By Samantha Williams/Personal Trainer

Have you ever watched kids at play? 

I am pretty sure most of us have.

But I want you to take a closer look. Watch how kids move and play. 

Now, do exactly what they are doing! Get outside, ride your bike, run around the yard and play games, or even go to a nearby school or playground and PLAY! The weather is finally getting nice, so get outside and find a new way to stay active. We live in a beautiful town with trails to run or bike, so get out there and do it!

Obvious, right? 

But how about going to a park or playground and using the equipment to create your own “fun gym?” When was the last time you played on the monkey bars? Give it a shot. Here are some fun ideas to try out:

• Climb up the slide (exactly what we tell our kids not to do) – it’s a great workout
• Pull-ups on the bars
• Plyo jumps on the different platforms or benches
• Tricep dips on picnic tables
• Step ups on to the picnic tables
• Split squat with one foot on a swing
• Plank pikes with both feet on the swing
• Hanging from the high bars or monkey bars – try knee tucks or leg lifts
• Balance walk the rope
• Sprint from each piece of equipment in the gravel. It’s a lot of fun (mwhahahaha)!
• Create a circuit and move through it a couple times. Make sure you are challenging yourself – you should be sweating your butt off, out of breath and most importantly, having FUN!

The ideas are endless, so get your friends together and get creative. Put some fun back in your fitness routine, run around and PLAY!

If the playground isn’t for you, how about a hike you have never done with some friends? Mt. Garfield is a great one. Or one of my favorite things to do for a challenge is find a short (but steep) hill and run hill sprints. We will race to the top, then side squat, shuffle or lunge down it, then do it all over again. Hill sprints are amazing for interval training and should leave your lungs on fire. Don’t jog them – SPRINT!

I challenge every reader to pick something new this week and give it a shot. If that’s inside a gym, great. But I urge you to get outside and get creative. Move like a kid!

Over the summer, I will be holding some fun group park workouts – keep watching for them on FIT 4:13. They are an affordable, fun way to get moving.

Samantha Williams is a personal trainer with her company Fit 4:13. She owns Rhema Music & Clothing Company in Fruita and is also a fitness instructor and personal trainer through the Fruita Community Center. She is the mother of two beautiful girls and the wife of an incredibly talented musician. She was born and raised in Fruita, and can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. Join her March Fitness Challenge on her Fit 4:13 Facebook page. No matter what your size, you are welcome to participate in the free month of workouts!