Stay active with the entire family in the winter months

Stay active with the entire family in the winter months

Photo by Fabric Forward

Most people aim to start exercising more as soon as the clock strikes midnight on the 1 st January.  But if you commute to work, have a family, or other outside responsibilities it can be hard to fit it in.  The dark nights and cold weather don’t help much either.  When Decathlon reached out to me to take part in their Decathlon Decathlon Challenge, I thought it sounded like a great idea as the events were a big unusual.

Decathlon sent me a hula hoop, darts board, and hiking boots with an assisgnment for each one. I was to see how long I can hula hoop for, try to get the lowest score on darts board, and time myself lacing up the boots.  These are brilliant ways to encourage your family to get up off the couch.  Most family members can take part (some will need supervision with darts even though they are plastic).  Or make up your own with what you have around the house.

Here are a few ideas I had to get the family to be active together when it is too cold and rainy to go outside:

  • fastest up the stairs
  • longest wall sit
  • longest plank
  • most times hopping on one foot in 1 min
  • number of squats in 30 sec
  • how many tries to roll a double on a pair of dice.  You decide if lowest or highest is the winner.
  • how long you can hold your breathe (be sensible here!)

How did I do? Well, I thought the hula hooping would be easy as I used to love it when I was younger. But I was absolutely rubbish! I couldn’t even make 10 sec.  Neither could my husband, so I felt a little bit better about it.  When was the last time you hula hooped?

The darts were a bit ‘easier’ for me as I am crap at that sport, even though we used to play with my grandpa in his basement when I was growing up.  I scored a 10 if you don’t count the 2 throws that didn’t even hit the board.  Since the darts are plastic, they cause less damage to the wall and were a bit safer to have in the living room.  I still would only hang it on a wall you don’t care about as the darts might leave a small mark and, of course, keep an eye on the kiddies at all times.

We had a wee bit of space on the wall for the board.

Action shot!

The boots were trickier as I had to overcome my need for perfect alignment and flat laces and focus on getting the task done.  It took me 1 minute 48 seconds to get both boots laced up. I changed my stratgey for the second shoe but I don’t think it made a difference in my final time.  If you don’t have hiking boots, you can use any pair of shoes the laces in your closet. Hopefully they don’t smell too bad!

Ready, set, go!

Look at the focus on my face.

Finished!

Let me know which challenges you and your family decide to try by leaving a comment below. I would love to hear some new ideas too on how you stay active at home without getting cabin fever.

Thanks to Decathlon for gifting me these fun items. As always, all opinions are honest and my own.