Staying healthy means staying active! Make sure you spend time each day where you get up and move.
Aerobic exercise, also known as “cardio,” is any activity that repeatedly uses your large muscles over an extended period of time, raises your heartbeat, and exercises your lungs.
Try out some of these aerobic exercises!
- running
- power walking
- biking
- swimming
- jumping rope
- dancing
- playing games like basketball and soccer
- Traditional activities like hunting, fishing, seal hop, berry picking, hiking, and more!
Most of your exercise should be aerobic exercise at moderate or vigorous levels. What does this mean? At a moderate activity level, you should be able to hold a conversation but not sing. At a vigorous activity level, you should only be able to say a few words at a time.
Adolescents should also do muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activities at least 3 days a week. For example, rock climbing, yoga, Pilates, and weight lifting are good muscle-strengthening activities. Any weight-bearing activities like running, jumping rope, tennis, basketball, and many Native Youth Olympics games are good bone-strengthening activities.
Stretching and flexibility are also a part of exercise. You should stretch for about 10 minutes after warming up, as well as after your cool down following exercise.
