Exercise is an essential part of overall health for teenagers. It is a key part of preventing disease, maintaining a healthy weight, and regulating hormones and emotional stress. You might wonder if you are doing the right type of exercise to keep you healthy!
The best exercise for a teenager is one that you enjoy and can commit to doing consistently! That answer might sound overly simple, but it really is the best way to think about exercise. Including more exercise doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go to the gym or join a sports team- it can be as simple as you would like!
Read on for more of the benefits of physical activity for teens, tips for getting teens more active, and different types of activities that count as exercise.
Benefits of Activity for Teens
What’s the big deal with exercise anyway? Here are some of the benefits of exercise a teenager might recognize pretty quickly!
- Improved mood
- Appetite regulation
- Decreased stress
- Improvements in anxiety and depression
- Increased energy
- Improved sleep
- Increased strength
That list sounds pretty awesome on its own, but it doesn’t even include the long-term benefits of exercise like decreasing your risk of:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cancer
- Obesity
- Osteoporosis
Teenagers that exercise regularly tend to feel better, and live healthier lives overall. As you read, be thinking of some ways you can add more movement into your daily routine!
How Much Exercise do Teenagers Need?
According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, teenagers need at least 1 hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. That might seem like a lot, but it also does not have to be done all at the same time. If you haven’t been doing much physical activity, just start small with what feels doable to you!
Some physical activity is better than none, so don’t get too caught up in thinking your exercise has to be going to the gym every day. Even on busy days, getting up and walking around your house can be beneficial!
What Counts as Exercise for Teens?
When people think of exercise, they usually think of running. But what if I told you you don’t have to run to get good exercise! Really anything that gets you up and moving moderately to vigorously is considered exercise (Which is good for me because I am not a huge fan of running!)
There are several types of exercise that are recommended for teenagers. Aerobic exercise, strength training, and flexibility training are important for all teenagers.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is a great way to strengthen your heart. Your heart is a muscle and needs to be pushed in order for it to get stronger. Getting your heart rate up can be done by doing a wide variety of exercises such as swimming, dancing, skiing, walking, jump roping, playing a sport, and more!
Strength Training
For some teenagers, it might be important to lift weights with a trainer to increase strength. Many high school athletes are in weight training classes, or lift weights with their team to increase their strength and therefore improve their athletic performance and protect themselves from injury. It is important for teens to lift under the direction of a trainer and to not start at too early of an age.
If weight lifting isn’t really your thing, there are lots of other strength exercises that you can do. Body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, squats, tricep dips, and others can all be good ways to increase strength.
You can also think outside the box! Things like rowing, biking, skating, and yoga all can increase strength of different muscle groups. Do a variety of activities and you will likely strengthen your major muscle groups.
Flexibility
Activity like stretching and yoga may not be the most exciting form of physical activity and might not get your heart rate up as much as cardio exercise, but they are still important for the body! Increasing your flexibility can also decrease your chance of getting injured.
Flexibility and stretching exercises don’t have to take a long time. They can even be done before and/or after a workout!
Tips for Getting Teens to Exercise
Forcing a teenager to do something never tends to work out too well, and that includes exercising! Here are a few tips for encouraging (but not forcing) your teenager to get more exercise.
- Be a good example of getting regular exercise. Don’t constantly complain about how much you dislike exercise. Instead, focus on being positive!
- Invite your teen to do active things with you. Don’t get upset if they refuse, but continue to invite!
- Plan fun active family activities that get your whole family up and moving.
- Talk about the benefits of regular exercise. Do not focus on weight and do not shame teens into exercising to lose weight.
- Get your teen involved in extracurricular activities that are fun for them! Maybe that means joining a sports team, or participating in marching band, or something else! Help them come up with ideas of fun things they could be a part of.
- Be careful about how you talk about exercise in terms of your own body. Remember that you are not “good” or “bad” for exercising or not exercising, and you do not have to “earn” your food through being active. Teenagers hear and internalize phrases like this and it can actually result in a poor relationship with exercise and with their body.
Exercise Ideas for Teens
I like to remind people that if you don’t like exercise, you aren’t doing it right! If you are stuck in a rut with exercise, here are some ideas you could try!
- Walking or hiking (Go explore somewhere new that you haven’t been before! Go with family and friends and enjoy being in nature)
- Walking on a treadmill (I like to turn on a TV show on my phone and watch as I walk! Or listen to a podcast, audiobook, or a good playlist to keep your mind occupied)
- Kickboxing (Many gyms have classes you can take or you can look up a class on youtube)
- Dancing (Maybe try out zumba, country swing dancing, ballroom, or hip hop)
- Jump rope (Get some friends together and try double dutch!)
- Ping pong (You can play games like around the world too, if you get bored of the regular version)
- Shooting hoops outside (Try playing a game like horse or knockout)
- Four square
- Dodgeball
- Kickball
- Softball (Or even going to the batting cages)
- Putt Putt (Although you might not be working up a sweat, it has you up and walking around!)
- Soccer
- Basketball
- Lacrosse
- Pickleball
- Tennis
- Kayaking
- Canoeing
- Rafting
- Walking around the mall (Make it fun by doing a scavenger hunt or something!)
- Go swimming or take a water aerobics class
- Yoga (There are so many different fun yoga classes now- even goat yoga where you let goats climb on you!)
- Mountain biking
- Skiing
- Weight lifting
- High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
- Pilates
- Barre
- Cycling class
- Going on a bike ride
- Games like Tag, Kick the Can, Red Rover, Freeze Tag, Cross the Ocean, and others
- Body weight exercises like squats, pushups, etc. (Follow a program that helps you get stronger and be able to do more than you could when you started. Maybe you work up to being able to do 50 push-ups at a time! Make it a challenge and get your friends and family involved)
- Hula Hooping
- Step class
- Step team
- Drill Team
- Marching Band
- Color Guard
- Cross country
- Football
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Spikeball
- Volleyball (Sand, and indoor, or even just hitting with a partner)
- Cheerleading
- Gymnastics
- Parkour
- Rock climbing (indoor and outdoor, plus bouldering!)
- Racquetball
- Sledding
- Ice skating
- Hockey
- Golf
- Virtual Reality
- Wii games like Just Dance that get you up and moving
- Badminton
- Jumping on the trampoline (Or even going to a trampoline park)
- Skateboarding
That is a pretty long list, and it still isn’t all-inclusive! There are tons of things you can do to get in more physical activity. In fact, doing a variety of exercises is great because each will strengthen your body in different ways.
Summary
Exercise should be a fun way to decrease stress, regulate hormones, improve sleep, and prevent disease. Teenagers should be getting 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise everyday, but if that sounds overwhelming, just start somewhere. Some exercise is better than none!
If you don’t enjoy exercising, it might be time to try something new! Did any of the ideas listed above sound exciting? Try out a few of them and find the types of exercise that are most enjoyable to you. The best exercise is the one that you will enjoy and do consistently!
Include other people when you exercise. Social connection is another extremely important part of health. Invite friends and family to be active with you!
Resources
CDC. Physical Activity Facts. Cdc.gov. Reviewed April 21, 2020.
Nemours Teens Health. Why exercise is wise. Kidshealth.org. Reviewed January 2018.
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