15 Fun, Fantastic, and Fabulous Workout Ideas

Lets get down to business. The business of having FUN while you work out.

This list of easy, quick, brainstormed ideas will have you out of your chair and into a workout before you can say, “Working out is boring!”.

1. Whatever you do, do it with a friend. Friends are the best way to motivate yourself to exercise. Squeeze in socializing time while you walk, pump iron, or play your Nintendo Wii boxing game.
2. Bring your dog along. Combine with number 1, and number 1′s number 2. Hmm. That sounds all wrong! Anyway, take your pet along for your walk, pets are great stress killers, can do amusing things while you’re out walking them, and you never know when they’ll help you meet someone special!
3. Get the music pumping. Music has proven affects on our mood and on motivation. Key your favorite music on your ipod or on your home gym’s stereo and get sweating. Remember, pumping motivational music works best! Check out Apple’s website for iTunes content, or do a net search for down-loadable music.
4. Take a different route. A change isn’t as good as a holiday if you ask me. I’d much rather go to France than walk or bicycle around a different block, but doing that has its advantages. Changing your surroundings and going through a different part of town, a different beach, or a new nature trail can refresh your batteries and give you something new to suggest to friends… That is if you’re not taking them with you to begin with!
5. Make it an event. Once a week, or once a month, grab a big bunch of friends and try something new. Shared experiences are great friend and relationship builders- just ask friends who have been to a large sporting event, been in a dangerous situation together, or experienced something magical together, and they’ll tell you all about it.
6. If you’re a gym junkie, change your routine around. You should know yourself if you’re into big biceps that changing reps & sets have a positive effect on your muscles. So help out your motivation as well as your arms, you never know when you’ll find a new favorite routine.
7. Combine a passion with exercise. This one might require you put on your thinking cap. What do you love to do? Can you combine that with breaking a sweat? I bet you can- take my t.v. watching audience reading this right now. Get down and bust out some squats, some push ups, or some nice minute long abdominal planks (yeah, ouch) while you watch t.v. Want a little extra motivation? Why not envision yourself with the body of your favorite (fit!) t.v. personality, then work towards it. They all workout a lot, I guarantee it.
8. Find a new hobby that you can enjoy, and that gets you out and moving.
   Heres a list to start you with:
   1. Gardening
   2. Sailing
   3. Kite flying
   4. Bicycling
   5. Nintendo Wii or DDR playing
   6. Soccer/Basketball/Tennis/pick a sport!
   7. Bush walking
   8. Dragon boating
   9. Bird watching
   10. Woodworking.
       It doesn’t matter what you pick and how small you believe the exercise, something which gets you off the couch, and actually using your neglected postural muscles is GOOD- in many, many ways!
9. Just mentioned above, the new series of games that has you up and moving is one of the most effective tools you can use to get yourself out of your bum-groove and moving again. Why? Because its lots, and lots of fun! I highly recommend the Nintendo Wii, and Konami’s Dance, Dance Revolution, otherwise known as DDR. You’ll get your best workouts for the Wii using Wii Sports: Boxing, baseball, and tennis. Big hint- Add a bunch of friends to your Nintendo Wii workouts and if you’re even vaguely competitive you’ll really get a workout to be proud of.
10. Take the kids along. We’ve all seen how much energy kids have compared to us. You can harness that to charge up your workouts and help you break a sweat and have a bunch of fun at the same time. One suggestion for you is to take the soccer ball, cricket set or volleyball out, and let them go nuts. Add pets to the mix and who knows what could happen. Kids just have this way of making fun out of any situation, try and learn from that and enjoy their antics whenever you can.
11. Make records and compare them with friends family & colleagues. Got 10 bucks a week spare? Like a little competition? If so you’ve got quite the recipe there for increased workout productivity, and plenty of fun, too. Take measurements of your waist, hips and chest, weigh yourself, and see who makes the biggest losses. If you’re into facebook, check out the workout application, and share with your friends.
12. Ever notice how much more fun you have when you’re in a relaxed situation? Take movies at home with friends. Fun and relaxing right? You might find you enjoy life a bit more if you try and extend your ability to relax throughout your day, and beating stress is a very good way to help your body lose weight. With that in mind, here’s another quick list of activities that can help you relax at any time, and are fun and good exercise to boot:
    1. Yoga
    2. Tai chi
    3. Meditation (ok you got me, you don’t sweat much with this one)
    4. Pilates
    5. Yogalates
    6. Pilateyogis
    7. Taipilateyogitation
       6 and 7 don’t exist yet, but you never know what the future will bring!!
13. Find yourself a gym that has a range of exergames, where you can sit and pedal in competition with others, watch a graphical representation of your progress, or anything which takes your mind off the grind of aerobic exercise.
14. If you’re into weights, take a week off, and do some cardio. That thing beating in your chest is important too, and the more efficient it is, the harder you can push yourself on the weights. You’ll enjoy the change, too. Just kidding, I hate cardio…! But if you add a few of my ideas from this article, you might enjoy yourself more than you think, and the health benefits to your heart are worth it.
15. If you’re into cardio, take a week off, and do some weights! I’m a big weights advocate. Increasing muscle density only slightly will increase the rate at which your body chews through calories while at rest, and in my book, the more calories you’re burning off while not actually exercising the better! Burn more calories while you sleep, for real!

Have you got any ways you make your workouts fun? Let me know and I’ll add them to future Fun and workout idea articles.