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I’m sure I’m not alone in making excuses that I don’t have time to exercise because I’m busy with the kids!
Since Theo was born (and being honest before too) I’ve not done much in the way of exercise other than walking and a bit of yoga. Certainly nothing that’s raised my heart rate much! So over the last week I’ve set to improve this and do an activity a day with Everyone Active, the UK leading operator of local leisure, gym, swim and activities facilities.
Everyone Active have produced a series of FREE family activity plans as part of their summer campaign, Everyone is Family. We’ve had so much fun doing this and it’s introduced us to both new places and activities.
How do the Family Activity Plans work?
There are 4 weeks worth of plans to choose from, each designed to help keep families active.
- Relaxation Week
- Summer of Sports Week
- Energetic Week
- Adventurous Week
They involve a mix of family days, where you do an activity together and parent days, encouraging you to do an activity on your own.
To make it easier to fit the plans into your week there are activities that you can choose to do at home as well as in your local Everyone Active leisure centre.
What activities did we do?
We did a bit of a mix and chose activities from each of the plans and chose ones that fitted into our typical week.
Here’s what our week looked liked:
- Monday – Have fun outside with skipping games and piggy back races
- Tuesday – Les Mills Body Balance class at home using the Everyone On Demand app
- Wednesday – Theo’s first swim at Chesham Leisure Centre (he’s 4 months old)
- Thursday – Group cycling class in the Immersive Cycle Studio at Chalfont Leisure Centre
- Friday – Swimming with Ashley at Aqua Vale (she’s 3)
- Saturday – Whole family swim at Aqua Vale
- Sunday – Cook-A-Long at home making peri-peri chicken pita breads
The days in turquoise are the parent days where I exercised alone. Well almost alone anyway, Theo joined me half way through the Body Balance class after waking up early from his nap. That’s the beauty of doing it at home though, you can be much more flexible when things like that happen.
Have you ever tried an Immersive Cycling Class?
In fact have you even heard of it? It’s set up like a normal spin class but at the front there’s a curved wall-to-wall immersive screen which takes you on a journey through digitally-created worlds. It’s done using a Les Mills class called The Trip.
From someone who’s never enjoyed a spin class ever I can honestly say I LOVED this! The visuals absolutely make it for me and even though I was exhausted I was buzzing after the class as it was so much fun. So much so that I booked to go back and do another class on the Sunday.
The immersive cycle studios are available at Chalfont Leisure Centre and Chesham Leisure Centre and are available either as part of your gym membership or pay as you go for £9.40.
Chesham Leisure Centre
This is where me and Theo went for a swim. The pool is nothing fancy, it’s just a 25m basic pool but if you’re looking for somewhere fairly quiet to go for a swim this is perfect. They also have a separate baby pool which they are hoping to reopen very soon. This pool is heated to a warmer 30 degrees so is perfect for babies, the main pool is slightly on the cool side for very young babies at 28 degrees.
I had a quick look around whilst I was there and as well as the immersive cycle studio they had another very cool group exercise room called PRAMA. The room itself becomes part of the training through interactive floors and walls, motivational music, engaging LED lights, and stunning multimedia projections. I can’t wait to try this out!
They also have a brand new gym with 80 fitness stations and a group exercise studio.
Chalfont Leisure Centre
This is where I did the immersive cycle class, but you’ll also find a gym here, a refurbished pool and a group exercise studio. The gym is new with 70 fitness stations and looked great!
Aqua Vale
At Aqua Vale you’ll find 3 pools – a competition pool and 2 leisure pools. We went to the leisure pools and had the best time!
If I’m being honest I was a bit hesitant at going as there’s a lot of reviews online (albeit fairly old) that call the pool out for being cold. I was pleasantly surprised when we got in to find it a toasty 31 degrees so they’ve clearly addressed the issue.
In the leisure pools there are rapids, jacuzzi’s, 2 big slides and a couple of smaller slides which land in the rapids. There’s also a baby/toddler pool with a boat, slide and some games on the walls. The second leisure pool is in a glass house with a retractable roof! So on sunny days they can turn this into an outdoor pool!
For the big slides at Aqua Vale you need to be 1.1m tall so Ashley was too short. She did enjoy the smaller slides though.
To swim here it costs £7.40 for adults and £4.20 for children. Under 5’s are free!
Everyone On Demand
I used the Everyone On Demand app to do my Les Mills Body Balance class at home and it worked perfectly. Fitting exercise in around a baby and toddler can be tricky but apps like this definitely help make it possible.
Everyone On Demand supports you both in and out of the gym. It includes personal training, a huge variety of exercise classes and mental wellbeing. There’s a wide range of classes on there including popular classes from Les Mills, SH1FT and Keiser.
It cost’s just£9.99 a month for all of the apps that form Everyone on Demand. It’s also included if you’re an Everyone Active Member.
Cook-A-Long
As part of the campaign Everyone Active has partnered with chef Jonny Marsh to create quick, easy-to-follow recipes that are perfect for the whole family. You’ll get the recipes when you download your activity plans. We made his peri-peri chicken pitas and they were delicious!
Everyone is Family
Everyone Active’s Everyone is Family campaign is all about helping you and your family get active together and have lots of fun along the way!
You can sign up for the free activity plans here and also be in the chance of winning a bundle of prizes along the way, including a family membership worth OVER £600!
We’ve had such a fun week doing this and not only has it encouraged us to be more active but it’s given us inspiration to try new places and activities.
