The Child Within

Health and fitness grows more expensive and more complicated by the day. Consider the following: an elliptical cross trainer complete with computer and body fat calculator, a personal trainer that costs a day’s wage; ‘Stripping with Carmen Electra’ – Celebrity fitness DVD. All are symptoms of a fitness industry that seeks to earn as much money as it can while churning out the latest fad or gimmick into an already saturated marketplace.

Surely as an intelligent population, we can devise a method of generating enough daily activity to: satisfy the healthcare system, rely on an emotion other than guilt to act as our prime exercise motivator and if we’re lucky, even inject a little fun into our day.

Play: Verb 1 engage in games or other activities for enjoyment rather than for a serious or practical purpose (Oxford English Dictionary Online)

As a child, it is easy to remember play as something that happened naturally given space, friends and in certain situations, adult permission. Personally, I can remember regarding my adult relations with something approaching pity as they chose to sit and drink coffee and eat cake at the same time us kids were out playing ‘Tag’ or ‘Donkey’.

Now that I am one of those coffee sipping adults, as well as an exercise professional with numerous complaints from clients suffering from an inactive lifestyle, I am lead to the conclusion that ‘Play’ is something we could definitely learn from.

It is perhaps unreasonable to expect that we will all drop our newspapers, spring from the couch and skip to the neighbours with a request of ‘Kiss chasey’ or ‘Hopscotch’. However given the right approach and some modifications, there is no reason that as mature adults we cannot find some sort of ‘game time’ in our busy schedules that doesn’t involve abdominal crunchers and talking pedometers.

Here is a list of the Games I have compiled to fit the lifestyle of an average corporate executive but be warned; overuse may result in addiction. Proceed carefully.

• Hula: the latest group exercise craze in the UK and great for trimming those waistlines.
• Rollerblading: just make sure you choose an even surface and wear protection!
• Tobogganing: season specific, but a helluva good time.
• Indoor bowling: for those less than perfect days outside – but be wary of the snack bar
• Dance Classes: a style to suit every personality and sometimes, a great place for meeting that special someone.
• Skipping: high intensity workout where ten minutes can burn between 70 – 110 calories.
• Rock Climbing: more cost and organisation required, but certainly worth the effort if you can deal with the heights.
• Any team sport: a ball, some mates and some open space; the perfect recipe for whatever fun you can dream up