Table of Contents
With a Printable Teacher’s Guide to Fitness Infographic
This week the weather got significantly warmer in my city. The first thing I thought of was getting back out to walk. During good weather days, I will walk 3.5 miles of absolutely beautiful bayside walking.
But that kind of walking is very time consuming, so I can’t do it every day. And this is true of most other teachers. There just aren’t enough hours in a day.
So how do teachers get and stay fit? The best way to do this is to add snippets of exercise and healthy activities into every part of their already scheduled day that they can. Here is a list of seven inspiring ideas that every teacher can implement into their routine:
- Park at the back of every parking lot you go to.
- Schedule a family fun day.
- Start a fitness group with the equipment your school already has.
- Walk around your classroom–don’t sit!
- Have fitness breaks with your students when they (or you) get restless.
- Add one fitness goal per week or month.
- Eat well and have a recipe exchange board in your teachers room as well as an online recipe exchange.
Let’s go ahead and take a closer look at each one of these points.
Park at the Back of Every Parking Lot You Go To
This has actually become one of my favorite ways to keep moving. I am always on the go. That includes 2 or 3 store errands just about every day, whether it is the store, the DMV, doctors’ appointments, and all the other millions of things moms do every day. And that is a lot of extra walking over time when I go to the back of the parking lot every time.
The funny thing is that this did not start out as a way to exercise. I had bought a pretty large SUV and it was just easier to park in the back of the parking lot than try to squeeze into the spots in the front where all the other cars were. Plus I wouldn’t have to worry about my car being dinged when other cars whipped their doors open carelessly.
And then I started realizing that easier parking and preserving my new car’s condition weren’t the only benefits. I probably added over a mile a week in extra walking due to this routine.
And one other benefit has come out of this: I never forget where I left my car. I am always in the back where fewer cars are and usually in the same general area of every parking lot. So not only do I not get lost, but my adult kids can find me no matter where we are or which spot I am parked in.
The only drawback that I have found with this trick is that on really bad weather days it can be miserable making my way into the buildings.
And finally, one of the best parts of this is that teachers get and stay fit with this idea without even feeling like they have added anything to their routine.
Schedule a Family Fun Day
This is definitely not something you would immediately think of when trying to find ways for teachers to get and stay more fit on a teacher’s schedule. But the glory of this idea is that you are multitasking in so many good ways.
First, you are getting more time with your family, which is always a challenge. Second, you are finding some fun things for your family to do. Third, you aren’t just working on your own fitness, but all of your family’s as well. And fourth, if you open up your family time to other teachers at school, your whole family is getting some much needed casual social interaction.
Here are some great ideas to get you started:
- Geocaching
- Informal “track day” with a table for a healthy picnic potluck after
- Hiking
- Beach day (make sure you’re walking and swimming and not just sitting there catching up on your favorite books–I know I would rather be doing that too!)
- Tennis tournament
- Volleyball game/tournament
- Basketball
- City-wide treasure hunt (or town-wide if you are rural)
- Laser tag
- Trampoline park
- Go on a long bike excursion
- Go on a weekend campout at a local park
I’m sure you all can come up with even more ideas, but these will get you started. And as a bonus most of them were either free or very low cost involved!
Start a Fitness Group With the Equipment Your School Already Has
This one might be one of the toughest ways for teachers to get fit and/or stay fit, not because of the organizational aspect of it, but because of the time commitment aspect of it.
But it does have a built in motivator–if others are expecting you to be there, then you have a little bit more motivation to show up.
So this is what it looks like. If your school already has quite a bit of gym equipment, why not schedule a good time (before or after classes) that you can spend a half hour working out with fellow teachers and also blowing off some steam before or after the usual crazy busy school day?
And if your gym doesn’t have exactly the equipment you would prefer to use? There are a couple of good solutions to this as well. You can either bring items from home that aren’t being used. Or you could always buy one or two items among all of the people that are going to your scheduled workouts.
Having a whole lot of equipment can be expensive, but sharing the cost load among the other teachers makes it very affordable very quickly. Usually the cost involved would be no more than the cost of a few cups of coffee.
You could also get together with a few other teachers and go in on an equipment set. This would allow you to buy in bulk and save money overall.
Here are a few affordable items you could add to your school equipment:
Thinking Way Outside the Box
If you have enough teachers interesting in the fitness group, you could play some pick up games of basketball, volleyball, or soccer, or whatever your facility has for organized sports.
And yet one more suggestion: if there is a teacher at your school that moonlights as a fitness instructor, then you have struck gold if he/she is willing to donate some time to working with your group.
Walk Around Your Classroom–Don’t Sit!
This one is actually really easy to do–once you get used to it. Teachers get and stay fit by moving around–a lot. In the younger grades it generally isn’t a problem because those little kids will keep you on your toes all day long.
But for the older kids it’s easy to sit down and then never really get up.
And for sure, there are times that you want to sit down with your students to work with them on a more personal level. But there are also plenty of opportunities to get up and move.
This one doesn’t take any equipment or time or any extra effort at all really. But if you are used to sitting down for extended periods of time, it may be hard to stand up for a long time without subconsciously just going to sit back down.
You may need some sort of reminder to keep yourself on your feet (string around your finger, lol, or other non-distracting to your kids reminders). You will also need comfortable shoes. And if you do need an adjustment period, start with a certain amount of time each day and work your way up. By the end of the year you will be surprised how much difference it made.
And there will be all kinds of health benefits to this: better circulation, better lung capacity, more energy, stronger legs, and more stamina throughout your day to name a few.
Have Fitness Breaks With Your Students When They (or You) Get Restless
This is one of my favorite ways for teachers to get and/or stay fit because it doesn’t feel like a chore or something you have to implement. I feel like fun and a break–because it is!
Kids absolutely love when, right in the middle of the lesson, you stop everything and tell them to line up because “we’re doing something different.” First, you see the confusion on their face. Then, you see their eyes light up as they all rush to get to the door.
And then it is up to you to figure out what short activity you want to do with them to get them alive and paying attention again.
Here are some suggestions that have worked for me:
- Run around the building
- Mini-treasure hunt–go find the perfect stick, rock, leaf, etc.
- 5 minute round of freeze tag in the gym if empty, or playground if the gym isn’t available.
- Rock, paper, scissors
- I Spy
Depending on whether you want your break to be a couple of minutes of 10-15 minutes, you will have to wisely plan your spontaneous activity (yes, I just used plan and spontaneous in the same sentence, lol). Just keep in mind for the activities that you have to leave your class, you have to account for time to get back to class and regroup.
Add One Fitness Goal Per Week or Month
Now that you have this list of things to get you started, it shouldn’t take a whole lot of effort to get yourself on track, one step at a time.
Nobody ever really succeeds by changing up all the things all at the same time. And fitness is especially hard to instantly fully implement.
It is much easier on your body, your routine, and your thought patterns to take baby steps and turn new things into habits.
Based on what works best for you, choose one thing that you would like to do for this week and start doing it. Once you feel comfortable with that one thing and that you can easily keep it as part of your routine, start another new thing. By then end of they year, you will be amazed at how different things are if you keep at this.
And as you find time for these new healthier routines, you will find the more unhealthy habits getting squeezed out!
Eat Well and Have a Recipe Exchange Board in Your Teachers’ Lounge as Well as an Online Recipe Exchange
I love food. Doesn’t everybody? And in most societies around the world, food is ingrained in just about every social interaction. It’s what keeps us alive, so why not make it part of life?
Good food is also a critical component in helping teachers (as well as the rest of the world) to get and stay fit.
And we can actually make it healthy and productive in the process. There are tons of healthy tasty foods out there now. And tons of research for us to know what foods we should be eating.
Most people prefer fresh foods anyway. But it takes time to plan and prepare. So a great way to help out with this is to have an inspiration board somewhere that all the teachers can benefit from it.
The teachers’ lounge is a great location for it. Or you could put it in your exercise area. It would also be beneficial to have it online as well so that you can access it from home when you need to make something in a pinch. Or when you are trying to plan out your meals for the week, whichever way you tend to roll.
Pinterest is probably the best forum for teachers to have an online catalog of their go-to healthy food ideas. Just about every teacher has a Pinterest account. Plus millions of other people. There is so much inspiration there. And pictures of everything will inspire us!
Fitness Guide for Teachers
And as promised, here is your printable Fitness Guide Infographic! Feel free to print it up as a poster and use it wherever it works well for you and your fellow teachers!
Bonus: here is one of my favorite books and a perfect way to take just a couple of spare minutes in your classroom to help keep fit. It is not time consuming, you need no equipment, and you can do it when you get to work, before you go home, during a break, or any little bit of time you get at your desk throughout the day.
Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch, and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You
Conclusion
So this is the result on my research on how teachers get and stay fit in spite of their super busy schedule, both inside and outside of the classroom. I already do about half of these things, but I am definitely looking forward to implementing the rest of them.
Which things do you already do and which things would you like to start doing? Let me know–hit me up in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article, I think you will enjoy these articles as well:
Staying fit can be so difficult! Especially in an office job! Getting any small opportunity to move and be active is a great idea! I mostly work on staying fit when I am out of the office.
Yes, it is a huge challenge for most jobs to stay fit. There are a lot of workarounds but they take a lot of thought and planning.
These are some great ideas. Natalie says most of her teachers seem to stand a lot. She says probably to check to see who is on their phones, ha.
These are all AWESOME ideas. And I feel like teachers who move around the room as they teach do a better job at commanding the room as well.
Yes! And they are automatically more engaged with their students.
These are amazing ideas, I will flip this one to my friend Kasu, he’d surely find these tips inspiring. Thaks a lot.
My husband is a teacher as well as a fitness freak. His students come to him for tips on gaining muscle mass and increasing their height. Hehe..!!
That’s awesome, Shruti. It is a great thing for him to have the attention and trust of his students.
I am a teacher but I work with preschool teachers and they are a workout. I also join a Tae Kwon Do, not with teachers though, and do at home exercises.
It sounds like you’ve got this! That’s awesome. And yes, preschool kids are a workout!
Well it’s a really good example if the teachers, first of all, keep and work hard to stay fit!
Sometimes t-shirts don’t have time to do anything the work is all day long it’s nice to see that they can have a time to take care of their health
I like the teachers that play with the kids at recess time. These are great tips.
The kids like it too because it shows them that those are the teachers that really care about them!
I’ve just started working full time at a University and holy cow has my fitness significantly dropped. I found on a good day I’m walking 2,000 steps. I’ve started going for walks during my lunch break and when there’s a class break walking to the drink fountain so at least I’m moving a little bit more.
It takes a lot of planning and organizing to get yourself back where you need to be. But it is so worth it!
Great suggestions! I don’t teach full-time, just an evening music class, but one thing that I’ve noticed is that I pace A LOT when I’m teaching. I think the fact it’s an instrumental class helps as you end up going to kids to help demonstrate different techniques, notes, etc. That being said, I can totally see how a teacher may end up sitting while teaching a different topic… It’s important to recognize that we can do the things we love (after all, teaching is a career driven by passion) while continuing to prioritize our own health.
Yes, Britt, we have to be very intentional in maintaining our health.
I love the ideas & suggestions! Sports & other physical activities are essential for keeping up energy levels & overall health!
A lot of teachers are going to be so in love with this post, as it’s so difficult to find the time out of their tight schedule at times to keep fit. This is very inspiring
Thank you, Mary! I hope it is greatly helpful for teachers.
These are great ideas that could really benefit teachers with their health and fitness goals! But these tips can also benefit others. I myself am not a teacher, but I plan to take your advice and schedule a family fun day as soon as I can!!
I am so happy to hear that! And yes, this advice will be helpful for lots of different job descriptions. Thank you for sharing!
These are some excellent ideas! My sister always parks far away from work just so she has an extra few seconds to herself, but the exercise is good too! I know she’s started helping with the hockey team as well so I’m sure that’s good for her.
That is all perfect! Sounds like she’s good to go. 🙂
At least teachers get to walk around and not sit in front a computer all day.
That is very true! Maybe I should do a post to help those people that have to sit at work all day!
This is very informative and interesting. I would recommend all teachers read this post!
Sport is so important and being fit is my goal! Lovely ideas and suggestions
I found it really helpful to wear a pedometer when teaching. I made so many loops around my classroom that I got dizzy, but I got my steps in! These are great tips for teachers to stay healthy while inspiring their students.
That’s awesome, Melanie! I think I would have done even better with a pedometer because I would have been trying to hit higher milestones. 🙂
Parking at the back of every parking lot does help that a bit. I try to do that sometimes. And family outings are always good for getting exercise.
Great tips! This could be used for many different types of work environments. We plan outdoor adventures as much as possible while the Arizona weather is nice.
I was never much of an outdoor person so I had to intentionally include it in my activity. My students and my own kids helped get me over that hurdle because they all loved to be outdoors.
The little things like parking far from the door can really add up! I like the idea of fitness breaks with the class too.
The kids love it too!
I used to teach children with special needs and it it very difficult especially the students on the autism spectrum.Going to the gym has made me calmer and helps me with my focus. I make sure i go to the gym three to four times a week
It sounds like you have an excellent handle on things, Paolo. And yes, working with special needs is very difficult and exhausting but also so much more rewarding to see them hit their milestones.
These are great tips for teachers. I have been more intentional about taking walks and riding my bike.
That is awesome, Christine. I have not done as well as I intended in this area. I am trying to take my own advice!!! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I think this is a good way for everyone to stay fit, not just teachers 🙂
I completely agree, Ann! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
I think these are great fitness ideas in general, not just teacher-specific. Thanks! Now I can implement even more fitness tips into my daily routine.
Very true, Jordan! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
That is a really good guide for teachers to remain fit or at least fit some exercise in their daily routine. I like that most of the stuff you suggested is free and easy to accomplish. Also, the fitness break with your student is awesome I am sure that they enjoy that and that they are more attentive after the break. Thanks for sharing those practical tips. I will surely add the “Park at the back of each parking to make sure I get extra steps every time I go somewhere.
You are right, Steven–the kids love the fitness break. 🙂 Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Schedule a family fun day seems like a fun idea! We should do it this weekend. So fun to run! Use mask though!
Absolutely!
So many great ideas and you/I can also do these things even if we are not a teacher. I am going to share this with my friend who is also a teacher, I am sure this will help her a lot.
You are right–anyone can do these! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Fitness break is what I believe would truly like, doing this with colleagues and even students would a whole lot of fun, I like the idea of thinking outside of the box as well.
You will love getting the break in your day and having companions to do it with!
What an interesting read. It can really inspire people to get fit.
This is fantastic! Teachers, like parents with their children, think of the others first. It is nice to see a plan for those to start thinking of themselves with fitness!
Definitely a great idea, you tackle so many points here and show our dear teachers that they can be fit. It just depend on what we will do about it.
I have many friends who r teachers. I know they really need it. I will share it with them.
A great way to improve your routine and have a helthier lifestyle. Also it is great as a teacher to inspire your students to saty active and healthy!
Teaching by example is the best! Students love it when the teacher is right there participating with them. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Daniel!
I like that you are encouraging the teachers to stay fit and healthy during any situation. These are very doable and effective suggestions.
family fun days are excellent! i would love to try geocaching myself. have you done it before?
I have done it with my boys many times. They are literally just about anywhere you go! Let me know how it goes for you!
This is nice. Looks like I need this, too LOL. Sending this to our teachers 🙂
Thank you for passing it along!
Bless those places that have public parks for exercises like walks and jogging. Teachers need to have a healthy lifestyle coz they are great motivators for their students.
These are really great ideas for helping teachers stay fit. I could make use of them.
We all could, Lavern! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. ♥
There are some really good hints and tips here for sure. Anything that helps people get fit is a big plus for me x
My late father was a teacher for most of his adult life. He did a few of the things you mention but the thing he seemed to enjoy the most was being involved with after school sports. That included refereeing rugby matches or being an umpire at cricket matches.
It sounds like he really enjoyed spending time with the students. I am happy to hear your fond memories.
Staying fit is key problem of everyone who are doing more office based job, but teacher’s job is already exercise based, walking in the class room, continues writing on the board, using the teaching ads…. But this guide with some great ideas is so beneficial for teachers.
I have a soft spot for teachers and our blog is also about teachers abroad. This is a great post because it is helping them get back in shape. I believe mental health is also very import to teachers too.
Mental health is in many ways even more important than physical health! The two are actually quite intertwined. Thank you for such a thoughtful comment!
I’m not a teacher myself but I found these tips helpful. Especially parking at the very back of the parking lot!
Your post gave me a new view about an aspect in life of teacher. I never thought they struggle with being fit. Thanks for sharing!
These are some very useful tips! I agree that group activities motivate you more than ever! And the parking spot tip is very practical!
The parking spot one is definitely my favorite. It’s so easy and doesn’t feel like work or extra effort! And no crowded parking issues!
The essential and necessary thing is that we have to move every day. Walk, use the bike, go up the stairs, etc. Choose the movement is the key
You are exactly right, Genny!
Great article. Teachers need to have a healthy lifestyle too they are great foundation motivators for their students.
There is definately a lot to know about this topic. I like all of the points you’ve made.
Those are all great ideas to stay fit while being a teacher. I guess if you are a gym teacher, it can be easier, especially if participating with the students, haha.
This is a great idea! I think this approach would work wonders in almost any setting. I remember being bored out of my mind when I was in school.
I like the idea of giving the kids a chance to get off some energy and keep the teacher fit at the same time. These are great ideas.
These are some awesome ways to stay in shape while teaching! I think walking around is a great way to do things for sure.
Kileen
cute & little
“Kids absolutely love when, right in the middle of the lesson, you stop everything and tell them to line up because “we’re doing something different” As a kid only a few year back, I can definitely relate to this. Going out for a physical fitness activity is definitely a win-win for all.
Having fitness breaks with the students looks like a great idea. My daughter is having online learning sessions ( due to CoVID) and her teacher always gives kid 5 minutes break which is meant for cool exercises.
Thanks so much for sharing this! It’s so useful for me because I’m trying to lose baby weight and I never considered little changes like parking at the back of the parking lot!
Fitness break with students sounds like a fun idea!! Would have been nice to experience this with my teacher in early ages, probably would make me more keen to do it as well later, while in office and have a more healthy life.
I love all of these ideas. Fitness and teaching typically don’t get talked about together but it is also important.
Well, in my class, we get to play a game all of us. And it is a game that requires us to get down on our feet and loose from our neck-ties.
I will be honest I never thought about teachers staying fit! Wow and I even like the free printable!