DALLAS - Dr. Ken Adams does not let parenting get in the way of his exercise. He says his three girls, who are 3, 7 and 10, make it easier than ever for him to exercise because it’s part of their playtime.
“I love going out and jumping with my kids on the trampoline,” says Adams, 41, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist on the medical staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and associate clinical professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, both in Dallas. (He also is one of the team physicians for the U.S. Olympic cycling team.)
“If we jump 15 to 20 minutes five times a week, I’m having a hard workout and they’re having a blast while we’re laughing and talking.”
Most healthy adults should get at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, with strength training exercises at least twice a week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Adams says he exceeds those recommendations just by biking with the kids to school in the morning and later to the playground, where he’s usually the only parent not sitting on the bench, texting on a cellphone.
Speaking of cellphones, none of his girls has one, and the family does not own a television. Adams says they prefer to bond as a family over physical activities.
He says it makes a workout feel not like work but like fun.
“I kind of feel like the older I get, the younger I feel.
“I love hanging out with my kids and playing with them,” he says. “I don’t think about it in terms of reminding me of my childhood. I do it because it’s part of who I am and what I do.”
With the precaution that you should check with your doctor before starting any exercise program, particularly if you’ve been sedentary, Adams outlines some of the physical benefits you can get from playing like a kid (also contributing advice is Chyette Sports Therapy of Manhattan Beach, Calif.):
Swings: Pumping your legs to swing high targets your quadriceps and hamstrings, muscles on the front and back of your thighs. The harder you pump, the higher you swing and the more intense your work becomes. If you push your child on the swing, you work your triceps.
Slides: Climbing the steps is good for quadriceps, hamstrings and all the muscles of the buttocks. Sliding down can lift your spirits. (Medical professionals say children are safer sliding down alone; sliding while seated on a parent’s lap has caused many a fractured leg.) If you want to catch your child at the bottom, you can try lifting the child overhead for an upper-body workout, but only after bending at the knees to protect your back.
Monkey bars: Swinging from bar to bar works the core and upper body. Climbing up and down bars exercises your arms and legs. Hanging from a bar stretches the whole body. Trying to do a chin-up can strengthen your arms, back and shoulders.
Seesaw: Every time you land, bones receive a beneficial impact. Pushing off works the legs and buttocks.
Trampoline: Jumping provides a cardiovascular workout while building leg and core strength and improved balance and coordination. But poor form, rough-housing and poorly maintained trampolines are common causes of serious head and neck injuries to children and adults. The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to supervise trampoline use, provide safety nets and insist that only one person jump at a time.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 12/09/2013