Teenage Fitness

With all the pressure put on our kids these days with; busy schedules, school work, social interactions, sports and activities, we need our teenagers to be fit, lean and healthy so they can succeed and move on to be the best they can and pursue their dreams!

Let’s start with beginning health and fitness tips for teenagers on the best way lose weight, get strong, fit, and be healthy. Parents relax, I’m going to talk one on one with your growing child: here is my best advise for your teenager!

Health and fitness sometimes seems as if it is a concept not fit for teens (no pun intended!). I know this, yes I was a teen once myself! I didn’t know how to eat healthy, and going to a gym was an intimidating idea for me. However, it doesn’t have to be this way!

Learning how to take care of your well-being can be an easy process that ANY teen can understand.

Just remember, every expert was once a beginner, and we all have to start somewhere. These tips provided can help you begin your journey towards a healthier and fitter YOU!

Tip #1: Eat Breakfast

Do I sound like one of your parents? If so, then they are right. I know it sounds like repetitive, but breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Think about it; if you don’t typically eat anything after dinner and then go to bed, without having breakfast the next morning you may go all the way until the lunch bell at school without eating anything. That could be up to 17 hours without fueling your body for it’s daily demands! When you eat breakfast, you give your body the boost it needs to deal with a full day of school, sports, and any other after school activities you may have.

Some healthy breakfast options for your teenager:

• Smoothie made with 8 ounces of skim milk, 1/2 cup crushed ice (or a handful of ice cubes), 1 cup strawberries, and 1/2 banana, all blended.
• 2 scrambled eggs, 8 ounces of skim milk, 1 medium orange, one slice wheat toast w/ honey
• 1/2 cup quick oats microwaved with water, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, and 1 sliced banana, all mixed together

Tip #2: Eat More Often

What?? Are you sure this is right? These are questions that may be running through your head. However, what you may not have known is that it is better for you to eat more often throughout the day in smaller portions as opposed to having one or two big meals.

Remember what we said about breakfast and what it does to your body?

Think of your body as having a mind of its own, just like you do. If you get an allowance once a week from your parents (for example, $10) what are the chances that you will go spend it all right away? Probably not very high, because you know you will not get your next allowance for another week. Instead, you are probably going to save that money for as long as possible. Think of yourselves as your parents and your body as you, and food is the “allowance.” If you only give your body one or two big deposits or allowances throughout the day, it will start to do the same thing: it will try to save this food and store it instead of spending it as fuel. However, if you break up the allowance into 4 or 5 smaller allowances spread evenly throughout the day, then your body will begin to learn “Oh, I can burn this as energy because I know I will get another allowance in a few hours.”

Here are some ideas to help you accomplish this task of eating 4-5 small meals throughout the day:

1. Wake up in the morning:
   • Eat breakfast!
2. 3 hours later: Have a snack in between classes at school. Examples include:
   • a palm full of almonds
   • 1 medium apple sliced with peanut butter
   • bag of carrots and celery and a small carton of milk
3. 2-3 hours later:
   • Lunch time; healthy choices, stay away from heavy fried foods
4. When you get home from school: Have another snack. Options include:
   • light popcorn, fresh fruit, low-fat or skim milk, and whole wheat crackers with cheese
5. Dinner
   • I gotta say it; “Eat your veggies!” I know I know, I sound like Mom and Dad but again, your body will thank you for it and you will feel great!

There you have it! By making that simple change, you have broken up your daily food intake into 5 servings instead of a large lunch and dinner. Your body says “thank you”.

Tip #3: Be Creative with Exercising and Workouts

You don’t have a membership to a gym? That’s okay. You don’t have exercise equipment at home? No problem! Sometimes the most effective exercising techniques don’t require any equipment at all and can be done right in your living room or garage. You can even get fit while watching television! Be creative with your fitness workouts.

Here are a couple ways how you can be creative with exercise:

• While watching television…
  • During commercial breaks see how many times you can run around your house (the outside of it! we don’t want to drive your parents crazy by running through the dining room), and then try to beat your score during each future commercial break.
  • Whenever your favorite character says their catch phrase, do 10 push ups, or 25 jumping jacks.
• In the garage…
  • Perform 5 push ups with one hand on top of a basketball and one hand on the ground, then switch and do 5 more with the ball under your other hand Find a heavy baseball bat and and old mattress.
  • Stand the mattress up against a wall, and swing the bat and hit the mattress 10 times one way, and then switch your hand and feet positioning to hit the mattress from the other direction another 10 times.
  • Find a sturdy chair or box that you can step up onto. Lead with one foot and step up onto the box, then bring your other foot up. Step back down, and then step back up onto the box leading with your other foot. Do this a total of 10 times.
• At the local park…
  • Do pull ups on the monkey bars.
  • Sprints! …Create football receiver routes using trees:
    • Sprint from one tree to another, and then change directions and sprint to another tree. If you can find 3 or 4 trees, try to create a pattern of running that makes you change directions several times.Rest for 1 minute, and then repeat your route 5-10 times

Hopefully these tips have helped you understand that learning how to be healthy and fit is not rocket science, and it doesn’t require complicated equipment either. Sometimes all that you need is a little creativity and some slight changes to your lifestyle. It goes to show that sometimes a little bit can go a long way!