5 Ways to Get Your Family Moving

2. Fitness CAN Be a Chore

Why not get the family to participate in active chores that will also help you cross items off the "To Do" list? Walk the family dog together, wash the car or have a contest to see who can rake the biggest pile of leaves in the shortest amount of time.

Want to really burn those calories and tone your legs? Ditch the riding lawn mower and use a push model. For an environmental bonus, use an "old fashioned" manual mower and rely on 100% human power. Older kids can help with this chore and the entire family can join together for gardening duties like planting, weeding and harvesting.

Inside the house, crank up the tunes and make a dance party of vacuuming, folding laundry, dusting and putting away toys. Yeah, it's still cleaning, but if you package it right, you'll enjoy yourselves and maybe even break a sweat.

3. Help Others

Teach your kids about fitness and the value of helping others by signing up for a walk or charity run in your community. As a family, choose a cause that is important to you-breast cancer or autism awareness, finding a cure for juvenile diabetes or helping homeless pets, etc.-and come up with a fun name for your team, as well as a fundraising goal.

As soon as you determine the event, you'll need to start "training" and set weekly training goals - "OK, Team Awesome! This week, our goal is 2 miles walked in 40 minutes!"

4. Explore Your Community

Cars are convenient, but you sure miss a lot when you spend all of your time in one. Take your family on a weekly walking or biking tour of your community, hitting a different area each time. You might be surprised by what you discover-interesting public sculptures, cool independent businesses, a park that you never noticed, and so on.