They will tell you.  No soothsayer, line-card-toe reader fees apply. Wouldn’t you then want to play with these little humans? Yes! That’s the answer! You do. So, GO! Go play.

Just the other day I played with some kids. This is what happened.
“Oh but Andia, it’s been so long since I exercised my inner kid. I don’t even know how to play anymore!” you cry. (Wo)man, that’s a shame. We need to work on that. I can help. In the meantime, here are some ideas that I’ve crafted to get you started on the “Reclaim Your Kid, with Your Kids, Journey.”

Partner Workouts are examples of exercises that families can do together. Siblings and parents unite! Size difference is not a limiting factor. Working out together always makes folks closer and more engaged with one another. Children who regularly assist with or share in workouts with their parents feel empowered and confident. They are part of a team and developing leadership skills all the while. Let’s get it in:

Exercise 1: A favorite move is the PUSH-UP CLAP. Partners, both in push-up start position, align themselves opposite and head-to-head from one another. On the same count they perform a push-up and when returning to the start position they each clap one hand together with their partner. This move is fun, auditory and requires communication and synchrony – teamwork!

Exercise 2: WHEELBARROW PUSH-UPS. Watch the contents, they’re fragile.

Exercise 3: JUMP ROPE, a lost art! Kids love it and jump rope games can go on for hours and can morph into countless variations. Not only does it attend to cardiovascular health but it is also a high intensity compound workout. Think muscle building here. Parents want to get involved? Try double dutch or jumping together in the same rope.

Exercise 4: TAG, YOU’RE IT! What kid doesn’t enjoy tag? Boys chasing girls. Girls chasing boys. Siblings chasing each other. Toddlers chasing birds and rabbits. How do parents fit in? Well, a friendly game of tag is a fun bonding opportunity that seems to be a pure game. Not so. Track athletes run sprint series from a dead stop. Basketball, football and softball players run lines as athletic drills. The same movement(s) is being exercised in tag. The chase is exercise for all parties involved and whether or not they know it, a HITT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout!

OK. I’ve helped you. Can you help me? Join The Fit Cycle #MOVEment. Share this post with your family and friends. Send us photos and videos of your action. Click here for ideas! Oh! One more thing. If you live in or are visiting New York City on Saturdays in August, check out Summer Streets. It’s amazing and I love it.

Summer Streets!
Summer Streets!

Get it in where you can fit it in! –Andia

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A story behind every movie. Pleased to introduce our newest.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cglZTivOohM&w=560&h=315]Dear Universe,
The family that plays together stays together! That’s what I was taught growing up. Well, not in so many words but it was implied. We cycled. We rock climbed. We meandered through parks and swam in brooks. We visited museums. We crafted and designed.  We explored. We played, together. And we still do. (Side bar: I wanted to grow up to be Pippi Longstocking, just not the [semi]orphan part.) And play  is what I strive to do every day — even now. With friends’ kids, with neighborhood kids, with tall kids, with small kids, with folks trying to find their inner kid. It moves me.
Enter the twins: Theo and Lily. What energy, what color! Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s  Thing 1 and Thing 2, naturally.  That makes me, you know, “the Cat in the hat.” And by “hat” read voluminous Afro. But too is a retreat to “conjunction junction what’s your function?” with SchoolHouse Rock!, sunny day(s) “sweepin’ the clouds away” on Sesame Street, after-school specials, “The More You Know” PSAs and other programming of childhood yore.
Before mobile devices, WE were the mobile devices. Devising mobility.  Mobile in our devicedness. (Yes, I coined a word just as my nine year old self would have, with pride.)  Hopping, beeping, buzzing. Hunting and gathering activity. Imagining moves. Just as I do now. So here’s to youth, to creativity, to fun, to family, to exercise –played together. Get it in where you can fit it in. 
You know where to find me,
Andia
But that’s only part of the story. Here’s how it all began:
Querido Spanish Harlem,
You keep me up at night. I mean, you really keep me up at night. Why is the dog barking? Why is la música blaring? Take your lovers’ quarrel inside! Put those kids to bed! But then, if I don’t fight it, I count the beats instead of sheep and you comfort me. Your heartbeat becomes my own and soothes me into deep sleep.

Morning. No alarm. You jostle me awake, rudely at times, and I cut my eyes at you. But it’s only fleeting because I feel lucky to wake up to you. You inspire me. Your legacy, your sabor, your passion – en fuego! Your energy is palpable and I covet it on days when I’m away too long. You coo at me on the street and welcome me home. “¡Oye mami!” Yes, I see you, you have a blessed day too!

You dance and parade with me, share your wares with me, feed me and it tastes so good. We’ve broken bread together and you’ve watched my back. Now it’s my turn. The Fit Cycle is for you El Barrio, all of you. A movie and a MOVEment. I’ve made my declaration, this is my dedication.

You know where to find me,
Andia

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xrkWR7Qjes?rel=0&w=560&h=315]