Per request, this week’s list is exercises that we can do at the playground while our kids/grandkids are doing their thing. The short version is that any body weight exercise works fine, depending on our willingness to look like we are exercising while we’re hanging out by the swings. However, here’s the list. Do ten of each.
1. Squats. I love squats and they can be done nearly everywhere.
2. Single leg squats: All the fun of squats, plus balance!
3. Bench dips: the great thing about playgrounds is that they all have benches. To do dips, we sit on the bench, put our hands on the edge of the bench by our hips, stretch our legs out long, heels on the ground. Then we scooch our butts off the edge of the bench, bending our arms to lower our butts toward the ground and then straightening the arms to come back up. This can be challenging, so start with a small range of motion and build up.
4. Pushups: these can be done on the ground, with hands on the aforementioned bench, or with hands on something taller, like a picnic table, depending on how much difficulty we want.
5. Calf raises. For these, we can hold on to something stable or practice our balance. We just rise up on our toes and lower. For extra challenge, we can do one leg at a time. For extra extra challenge, plus a calf stretch, we can do the exercise with the balls of our feet on a curb so that when we lower, our heels drop lower than the rest of our feet.
6. Pullups or modified pullups. If there is a bar tall enough for hanging, we can do pullups. If that is too challenging and there is a lower bar, we can get under the bar with our legs on the ground in a kind of upside down pushup position and then pull our bodies up toward the bar.
7. Running around. Chasing the kids is great exercise in and of itself. Tag gives us the opportunity to practice changing direction while simultaneously becoming a Fun Grownup. Keep in mind that intervals of about a minute are great for our cardio fitness and also let us rest in between.
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