You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a gym membership to stay fit.  Here are some basic exercises that you can do right in your own living room! 

• Find exercise videos or workouts on TV that the family can do together.  These are great for people who need the direction and motivation of an instructor. 
• For strength training think about using soup cans, an exercise ball, a hula hoop or better yet, use your kids as your resistance.  If you have a baby you can play ‘Superman’ for a great ab workout.  Do push-ups letting them ‘ride’ on your back, a chest press, lifting them up and down in the air. 
• Pretend you’re an animal and mimick movements such as slithering like a snake, hopping like a bunny or running like a cheetah. 
• Create a homemade parachute game with a blanket and a few balls.  Launch the balls into the air and let the retrieving be your aerobic exercise!
• Use the basement or clean out the garage to let kids ride bikes, play hopscotch or roller skate.
• Put on music and just dance!  Or, dance to motion songs like ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes.’
• Build an obstacle course.  Make things to climb under and over, crabwalk and donkey kick, hula hoop, climb stairs, and make your own hopscotch out of masking tape. 

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  While on the road, every family has to stop for bathroom breaks, snacks and   time to stretch their legs.  In this week’s show, Priority Health and Meijer showed us how pit stops can also be a time for health and wellness.

Prepacking health snacks in a cooler is much healthier than swinging through the local drive-thru.  Some easy snacks include baggies full of raw veggies, fruit, chex mix, granola bars, juice boxes and bottled water.  Stop at a local park or rest area and create or own picnic.  Or, if you’re in a rush, you don’t even need to stop to have these treats.

Long roadtrips can meet antsy kids in the car.  Even if it is just a stop for gas, the family should get out of the car and do some stretches.  If you have more time at a park or rest area, toss a frisbee or volleyball back and forth, jumprope or even play some paddle ball.  If you do this three times during the day or ten minutes each, that is thirty minutes of exercise you’re getting while on the road.

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