Family Fitness Challenge: March 16 to May 10

by Nora Rhoades, Family and Youth Development Agent

Children and adolescents should be engaged in moderate to high intensity physical activities for a minimum of 60 minutes every day and adults need to be active for at least 30 minutes. How’s your family doing? Is there room for improvement? 

The University of Missouri Extension’s MyActivity Pyramid is based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Getting active as a family unit is an opportunity to hang out, have fun, and strengthen relationships. You’ll encourage each other through the challenges of trying something new, and you’ll celebrate meeting your goals.

It’s good for kids! Kids learn values and behaviors by hearing, seeing, and doing. Taking on a family fitness challenge is a parenting opportunity to make health and wellness a priority that can have positive outcomes for years to come.
It’s good for adults! Setting a good example and influencing the well-being of your children can be one of the most motivating factors of parenthood. Take a family fitness challenge and lead by example as you prioritize self-care.


Take the Walk Kansas challenge! Contact your local extension office to register.

Each spring, Kansans get active through involvement in Walk Kansas. Walk Kansas is a team-based program focused on maintaining healthy habits. Join this 8-week program to be more active with your kids and make better nutrition choices.

• Form a team and track minutes of physical activity and food choices during the 8-week challenge (March 16 to May 10). Team members report progress to their team captain each week, which the team captain reports to the local extension office.
• Identify a team challenge, or goal.
• Challenge 1 is the distance across the state (423 miles), and would require each member to reach the minimum guidelines for physical activity, 150 minutes per week.
• Challenge 2, the team must go across and back, or 5 hours per week for each participant.  Challenge 3 takes the team 1200 miles around the perimeter of the state, a 6-hour-per-week goal for each person.
• Walking isn’t the only activity that counts. A variety of moderate and vigorous activities can count towards your goal. Any activity you report should be performed for a minimum of 10 consecutive minutes.

Walk Kansas Family Fun! 

• Hang a Kansas map on your refrigerator and let your kids visualize their progress across the state. Talk about Kansas history as you go.
• Identify a community or charity fun run/walk and train for the event throughout Walk Kansas!
• Identify different routes and trails in your community (church to church, country roads that lead to a beautiful view, visit historical sites, travel past your friends and recruit them to join).
• Try a new exercise/activity each week (new sport, walk backwards, bike, strength train, dancing, yoga).
• Use the challenge to explore new foods with your picky eaters. Plan meals that incorporate a new recipe or type of food.
• Give up the remote and go outside. Do you think your family could give up the TV for one week?
• If you have to use technology, run in place during commercials or see how many jumping jacks you can do during a break.
• Engage in some friendly competition by challenging your neighbors to join your team or create their own.  For more ideas visit: walkkansas.org or walkkansas.org/kids/