How Play-Inspired Moves Can Boost Your Fitness

I’ll never forget the time my husband decided he was going to move like a kid again. He had taken our two boys to a kid’s birthday party at an inflatable obstacle course and, without thinking twice, ­proceeded to join in and attempt a jump from one giant bouncy ball to another.

I was not at the party, but I soon learned the outcome of his exuberance: I received a call informing me he was in the ER with a fractured and dislocated shoulder.

As enticing as those oversize red balls looked, there’s a reason my ­husband was the only parent playing at the party. For many adults, running, jumping, or swinging with abandon is not only intimidating but also risky. Our ­mature bodies typically lack the stamina, mobility, and strength-to-bodyweight ratio of their childhood counterparts. That can make the prospect of revisiting ­“children’s ­activities” — sprinting, climbing, jumping rope, crossing monkey bars, and more — feel daunting. As a result, the well-intentioned advice to “just move like a kid” ­becomes easy to ignore.

Yet playful movement can be incredibly beneficial for adults. Even my husband — now fully recovered — is still a believer. Play has been shown to relieve stress, boost creativity and productivity, and strengthen relationships. Physical play can encourage you to move more and have fun while doing so.

“Playful physical activity ends up meeting more than just your body’s need for movement — it can bring you joy,” says biomechanist Katy Bowman, MS, founder of Nutritious Movement and coauthor of I Know I Should Exercise, But … : 44 Reasons We Don’t Move and How to Get Over Them (read an excerpt for Bowman’s book here). “Play is ­often associated with not being aware of how much time has passed, so playful physical activity can be easier to stick with, helping you stay physically active overall. You’re likely to do it for longer and more often.

“Playfulness is also positive, so it can be a mood booster, and that positive state of mind can linger beyond the bout of movement.”

Play is a fundamental part of ­being human, says Stuart Brown, MD, founder of the National Institute for Play. “Play is embedded in the subcortical area of brains in the instinctive survival areas. It is a part of our survival.”

Yet just because an activity has a playful reputation doesn’t necessarily mean you’re playing while doing it, explains Brown. Two people can be throwing a ball while only one is actually playing. To play requires you to  be fully engaged and unaware of the passage of time. “I think we all know when we’ve been playing,” he notes. “It’s really a state of being.”

Brown recommends pursuing ­activities that intrinsically move you toward a playful state. If you love nature, you might feel more playful while climbing a tree than while jumping rope in a gym. If tumbling was once your jam, you might feel especially playful reviving your cartwheel.

“You can usually find the kind of core joyfulness that is intrinsic to who you are,” he notes. “Finding that and putting that into your workouts — or playouts — is central to allowing play to infiltrate your being.”

Brown suggests gradually leaning into the discomfort of a movement that seems scary or doesn’t come easily to you. “Managing mild fear, in accord with realistic risk for you, is a way of improving your play life.”

Ryan Hurst, head coach and program director for GMB Fitness, agrees, noting that challenging our fears and embracing some risk can pay real dividends.

“The goal is physical autonomy — to really have freedom in your body to do things in a way that serves you,” he explains. “This is where play happens. The better you move, the better everything becomes.”

Swinging, jumping, climbing, and cartwheeling might feel different now from when you were a kid, but they can still bring you joy as an adult — and enhance your fitness. The following tips can help you safely rediscover what play means for you.

HOPSCOTCH

Playing hopscotch can offer incredible benefits by steadily improving your capacity for high-impact movements, says Mark Schneider, a Minneapolis-based strength coach and founder of The Retreat Strength Gym. Because the game offers some structure, it can also be a great way to encourage playful movement with a sense of direction and purpose.

“Structured games like hopscotch encourage focused attention on the task at hand while still allowing the body to solve problems in its own way,” Schneider explains. “There’s no emphasis on perfect form — just a simple set of constraints to guide exploration.”

HOW TO DO IT:

• Draw a hopscotch grid on the ground with chalk or scratch it into some dirt. Or, if you are doing this indoors, imagine the hopscotch grid on the floor in front of you.
• Begin hopping through the grid. If you’re using a drawn grid, land inside of each solo square on one foot and land on both feet simultaneously in the side-by-side squares. (If using an imaginary grid, alternate landing on either one or two feet with each hop forward as if you were jumping into squares.) Once you get to the end, turn around and hop back.
• Increase the challenge by tossing a flat stone or other object in one square, skipping that square as you hop. Skip a different square each round. Or try hopping through all the squares with one leg only — or hop backward through your grid. Feel free to practice solo or play with friends.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

If you struggle with balance, start small. “At its core, if you can walk, you can ‘scotch,” says Schneider. “The hopping component can be introduced over time, but the essence of the game — movement along a path with rhythm and coordination — can be accomplished through simple stepping.”

Imagine a line on the ground. Begin with your feet straddling the line, then step forward with one foot landing on the line. Follow this by stepping into a straddle position again, then step forward with the other foot on the line. Repeat this pattern: Step, straddle, step, straddle. From there, you can try increasing the speed of your steps. As your speed progresses, the movement will naturally evolve into a light hop.

JUMPING ROPE

“Jump rope offers a full-body workout that’s portable, low cost, and incredibly efficient. It improves cardiovascular health, balance, coordination, and endurance,” says jump-rope instructor Steve ­Harris, founder of JumpBeatFit. “Beyond the physical benefits, it’s a creative and joyful way to connect with others and rediscover a sense of play.”

For adults, the biggest challenges may include managing impact and coordinating jumps with the timing of the rope.

SPRINTING

As a kid, you didn’t have to learn to sprint — you just did it, whether chasing down a soccer ball or before sliding into second base. But no adult wants to pull a hammie trying to be a hero.

If you’re out of practice, go easy on yourself. Sprinting can be as low-key as playing Red Light, Green Light with your kids, says Kim Alexander, a strength coach and yoga instructor who specializes in natural/primal movement. Once you get more comfortable with picking up the pace, you can gradually challenge yourself with more speedwork.

MONKEY BARS

For an adult, navigating the monkey bars can be challenging — not just because you’re bigger than your kid self but also ­because you’ve likely ­accumulated some movement baggage over the years. “To start it as an adult typically takes more than just doing it, especially if years of shoulder, neck, and arm tension have created patterns of wear on your ligaments and left you with some major muscle atrophy,” says Bowman.

If it’s been years since you’ve swung across a jungle gym, she adds, start with hanging progressions and gradually work toward monkey-bar mastery.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Start by gripping the first bar with your leading hand. Use momentum to begin swinging your body forward.
• As the opposite side of your body swings forward, reach that arm to the next bar.
• Gently swing your body backward, then use the momen­tum from your backswing to generate your next swing forward. Continue alternat­ing arms.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Most people aren’t going to be able to traverse the monkey bars without building up strength and endurance. Bowman recommends the following progressions.

• Practice hanging from a bar with both feet on the ground, using your legs as much or as little as you need them. Try to hang without letting your shoulder blades pop up toward your ears.
• Once you can hang without support and with active shoulder blades, practice a two-handed swing, continuing to keep your shoulder blades down.
• Practice “shuffling” across a bar or the sides of the monkey bars, shifting your weight from one hand to the other as you move sideways.
• When you can hang from a single hand for a moment, try doing the monkey bars hand over hand, taking one rung at a time. Start by hanging with both hands. Then reach one hand to the next rung, and bring up the other one beside it. Take turns with your reaching arm.

Whether you’re doing spinal rocks, over-the-shoulder “ninja” rolls, or somersaults straight out of a gymnastics class, rolling backward and forward can strengthen your core and improve your spatial awareness. “One benefit is the incredible amount of proprioception you develop when upside down and rotating,” Alexander says.

Yet rolling can feel intimidating if you haven’t done it in a while. Alexander recommends starting with the backward shoulder roll.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Start in a crouched seated position on a slightly cushioned surface, such as a gymnastics mat.
• Engage your core by drawing your abdominal muscles toward your spine as you roll backward, bringing your legs back and over your left shoulder. Place your right hand on the ground next to your head to help support your roll.
• Touch your feet to the ground as you continue to roll over.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

The most challenging aspect of rolling is keeping your body in a tucked position throughout the movement, says Alexander. To practice, start in a seated position, hold the front of your shins, round your back, and tuck your chin. Hold this position for up to 30 seconds while keeping your core engaged. Then try the same thing while lying on your back, holding the backs of your thighs and bringing your forehead to your knees. Once you can do this, practice bringing your legs over one shoulder and then lowering them back to the ground with control.

CARTWHEEL

Whereas your 6-year-old niece might make cartwheeling look easy, the act of holding your body up with your hands as you turn yourself upside down and return to your feet might be a trial. Not only do adults have more body to move, but they also tend to be less flexible.

Add to this the fear of getting hurt, and it’s easy to give up on cartwheels altogether. But if you start with the most basic cartwheel progression and gradually build it up, you can improve strength and mobility while also overcoming your fears, says Hurst.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Imagine a line that points in the direction you wish to cartwheel. Start by placing your front, or lead, foot on that line, pointing toward the other end of the line.
• Reach your lead hand up in the air, point your palm in the same direction as your lead foot, and reach your opposite hand out to your side.
• Reaching with your lead hand and hinging at your hips, place your lead hand on the line, followed by your opposite hand, as you kick your legs over one at a time. Try to keep your legs as straight as possible, and lock out your arms. Land with your feet on the other side of where you placed your hands, and return to a tall standing position.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

If it’s been years since you attempted a cartwheel, start by squatting low to the ground and placing your hands, one at a time, on the floor at one side of your body. Push into your arms and lock them out as you kick your feet over to the other side of your hands. Don’t worry about keeping your legs straight or bringing them up too high.

Gradually practice bringing your butt higher off the ground and eventually straightening your legs. Side-bending stretches, wrist-conditioning exercises, and hip-mobility work can all improve your range of ­motion.

This article originally appeared as “Child’s Play for Adults” in the July/August 2025 issue of Experience Life. Illustrations by: Kveta.