Child’s Play

My eight-year-old son, Charlie, is just a wee bit … well, let’s be honest … extremely competitive. He always has been. When he was three, for example, I signed us up for an introduction to Spanish class through our city’s community-ed program. During one class, the instructor had us play a board-type game to help us better understand the translations of the words we had just learned. Not only did Charlie want to beat me at the game, but he also looked around the room to make sure we were beating all the other students!

As part of this competitive streak, Charlie wants to be the fastest and strongest in any sport or activity he participates in. From watching me train for duathlons and runs, and from seeing his uncle training to compete in triathlons, Charlie knows that he’ll get stronger, faster and have a competitive edge if he “works out.”

So, the other night while I was sitting on my front porch enjoying a nice Labor Day weekend evening, Charlie and his friend Nick asked if they could go into our workout room in the basement and use the equipment. We have a house rule: No kids allowed without an adult due to safety concerns. It was a beautiful evening and I had no desire to sit in my basement watching two eight-year-olds play around with workout equipment. So, I told them that I’d instruct them through a workout they could do outside.

They were a little skeptical at first, wondering what they could do outside that would be better than the weights in the workout room. Here’s what I pulled out of my workout hat:

Run around the house

• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

Run around the house

• Walking lungs (about 30 feet out and then turn around and come back)
  15 triceps dips on the front step

Run around the house

• Crab walk (about 30 feet out and then turn around and come back)
• 20 step-ups on the front step (10 each leg)

Run around the house

• 10 froggie jumps
• 10 Superman rolls to full boat

Run around the house (This is when they finally started to fade and realized that Mom/Mrs. Rice knew what she was talking about.)

I must say, looking at this in hind site, it sounds a bit challenging: I think I may need to rally the boys one of these days and actually try it with them!

Plus, it could be made more challenging by adding reps of the movements and performing the entire set two to three times.

If anyone wants to give it a whirl, please let me know how it goes!