Freeways to Exercise
CHATTANOOGA
Click here for Freeways brochure
Click here to see Freeways Map

1.    Just go outside and play!  Play great games like tag, frisbee, hackey sack, jump rope, hopscotch, or hula hoop, fly a kite, tug of war, one-legged sack races, set up an obstacle course, or take chairs outside and play musical chairs.  Do silly exercises like bear-crawling or ape-walking.  Have a water balloon fight or run through the sprinkler.

2.   Walk -  pre-dinner, post-dinner, to school, your dog, your neighbor's dog, for charity, through the zoo, to a friend's house or a store, through the mall, across the Walnut Street Bridge to Coolidge Park, anytime! Don't forget Walk to School Day.

Safe Routes to School in Hamilton County

3.   Bike or mountain bike - through the Chickamauga battlefield, up Lookout Mountain, in your neighborhood, or in the Health Department's bike rodeo at the Riverpark. Click here for a map of area bike routes from Bike Chattanooga.

4.   Run or jog - Where can't you go?

5.   Hike - Chattanooga has tons of great parks with trails - Click here to Outdoor Chattanooga for ideas and maps.

6.   Make a game out of household chores:  picking up toys, vacuuming, dusting, washing windows, carry unwanted items from the attic down the stairs, wash the car.

7.   Sneak workouts into other activities - take the stairs instead of the escalator, walk in supermarket instead of ride in cart, ask your parent to park some distance away from the store, school, or wherever you're going, and walk the rest of the way!

8.   Yard work and outside fun are great exercise and may help others, too:  gardening, raking leaves, jumping in piles of leaves, shoveling snow, make snow angels or a snow man.

9.   Join a team sport - badmitton, baseball, basketball, football, flag football, soccer, dodge ball, kickball, volleyball, relay races, tennis, ping pong, bowling - also practice throwing, shooting, or kicking on your own. Click here to learn more about City of Chattanooga Parks and Recreation or here for County Parks and Recreation

10.  Walk to a playground and climb ropes, monkey bars or climbing wall: Did you know that Chattanooga has 21 playgrounds? Click here to check out local parks.

Collegedale Greenway

11.    Pull your little brother or sister around the yard in a wagon.

12.  Calisthenics are things you can do with your own body weight: no equipment required!  Squats, lunging, sit-ups, push-ups, etc.

13.  Go skating on roller skates, ice skates, or a skateboard.

14.  Wrestle with your friends, or see if there's a wrestling team at school.

15.  Weight lift - build up and tone up!  Use stuff from your garage or do some french curls with soup cans!

16.    Learn gymnastics, tumbling, hurdling, aerobics, or form a step team.

17.    Dance (in the living room with flashlights or on a greenway), or take up ballet, tap, or line dancing.

Do some line dancing to fun music at the Riverpark

18.    Join a cheerleading or drill team, or twirl a baton while marching.

19.  Swim in a pool, lake, or river, or go diving, or snorkeling (some high schools offer scuba diving classes!).

20.  Find someone with a boat, or have a lemonade stand to raise money to rent a canoe, paddle boat, or really work out with some oars in a row boat in one of Chattanooga's great rivers.

Soddy Daisy city park 

21.  Take martial arts classes - karate, judo, t'ai chi, or s-t-r-e-t-c-h  out in yoga at the Y.  Financial aid may be available.

22.   Borrow some skis and go skiing in Chattanooga's nearby Smoky Mountains during the winter.

23.   Ask someone to take you to play golf or miniature golf.

24.  See if a family member or neighbor can take you to a fitness center, college gym, or just put on an exercise video.

25. Get creative - take a walk in deep mud, then try to step in your own tracks all the way back home!

Children's Activity Pyramid

http://www.classbrain.com/artread/publish/article_31.shtml