Sunday Kick in the Pants

Welcome back to another edition of Sunday Kick in the Pants. For new visitors, Sunday Kick in the Pants is our (semi) weekly weekend series dedicated to providing you with ideas for physical activities you and your family can participate in. We're doing this in keeping with Mike Huckabee's positive health example and recommendations he provides in his new book, Stop Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork. As he says in one of his "twelve stops" (STOP Sitting on the Couch): "Your goal is stopping bad habits and starting good ones -- not winning first prize."

In other words, don't choose an activity that is too strenuous right off the bat. What you want to do is start building habits for your family that include physicial activity. Soon it wont be "excercise", it will just be the fun ways your family chooses to spend its time together.

Our idea is to provide you with ideas that might inspire you to "stop sitting on the couch". If you don't like what we've got on any given Sunday, you can simply scroll through previous weeks' suggestions or look under the "Get Healthy" menu in our sidebar where we've linked some cool stuff.

Today's suggestion: Well, its mid-June now and its getting hot in many parts of the country, particularly in Mike Huckabee's beloved south. Its not a good idea to start a physical activity regimen in the heat of the summer unless you are already an active person. If you're just now "getting off the couch" DON'T grab your family and make them go hiking in the heat of the day. Not only could it be dangerous, but if you and your family are miserable you won't be likely to keep it up.

So here's a beginner's summer exercise idea sure to appeal to the wives and daughters: mall walking. Think about it. It's indoors, airconditioned and provides literally unlimited walking opportunities. There's stuff to look at, people to watch and its likely you were going to be making a trip there sometime in the next few days anyway--you can get your family exercise and take care of some errands a the same time. Heck, you might even walk yourselves into a new wardrobe. How convenient is that?

To get the most out of it, we suggest you set up a system. For example, you should pre-establish a certain amount of walking to be done before anyone shops. Use this incentive to keep everyone together and on task until the real goal of the trip (physical activity) is done. You can set it as a time goal (20 minutes of walking), a lap goal (7 trips around the mall) or a mile goal (most malls these days can tell you how many laps equal a mile). You might even want to buy yourself a pedometer.

Whatever you do, try to add a little to it each time. Before you know it, you and your flock will be ready for some real activities outside when things cool down this Fall.

So today after church, gather up the family, put on some comfortable shoes, and head for the mall. Put some miles on those shoes and have fun (but DON'T make any stops at the candy store or food court)!

We'll be back Monday providing important news and information about Mike Huckabee and the 2008 Presidential election, so be sure you check back in!

BSR