Helping You and Your Kids Stay Healthy During the Summer

Every year at this time, students get out of the habits instilled by school, like regularly scheduled activities and moving around every day. Even if they are not involved in sports, students burn calories during a busy day of classes and extracurricular activities. Here is some guidance for your students or own kids on getting them to set achievable fitness goals before school starts again.

Think of it as Summer Fitness School. 

Make Goals

The goal-making process is easy. Ask the student about a fitness goal. These will range from aesthetics to performance. Some will want to bench-press their body weight, others will want to fit into last year's clothes and lose fat around their midsection, and some may want to run a mile without stopping. Whatever their personal goal is, let them run with it. It likely will be the thing that gets them moving when they do not feel like moving. Make them write down their goal on a sheet of paper and place it in their room or on the refrigerator.

Need an idea? Here is mine. My goal is to stop extra grazing between meals, so when I think I am hungry, I drink a glass of water or iced tea and my hunger is reduced. It turns out I'm usually just thirsty.

Better Eating Habits

Many people drop significant weight when they replace any sugary drink, like soda, juices and energy drinks, with water. If you need caffeine, opt for unsweetened iced tea instead of the high-calorie products on the market these days. Plus, you can make your own tea for pennies and save money, too.  Eating fruits as snacks and not candy and chips will go a long way to helping students reach their goals over the summer. Hopefully, if you can stick to the plan, the new habits will benefit you for the rest of the year and become a lifelong habit for fitness and health. Here are some ideas for food planning to help you either lose weight or have more energy for performance-based goals and hard training:

Lean Down Plan -- Eating from this list will help you reduce empty calories while increasing your intake of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and good carbs and fats.

Eating for Fitness -- Need more energy before, during and after workouts? This is a great way to think about what types of foods are helpful and when to eat them. The ABD's of Nutrition (after, before and during workouts) is worth considering.

Create Daily Fitness Habits

Even if your daily activity is a 10- to 15-minute walk after each meal, that is a legitimate way to build healthful habits. Here is more specific guidance, however, on how to put it all together for an all-round approach to health, fitness and achieving goals:

For Beginners

Here is a plan for those who are overweight, need to lose a few pounds before attempting a running plan and need guidance on where to get started. The 45 Day Plan has been helping people for decades to lose 15-20 pounds in a very short time, and it only requires 20-30 minutes a day of exercise. Nothing in this is strenuous, but it is all effective. It also has a motivational story included about a man who loses 80 pounds and changes his life. He started with this plan.

Need to Stay in Shape

If you are in a fall sports program, chances are your coach will have you training throughout the summer. If not, you need to stay fit and get stronger, depending on the sport you'll start in early August.

If you are not involved in any sport, maybe your fitness in the summer can change that and give you the ability and confidence to try out.  Or if sports are not your thing -- anyone can get fit. You do not have to be an athlete to run, lift, do calisthenics or other activities.  Here is a plan for those who are basically fit but need a little more guidance to push over the edge.

Note: If you want to do another workout or two during each week, pick your favorite and repeat it after a day off or easy cardio day.

As with any goal, the key is to start moving today. Do not put it off until tomorrow. In fact, use this quote from Gen. George S. Patton as motivation:

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Visit his Fitness eBook store if you’re looking to start a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle. Send your fitness questions to stew@stewsmith.com.

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