Missing the variety of equipment that lets you mix up your fitness routine at the gym? Bored of your usual workout? Looking for new ideas to engage your kids so they stop interrupting your exercise time and join you instead? Or maybe you just don’t like exercising and are looking for anything to make it more enjoyable?
These fun fitness games and activities will spice up your routine and get you out of your exercising rut. Have fun while exercising with these games!
Some of these games can be played independently while others require multiple participants, so recruit your spouse, kids, or friends!
1. Balloon Bounce
For this game you need one balloon and at least 3 players. Give each player a number from 1 to however many people there are. Everyone should stand in a large circle outside the “boundary” which can be marked with tape, chalk, or anything else that makes the boundary line clear.
Let’s say you have four players, #1, #2, #3, and #4.
The first person, aka #1, should hit the balloon in the air and call out the number of another person, say #2.
#2 then needs to run and hit the balloon before it hits the ground (using any body part from your hand to your elbow to your foot) and call out another number (#3 or #4).
If #2 doesn’t make it in time to keep the balloon from hitting the floor, they get a point. #2 should then be the next player to call out a number and continue the game.
After five minutes of play, the person with the least amount of points wins! You can make the game more challenging by having the people outside the boundary squat or hold a plank while waiting for their number to be called. Another way to make the game more challenging is to use an exercise ball instead of a balloon!
2. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better!
Play this game indoors or outside! All you need is a partner. If you can’t meet up in person, plan a Facetime workout with a gym buddy.
The first person chooses an exercise, like squats, and performs one squat. Then your partner has to do two squats. Your turn, do three squats. Continue alternating until one person can’t continue. Then take a water break. Next time, let your partner choose the exercise, like pushups, and start the challenge. You can compete for each exercise or total up the amount of times each person won at the end of your workout.
Mix it up! You can do treadmill sprints or planks, adding 30 seconds each time, box jumps, burpees, or any exercise you choose. This is a great game for competitive people to push yourself to go further during your workout!
You can play with more people too, just have each person take turns doing the same amount of reps (everyone does one squat, everyone does two squats, etc.) so you don’t get to a high number of repetitions too quickly. You can call this version “Match Me”.
3. Robin Hood
For this game you’ll need two baskets, a bunch of stress balls or tennis balls and at least six players (but the more the merrier with this game). The play area should be about the size of a basketball court or a large playground. Create 2 teams and divide the playing area in half. Place one basket towards the back of each team’s area and scatter the balls in the middle of the play area near the dividing line.
When the game begins, have all of the players run to grab one ball at a time, and place them in their respective team baskets. Once all of the balls have been placed in baskets, players can begin to run to the other team’s basket, remove one ball at a time, and run to place it back into their own basket.
After an allotted amount of time, the team with the most balls in their basket wins! If one team gets all of the balls before the time is up, that team is declared the winner!
4. Flip a Coin Workout
5. Use Your Full Name Workout
