14 DAY TRIAL // We all know – only too well – that we have to work out in order to stay in shape and, at the same time, healthy. We also know that, if we don’t keep active, problems appear and gaining a couple of pounds is actually the least of our concerns. Therefore, working out is a must, but it’s precisely this reasoning that stops us from enjoying a good cardio, Shape magazine writes.
What we all seem to have forgotten is the importance of play or, for that matter, that only few of us had some extra weight on as children. This happens because, as Shape puts it, the many activities we did as we were playing helped us burn calories and we did not know it, or were not aware that we were actually working out. The same can also be applied now, since working out has become such a pain in the neck for many. Substituting the idea of having to work out with going out to have some fun is a first, very useful step, in the right direction.
“There was a time in your life when you didn’t even realize what you were doing was called aerobic or cardio exercise. One of the most successful long-term, weight-maintenance strategies is to make sure you burn 1,000 calories through exercise every week. But how you burn them is up to you. You can do anything from playing basketball (400 calories an hour) to jumping rope (658 calories an hour) to going dancing (300 calories an hour). There’s no reason anything you do has to feel like a ‘workout.’ So banish all the ‘I have tos’ and ‘I should bes’ from your vocabulary, and try out some of these ideas for playing like a kid again.” Shape writes.
The list of available activities is extremely varied – see it in full here –, so enumerating them all would be rather pointless. Either way, on it are included all activities we used to engage in as kids, all of which were not only immensely fun, but also helpful in keeping us healthy and fit. There is, of course, also a social side to them, since they all place plenty of emphasis on bonding and sharing a laugh with someone else, but this is just the cherry on the top, as they say.
However, you should probably know from the start that inline skating and shooting hoops are highly recommended for a more toned and healthier body. Another option is dancing, with 300 calories burned each hour (estimated on a 145-pound woman), so there is literally nothing stopping us from making Saturday night a dancing night. Or, even better, from getting up right now, blasting up the music and getting in shape in the most fun way imaginable.