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Summary
On episode 137 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan continues his series on play by going back to the games we played as kids, hopscotch, twister, dodgeball, tetherball, and air hockey, and breaking down the real fitness skills those games were quietly building.
He walks through hopscotch in detail: hand eye coordination tossing the rock, balance hopping on one foot, agility switching between one and two feet, and the endurance and leg strength of jumping the whole board.
His challenge is simple: turn the fitness work you already need to do into a game, and better yet, find other people to play it with.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Childhood games quietly trained real fitness skills. Hopscotch, twister, and dodgeball built hand eye coordination, balance, agility, and endurance without ever feeling like exercise.
- Hopscotch alone hits several fitness modalities at once. Tossing the rock builds hand eye coordination, hopping on one foot builds balance, switching feet builds agility, and covering the board builds endurance and leg strength.
- You can turn any fitness drill into a game. Instead of just standing on one foot for balance, hop forward, backward, and side to side to make the same drill more engaging and effective.
- Playing with other people multiplies the effort without it feeling like work. Challenging a friend to hopscotch, tetherball, or twister pushes you harder than a solo workout because you are competing and having fun at the same time.
- Competition can hide a serious workout. Allan describes waking up bruised after a competitive game of air hockey with his boss, the lateral movement was intense even though it never felt like training in the moment.
- These games are cheap and accessible. Hopscotch needs only a piece of chalk and a rock, and many parks already have space for tetherball and dodgeball.
- Specialty facilities make old childhood games safe for adults. Padded dodgeball parks and trampoline rooms let you play the more physical games without the injury risk they carried when you were a kid.
- Playing games works multiple fitness modalities at once. Strength, endurance, mobility, balance, coordination, and lateral speed can all be trained through play instead of isolated drills.
“I promise every one of these kids games, every single one of them that I mentioned will put you through the ringer. It will work you.”
Coach Allan Misner