Fun and Innovative Ways to Exercise With Your Pet
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Exercise is a very important part of a healthy lifestyle–that goes for you as well as your pets. Getting regular exercise helps keep muscles firm, flexible, and strong, reduces excess body fat, improves cardiovascular health, and offers a great outlet for pent up energy. All of this amounts to a longer, happier, and healthier life.
They say you are only as old as you feel, and staying active will help you and your pets keep feeling young for years to come. Get off the couch and out of the house today to get some exercise with your pets using some fun and innovative methods.
Playing fetch is something that seems to naturally and humorously interest many dogs, making it a great way to get daily exercise for them. The simple pleasure that your pooches get from chasing and returning a ball or stick is enough to keep the little rascals running until they can’t go on anymore. This is a good opportunity for you to get some exercise as well. Your dog may not be able to figure out how to throw a ball for you, but you can have a fetch race. Throw the ball and run towards it with your dog–see who can get to it first. Try it, and you’ll understand why dogs have so much fun with this game.
Cats tend to live a bit more of a solitary life, often going out of the house and exploring on their own. They chase birds, they bound across the neighbors’ yards, and come home after their exercise in time for dinner. For inside cats, however, daily exercise becomes somewhat of a rarity. They get used to curling up on the couch for hours, being pampered and rubbed, and become increasingly sedentary. Get your cat some exercise and get active yourself by doing some light show sit-ups. Cats derive some insane excitement from chasing a light on the wall. Do regular sit-ups while holding a flashlight or laser pointer and shine it on the walls as you go. Your cat will have a field day trying to catch the shining beam.
Daily walks can even be great ways to get exercise. Walking your dog doesn’t have to be a chore. You can make it fun by putting on your jogging shoes and turning the excursion into an interval walk. Walk a block, and then jog a block, alternating high and low levels of cardiovascular activity to make your dog walk a fun exercise session. Your dogs are sure to have a blast as well, and expel some of that energy that makes them so rambunctious in the house.
Lots of people spend hundreds of dollars on personal training courses to get themselves in shape, and animal trainers to keep their pets calm and well-behaved. You can get both of these things done for free by exercising with your pets. Remember, your pets are some of the best friends you’ll ever have. Keep them healthy and make them happy by introducing some exercise into both of your lives. Exercise shouldn’t be dull or boring and it doesn’t have to be. Getting your pets involved will make it more fun than you’d ever imagine.
