30 Fun Ways to Get 30 Minutes of Physical Activity Today

2. Dance party

Dancing is a whole-body workout that’s actually fun. It’s good for your heart, it makes you stronger, and it can help with balance and coordination. A 30-minute dance class burns between 130 and 250 calories, about the same as jogging. In most cases, you’ll burn more calories performing aerobic dance than walking on a treadmill. Intensity matters, however, and a vigorous power walk will torch more calories than a moderate dance session.

How long has it been since you had a dance to your favorite music? Let your hair down, draw the curtains if you’ve got particularly nosy neighbors, pump some beats, and get moving. It’ll only take about eight songs for you to get your 30 minutes in, so make sure you choose your best bangers to get your heartbeat up! It’s great for relieving stress and gives an all-over body workout. The music motivates you so you don’t feel as if you’re working hard.

3. Build your own workout

If getting to a gym class, or paying for one, is putting you off working out, don’t worry – you can get the same benefits from a home workout. Build workout plans that fit your schedule and goals! Learn which exercises to pick for your workout routine or program with this step-by-step ready-made Healthier. Happier. workouts or build your own routine of individual exercises. The aim of Healthier. Happier. is to ask people to stop and think about how small changes can help them be that little bit healthier and we are here to help you take the first steps.

Small steps, such as planning ahead of eating out, using smaller plates or adding fruit and vegetables to all your meals can make a difference. Understanding the importance of moving is also vital, as even gardening and playing with the kids can actually be classified as physical activity. And if you work up a sweat and get thirsty, why not grab a glass of water spiced up with a slice of cucumber or strawberry to quench your thirst?

4. Frisbee

The Frisbee, yes, the plastic flying disc that has been enjoyed as a recreational toy for people of all ages, whether in the backyard, at the park, or on the beach. They are typically used as a game of catch with the Frisbee spinning through the air when thrown. Frisbee is a quick and easy way to get moving with a friend. Count how many times you can throw the frisbee back and forth without dropping it, and make it more of a workout by asking them to make you run for it.

You are continually moving, whether you are sprinting, jogging, or walking, while playing this fantastic sport. You will have to move for long periods of time. This will enable you to tone your body, pump up your heart rate and enhance your blood circulation. While throwing a frisbee, if you weigh 150 lbs, you can burn approximately 105 calories in 30 minutes. If you weigh 200 lbs, you can burn approximately 145 calories in 30 minutes.

5. Play catch

Playing catch can help develop dexterity, coordination and confidence. Playing catch can improve an aptitude for sports that involve catching and throwing, such as baseball, football, and basketball. Anyone with kids will know that sometimes entertaining them takes priority over looking after your own health. Kill two birds with one stone and take them to the park to kick a footy or throw a ball back and forth.

Once everyone’s practiced their kicking, throwing and catching skills, take things to the next level by asking them to throw or kick long and make you run for it. The health benefits of playing catch include: fewer falls for older adults. You’re never too old to play catch — and it could be good for you. The simple training exercise of catching a weighted medicine ball can improve balance and help prevent falls in older adults, according to new research at UIC.

6. Take the stairs

An oldy but a goody, taking the stairs instead of an escalator or lift is great for working for the major muscle groups in the legs and glutes. It might not seem like the most fun option for a workout, but you can fit a surprising amount of activity into every day by taking the stairs whenever they are an option. If you get hooked, you can even become a competitive stair climber. Climbing just eight flights of stairs a day lowers average early mortality risk by 33% Seven minutes stair climbing a day can halve the risk of heart attack over 10 years.

Just two minutes extra stair climbing a day is enough to stop average middle-age weight gain. On average, for every step you climb, you burn about 0.17 calories or roughly a calorie and a half for every 10 upward steps. All in all climbing stairs can help you lose weight. By integrating stair climbing into your daily routine while maintaining a daily calorie shortage, you will start to lose weight.

7. Walking meetings

A walking meeting is a meeting held when taking a walk – away from boardrooms, offices, or coffee shops. Studies have shown that walking actually boosts creative output by about 60%. Aristotle allegedly instructed students while strolling the Lyceum. Sigmund Freud conducted many of his analyses by foot. While Charles Dickens routinely walked about 20 miles a day with no particular destination in mind.

He once walked an impressive 30 miles from his London home to his country residence at 2 am. If your workplace demands a lot of meetings, suggest making one every day a ‘walking meeting’. Head out of stuffy office rooms and to a nearby park, or just the footpath, and pound out a few steps while you talk business. Don’t forget to Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide when you’re outside during the day!

8. Dance class

Swing dancing, tap dancing, ballet or salsa – there are so many different styles of dance that will raise your heart rate and challenge your coordination. Most dance classes take one-off or term-based sign-ups, so you can try one style for a few months, and then switch it up. Dance fitness is a type of group exercise class that incorporates some or many forms of dance.

It’s an aerobic workout, divided into different tracks that provide peaks and troughs of intensity. The overall intensity of a class varies depending on the style you’re doing. Cardio dance classes fuse musical rhythms and choreographed dance moves together to create a dynamic workout that’s designed for fun—and a good workout!

9. Hiking

Getting out and about in the great outdoors is a wonderful way to stretch your legs and see some of the state’s amazing scenery. Need some inspiration about where to go? Hiking is a powerful cardio workout that can: Boost bone density since walking is a weight-bearing exercise. Build strength in your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and the muscles in your hips and lower legs. Few activities beat the body benefits of hiking.

You’re slipping cardio into your day and burning up to 530 calories per hour on the trail. And in gusty weather, the wind resistance can boost your burn potential by about 5 percent, experts say. It’s a terrific total-body workout. our lower body will become stronger, more toned and muscular with hiking than with a less varied walking routine. Finally, because it’s harder cardiovascular work, your heart and lungs will get a great benefit as well.

10. Rock climbing

Challenge your strength and experience the adrenalin rush of defying gravity as you scale a rock wall. Find an indoor gym or an instructor that will show you the ropes. Rock climbing is an excellent workout, but it can be rough if your body isn’t up for it. Rock climbing is a full-body workout, and you’ll need the power of your glutes, along with your leg muscles, to propel yourself upward.

Your back muscles like your rhomboids, trapezius, and lats work with your core to keep you stable on the wall. Weight loss helps many medical conditions, and rock climbing is an excellent way to drop a few pounds. The aerobic workout and muscle building will help you burn more calories throughout the day.

11. Water balloon fight

One sure-fire way to add excitement to a summer day when you think it’s just too scorching to go outside is by having a water balloon fight. For some people, the best way to get active is to make it a competition.

Gather some friends, fill a basket with pre-filled balloons and try to stay dry! This is a great way to stave off boredom and you’ll be sure to feel like a kid again while getting some fun exercise.

12. Take your dog to a doggy meetup

Ever feel guilty leaving your dog at home when going to the gym? Now you can take Fido with you, what better workout partner than your four-legged buddy? Lots of people get their steps in walking the dog each day.

If you’re a dog owner, spice up your routine by taking your dog along to a dog meetup, where you can meet other likeminded canine-lovers and go for a walk, run or hike together.

13. Master a jump rope routine

Jumping rope is a great aerobic exercise and will get your heart rate up in no time. Get fancy by learning a jump rope routine – you can find tutorials online for everything from basic tricks through to complicated routines. A jump rope is a tool that allows you to burn calories and turn on fat-burning mechanisms, but it doesn’t directly work your abs. Instead, use the rope to help you burn fat so you reveal the abs that you’ve strengthened with crunches, twists and anti-rotation exercises. Jumping rope is a great calorie-burner.

You’d have to run an eight-minute mile to work off more calories than you’d burn jumping rope. It strengthens the upper and lower body and burns a lot of calories in a short time, but other considerations will determine if it’s appropriate for an individual. When you jump repeatedly, your body burns 800 to 1,000 calories an hour — compare that to 200 to 300 calories burned per hour while walking. Even better, jumping rope (especially high-intensity jump roping) makes your body a calorie-burning machine.

14. Practice a yoga arm balance

If you’ve been thinking that yoga is all about gentle flows and deep breaths, think again. Arm balances call on core, arm and shoulder strength as well as the focus yoga is renowned for fostering. Start with something easy and spend some time each week developing your strength. Forearms stands are much harder than handstands.

They require more shoulder flexibility and more trapezius strength than a handstand. In handstands, you place your center of gravity over your shoulders. If you are perfectly balanced, it requires only enough muscle energy to keep the elbows straight.

15. Hula hoop

Hula hooping was a bit of fun as a kid, but as an adult, it can be a serious workout. Grab a hoop and work those abs! Hula hooping is a safe and fun way to burn calories and body fat, improve your balance, strengthen your core muscles, and boost your cardiovascular fitness. Hula hooping helps tone your abdominal muscles and burn calories, both of which can contribute to creating a flat stomach.

However, it’s not possible to target fat loss from a particular part of your body, so hula hooping alone won’t be enough to get you a flat stomach. Plus, hula hooping is a low impact activity, making it good for people with joint conditions such as arthritis. Try hula hooping to help loosen stiff joints and increase your range of motion

16. Try out that sport you always wanted to do as a kid

How long has it been since you tried something new? While starting a new sport or heading to a new class might be daunting, changing up your routine might be just the thing to get you excited about being active.

Make a list of all the activities you thought would be really cool to try as a child – ice skating, fencing, kendo, ballet, fan dancing – and then pick one to try.

17. Join a team sport

Playing sport as part of a team can help you get active while making friends and feeling part of your community. Joining a sports team comes with many benefits, but one of the best things it does is that it gives your body a good exercise. Most people don’t get enough exercise. You will be a better team player, have better social skills, manage stress better, and gain self-esteem.

Sports require you to move your body, and it’s a commonly known fact that exercise is good for your health. According to the Mayo Clinic, physical activity helps control weight, combats health conditions and diseases, improves mood, boosts energy and promotes better sleep.

18. Make date night – active night

Whether you’ve been married for 20 years or this is your very first date. Activity dating can be tons of fun. Date night (or any time you hang with loved ones or friends) doesn’t have to be spent sitting in a cinema or binging Netflix. Get active on your next date by going bowling, playing laser tag or paintball, or sinking balls at miniature golf.

Just remember, everyone’s idea of a fun time is different. So, make sure to choose a date idea that both you and your date will enjoy. But not to worry, whether you and your date are into sports, science, adrenaline, or peace and quiet we’ve got plenty of date ideas to choose from.

19. Orienteering

Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points.

Orienteering is a navigation activity done on foot or bike, that requires competitors to locate and travel to different areas on a map as fast as possible. While learning navigation skills, orienteering also provides an opportunity for a great outdoor workout that can be done by people of all ages.

20. Deep clean

Did you know that getting your house and yard in tip-top shape can be good for your body, too? Check out this table by Diabetes New South Wales, which compares the energy used to do household tasks to common exercise workouts, pick a job and get moving! Most household chores burn calories using some of the same physical movements that you do in the gym.

With a few small adjustments, you can get a full-body workout, build muscle and burn more calories while you tidy up your home. A 150-pound person can burn around 170 calories per hour doing light cleaning (dusting, straightening up, etc). Tougher jobs like scrubbing and cleaning accumulated dirt and grime can burn up to 190 calories per hour.

21. Shopping

You might not think of it as a physical activity, but shopping can add a lot of steps to your day. Whether you’re carrying a basket of items or pushing a cart, Livestrong says grocery shopping is exercise. If you want to work in a little more exercise while doing your weekly shopping, Livestrong recommends doing some deep-knee squats when selecting items off those lower shelves.

If you strip away the shopping context, you’re walking, climbing steps, bending, twisting, and moving your arms. Without the gym, that would be considered exercise on the go. Next time you need to buy a few things, take the long way between shops, maybe doing a little window shopping on the way. Bonus points if you park your car further away from the entrance or walk to and from the shops.

22. Learn a musical instrument

Playing an instrument seems to improve your health in a variety of ways. I play the saxophone almost every day and can confirm that playing music definitely relieves stress. Research shows that making music can lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, reduce stress, and lessen anxiety and depression. Depending on the instrument, playing music can be a beneficial form of physical activity.

According to 8700.com playing guitar burns almost as many kilojoules as weightlifting, while playing the drums or playing in a marching band uses significant amounts of energy. laying an instrument naturally leads to increased physical activity. Whether you’re playing the piano, guitar, strings, or a wind instrument, you’re using your arm and back muscles to play and/or hold up your instrument. If you play the drums, you even get to do some cardio!

23. Roll down a hill (and run back up)

Got a spare cardboard box lying around the house? Find a hill and get sliding! As well as the adrenalin rush of whooshing down the hill, you’ll burn energy when you run back up to the top. If you’re not into embracing your kid-at-heart and rolling down the hill yourself, pop your kids on a blanket, drag them down the hill, and run back up. They’ll have a ball and you’ll get your heart pumping!

An added benefit to adding intensity is that you also burn more calories when running uphill. The actual number of additional calories will depend on the grade of the incline and a few other factors, but you can expect to increase your fat-burning potential by adding hills to your workout regime. Walking uphill for your workout increases your burn dramatically. 130 lbs. 224 cal. 354 calories.

4. Kickboxing

Got some pent-up energy to release? Kickboxing is a great cardio workout inspired by the workouts of pro-boxers. Kickboxing is a great way to get fit and strong and even let out your daily frustrations, without having to actually play the contact sport. It helps to build muscle mass, boosts your metabolism and pushes your body to lose weight even faster.

Moreover, it is a great cardio workout, which means it can help to tone your body faster than other forms of exercise. Kickboxing is particularly helpful in toning the belly and love handles. Kickboxing provides an aerobic workout that burns calories and can help you lose weight. Research shows that elite and amateur kickboxers have more muscle mass and lower percentages of body fat. A person who weighs 155 pounds can burn 372 calories during just 30 minutes of kickboxing.

25. Slacklining

Did you ever dream of running away to join the circus? It’s not quite a high-wire, but slacklining is about as close to tightrope walking as you can get in your own backyard. Originally created by rock climbers as a way of getting between peaks, you can rig up a slackline (made of slightly elastic webbing) between two trees or poles and wobble your way across. Yosemite Valley is the place where slacklining was first discovered by rock climbers some 40 years ago and a must-visit location for enthusiasts.

Get your heart racing walking lines above a beautiful expanse of canyons and natural arches in Moab, Utah. The region has more slacklines than any other area in the country. Slacklining is a sport and art that can be a balance training, recreation, and a moving meditation. It is similar, at first glance to tightrope walking, and is accomplished by stretching and tensioning a 1″- 2″ wide length of nylon/polyester webbing between two anchor points, most often trees.

26. Trampolining

Jumping on a trampoline can be a great way to relax, have some fun and do a moderately strenuous activity at the same time. If you don’t have a trampoline in the yard, you can head to a trampoline center to have fun on Olympic-sized trampolines, long tumbling runs and even trampolines that run up the wall. Jumping on a trampoline exercises the whole body. The g-force that bouncing produced helps to build muscle and burn fat quickly. This firms up every part of your body – including legs, thighs, arms, hips, and stomach.

It also has the added benefit of improving agility and balance! In fact, while belly fat is difficult to lose, it is possible to burn it off doing simple aerobic exercises on the trampoline. You will need about 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercises each week in order to lose your belly fat. Exercising on a trampoline provides a soft and gentle bounce that has a very low impact on your knees and joints. For people with arthritis, It reduces your everyday aches and pains while strengthening your muscles and bones.

27. Field day games

Egg and spoon races, two-legged races, sack races, wheelbarrow races – there’s nothing like a silly race to get people competitive! Field Day is usually all about getting outside and getting active. It also encourages team building and active participation. Games are in fact a great way to build character and develop personality. If it’s been a while since you balanced an egg while running or tied your leg to someone else’s, it might be time to hold your own backyard fair. The day traditionally consists of a variety of events, and games. These activities should offer a lot of physical exercise.

There are many traditional field day games that are fun for adults. Mix up the activities to include races, ball-based games and, if weather permits, water-based events. Learn how to transform a simple relay race into a fun, silly or challenging party game for kids of all ages. Tug-o-War, Using a rope, divide into two teams. Hand each team one end of the rope, with a flag tied in the middle. The first one to pull the rope past a designated spot on their side wins. Wheelbarrow Race — One person holds onto another person’s ankles while they crawl to the field day finish line on their hands.

28. Active games night

Games night doesn’t have to mean you’ll be sitting around a board game all night. Work some active games into your fun, like Twister, charades or salad bowl, or play an active video or VR game. Many party games are physically active but still safe for indoor play: Limbo doesn’t take up much room, for example, and neither does bean bag toss or Simon Says. Some board games actually incorporate movement, so they’re a great way to combine a family love of gaming with some physical play.

The same goes for video games that incorporate motion controllers. While not a strenuous workout, they can provide a little extra dose of fitness, without forcing the issue. Or you can go ahead and play your favorite sitting-still family board games but keep this list of brain breaks handy. “Brain breaks” are quick, three- to five-minute physical activities that get muscles moving and give everyone a break from sitting still. Incorporate them into your game night so everyone can stand up and wiggle a little. Then jump right back into your board game.

29. Gardening

Gardening is a fabulous exercise providing that you do it correctly. You can maintain a good level of fitness this way and burn significant numbers of calories. Gardening makes your body do all sorts of movements – squatting, bending, walking, lifting, digging, raking and so on – that keep your joints active. According to the University of Virginia, gardening rates up there with other moderate to strenuous forms of exercise, like walking and bicycling.

Like any other form of exercise, you have to be active for at least 30 minutes for there to be a benefit. You can still get many benefits from an aerobic exercise such as gardening if you pursue it regularly. Even the less strenuous forms of garden upkeep – weeding, trimming, raking – can burn off about 300 calories an hour. Spading, lifting, tilling, and raking can improve muscle tone and strength. For more on gardening see How Gardening Can Relieve Stress.

30. Bike riding

Bikes are some of the best active fun you can have outside, and kids know it. What kid isn’t thrilled with a new set of wheels for their birthday? If you haven’t ridden a bike since childhood, don’t worry, it’s pretty much like, well, riding a bike! Start off slow on an easy bike path, and as you grow your confidence you can graduate to heartrate rising hills or even off-road trails. Cycling is a good way to control or reduce weight, as it raises your metabolic rate, builds muscle and burns body fat.

If you’re trying to lose weight, cycling must be combined with a healthy eating plan. British research shows that a half-hour bike ride every day will burn nearly five kilograms of fat over a year. Once your fitness level has improved, complete at least 30 minutes of biking every day. According to Harvard Health Publishing, a 155-pound person can burn 446 calories in just 30 minutes cycling at a speed of 16 to 19 mph; burning excess calories leads to weight loss.

Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

https://www.healthier.qld.gov.au/fitness/exercises/
https://www.verywellfamily.com/brain-breaks-for-busy-kids-1257211
https://takelessons.com/blog/health-benefits-of-playing-an-instrument-z15
https://www.jotform.com/blog/walking-meetings/