Day 8: Legacy of Strength: Including Your Children in Your Fitness Journey
Building a Family Fitness Culture
As members of the GRL Initiative, we've explored how fitness enhances our professional performance and mental resilience. But for many of us balancing careers with parenthood, fitness can sometimes feel like yet another competing priority. What if, instead, we could transform our wellness routines into powerful bonding opportunities that simultaneously shape the next generation?
The Science of Modeling
The research is compelling: children with active parents are 5.8 times more likely to maintain active lifestyles into adulthood compared to peers with sedentary parents (Telama et al., 2014). This effect strengthens significantly when parents directly involve children in physical activities rather than exercising separately.
Even more striking is how we talk about fitness with our children. Studies show that when parents focus conversations on health, strength, and enjoyment—rather than weight or appearance—children develop healthier body image and eating behaviors (Berge et al., 2016). The message is clear: your consistent example paired with positive framing creates a powerful legacy.
From Solo Practice to Shared Experience
Many GRL members have mastered the art of the efficient solo workout between meetings or early morning sessions before the household wakes. While these remain valuable, consider how you might open certain aspects of your fitness routine to include your children:
Narrate your "why": When your child sees you lacing up running shoes or rolling out a yoga mat, share age-appropriate reasons about why movement matters to you. "I'm doing this because it helps my mind feel clear" or "These exercises make my body strong for our hiking adventures" creates context beyond appearance.
Reimagine "family time": Rather than always separating workout time from family time, look for integration points. Weekend family hikes, dance parties in the living room, or modified strength circuits where children can participate build memories while building fitness.
Embrace their pace: Children naturally move differently than adults—more spontaneous, playful, and sometimes chaotic. Rather than always asking them to adapt to structured adult exercise, occasionally step into their world of movement through games and exploration.
This Week's Challenge
Identify one concrete way to involve your children in your fitness journey this week. This might be:
A Saturday morning "family workout" with stations or exercises everyone can modify
Inviting them to help plan an active weekend adventure
Creating a simple ritual where they join you for warm-up or cool-down stretches
Sharing age-appropriate information about a fitness goal you're working toward
Focus on making these experiences positive and empowering rather than competitive or obligatory. Document the experience—what worked, what didn't, what surprised you—to share with our community.
Beyond the Physical Benefits
When we thoughtfully include our children in our fitness journeys, we're teaching more than movement patterns. We're demonstrating:
Commitment: Following through on promised workouts shows dedication
Resilience: Working through challenges models perseverance
Body respect: Appreciating what our bodies can do rather than how they look
Self-care: Prioritizing well-being as essential, not selfish
The strongest legacy we can create isn't just generating another generation of physically active people—though that's valuable. It's nurturing children who understand that caring for their bodies is a form of self-respect, that movement brings joy, and that strength extends far beyond muscles.
What fitness wisdom will you pass down this week?
References:
Berge, J. M., MacLehose, R. F., Loth, K. A., Eisenberg, M. E., Fulkerson, J. A., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2016). Parent-adolescent conversations about eating, physical activity and weight: Prevalence across sociodemographic characteristics and associations with adolescent weight and weight-related behaviors. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 39(1), 1349-1359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9584-3
Telama, R., Yang, X., Leskinen, E., Kankaanpää, A., Hirvensalo, M., Tammelin, T., Viikari, J. S., & Raitakari, O. T. (2014). Tracking of physical activity from early childhood through youth into adulthood. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(5), 955-962. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000181
