Mummyology

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This Coca Cola shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

Wimbledon is on at the moment! Are you watching? I love it! Every year I get totally inspired to become a semi-pro tennis player… haha! But no, seriously, I do love it, I love watching most sports and I would love to get back into athletics and netball one day… but for now I have 2 young kids at home and they keep me busy enough! And if Im not entirely sleep deprived and binging on chocolate to compensate their never ending energy and exuberance is pretty infectious, especially when we are playing outside!

I recently did a shop for Collective Bias buying Coca Cola products and snacks to go with it to have while enjoying some family time watching the tennis. You can see our shop and what we bough here in my G+ album.

After a glorious day on Saturday (when we did our shopping at Waitrose), Sunday was miserable so we decided to sit and watch some Wimbledon… but alas, it was the rest day… but there was some athletics on, so we watched a bit of that with Jake asking lots of questions about it and attempting the high jump over the sofa!

Bowling

Then in attempt to be active ourselves we decided to go bowling for the first time as a family!

We had a lot of fun, and I had totally forgotten how much energy bowling takes! According to Coke’s Work it Out Calculator (see more info below) Bowling for 24 minutes burns off a can of regular Coke,  which has 63 calories in it. I could definitely feel the exercise (which probably shows how horribly unfit I am!)

Jake used the kid’s rail helper thing and very much enjoyed watching where his ball ‘landed’. Poppy (16 months) wanted to toddle down the aisles and tried to pick up the extremely heavy balls! I got slightly competitive and won both games! It was actually a great family activity, and was the most stress-free family fun I’ve had for ages!

Walking

Later that day we were still feeling quite inspired to be active so went for a very long walk, discovering some new paths and roads near us.

We all enjoyed ourselves. It was great to be totally occupied in our surroundings and each other, rather than with phones and computers. And that night we all slept better for the fresh air and exercise. Here’s a word from Lorraine, our personal trainer on walking, “…As your fitness level improves, start to increase either your walking speed, the duration of your walk or add in some hills or steps.  If your family is already moderately fit then incorporate some jogging or running…”

And look at the view…

Strawberries and Cream

On Monday, Jake was asking to watch tennis due to the lack of it the day before, so I took the opportunity to whip up some strawberries and cream, and for Matt and I to enjoy our deliciously chilled bottles of Coke.

We watched a bit of the Serena Williams v Sabine Lisicki game, where Williams was surprisingly knocked out. Jake wanted to know how they scored the points, and Poppy was fascinated with the ball going back and forth.

 Playing in the Garden

After we finished our snacks we went out into the garden to play catch (tennis seemed too difficult for a 1 and 3 year old) and generally run around and be active!

Here are some pics of what we got up to. I really wanted to get some video of them playing and edit it with some Wimbledon action, but in reality catch didn’t last very long at all, and then Jake was more interested in pretending to be a turtle than playing football or running races with me… ah well!

We had a lot of fun rough housing on the grass and playing on the trampoline! Im not sure how many calories I burned, but I was definitely worn out by the time we came inside!

Coca-Cola has a cool new app on their website called Work-it-Out! It lets you pick a beverage that you like, and then tells you how many calories that is and how to burn those calories off, by offering a list of different activities with how long to do each one. For example, to burn off a can of regular coke you would need to hoover for 51 minutes, walk for 30 minutes, or do half an hour of yoga! It has options including ‘around the home’, ‘with the family’, and ‘something different’. Its very cool, easy and so useful if you’re trying to get fit and healthy!

If you’re a Mum  (or Dad), you will probably know how difficult it can be to fit it exercise, and to ensure healthy eating. Finding the time, budget and energy is difficult, but involving everyone in the family in simple activties can be a great solution!

Now, here are my 5 tips for keeping fit as a family!

Have Fun! 

It should be  a given, I guess, but sometimes its easy to get caught up in the competitive nature of sport and fitness, of always playing by the rules, or being too focused on weight loss or other targets. Its important for everyone to enjoy what they are doing for it to be a sustainable family activity. If you have young children, like I do, you probably need to incorporate a lot of silliness into it too!!

Be Outside!

Getting fit is always better in the fresh air, and normally being outside is totally free. Hiking, walking, running, or playing games in your garden don’t cost a thing! And if you get the right clothes you can do it all year round, not just when its hot!

Try  Something New!

Kids are sponges ready to absorb whatever we throw at them! They love to learn and are built to develop new skills. A lot of children get inspired by watching sports on the TV too. Even at 2.5 years old Jake was so interested in the olympics last year; and would pretend to do races in the living room and was frequently doing gymnastic floor work! Introduce something new with spectating or reading about it and then have a go!

Keep it simple! 

Especially with younger kids. Making things too complicated takes the fun away. You don’t need to become a personal trainer or a nutritionist and ram facts and figures down your kids throat for them to understand the benefit of exercise. Its likely they will feel it themselves anyway. Simple games and activities with fewer rules are better for children to engage with and saves you refereeing so you can join it too! Some simple ideas are dancing, running, swimming, walking, playing catch, football, doing an obstacle course, playing bat and ball, dodgeball… worry about specific game rules if and when your kids are older and show an interest.

Be Prepared! 

However simple your activity, being prepared makes it all the easier and therefore more fun. Have a change of clothes if needs be, pack some healthy snacks and LOTS of water to keep energised and hydrated. Take suncream, hats, rain coats, whatever you think you’ll need to be able to keep having fun outside!
Has Wimbledon or any other summer sports inspired you to get fit and active? What sport or activity will you try?

For some more inspiration read our personal trainer Lorraine’s Top Tips to Improve Family Diet and Fitness or some more Ideas for Outside Play.

Thanks for reading.

Other stuff you might enjoy:

Family Fitness – 5 Tips to Improve Diet and Fitness 10 Top Tips…to help your kids to LOVE food How to have a happy family Christmas My favourite Food, Fitness and Feel-good Blogs 5 Gift Ideas for all the Family Ideas for Outside Play in Winter | Football Competition 5 Ways to Turn Your Day Around 5 Favourite Blogs for Purposeful Play