News
"Kids interests have drastically shifted away from participating in physical activities with friends to being more sedentary with media-oriented entertainment—a major concern in a child’s overall health and well-being"
As gaming devices and apps continue to grow in popularity among today’s youth, finding ways to keep kids physically active and excited to move can be a challenge.
Life Time – The Healthy Way of Life Company and GeoPalz, LLC, the creators of theiBitz PowerKey Activity Tracker, have teamed together to encourage children to lead active lifestyles. The new iBitz PowerKey for kids, available at Life Time locations across the country, allows children to unlock games through their own physical activity and take care of a virtual character called a GeoBotz. This new type of gaming peripheral converts a child’s real life physical activity into digital coins, game tokens, and rewards.
“Kids interests have drastically shifted away from participating in physical activities with friends to being more sedentary with media-oriented entertainment—a major concern in a child’s overall health and well-being,” says Metabolic Specialist, Lauryn Nyhoff, from Life Time Fitness in Omaha, NE. “At Life Time, we want people of all ages to live a healthy way of life. Getting kids in on their own game with a creative tool like the iBitz is one way to help them stay physically active while allowing for the type of gaming they like.”
Life Time and GeoPalz suggest these additional ideas to motivate your family to stay active throughout the year.
- Get outside: Getting the family outside often seems like a thing of the past. However, with fall upon us there are plenty of opportunities to make this happen. Invite family and friends over for a tailgating party. During half time of your favorite football game, get outside for a family game of flag football. Take the family for a walk in the woods and check out the beautiful fall foliage.
- Get back to playtime basics: Being active doesn’t require adding extensive exercise regimens into your daily routine. Including fun classics like playing Frisbee and jumping rope are sure to give you a workout. Get the family in on a game of tag or capture the flag. All are easy ways to have fun and keep the whole family engaged..
- Everyone loves to be rewarded: Having measurable goals and the chance to earn exciting rewards inspires adults and kids alike to make healthy, active decisions. The iBitz PowerKey for kids encourages activities like walking and running and the corresponding app rewards them with virtual prizes. A win for parents wanting their kids to be active and fun for kids who want to play their games.
- Make family fitness part of your daily routine: Dedicate 30 to 60 minutes each day to being physically active with your family. Children can use their iBitz PowerKey as a way to track their steps, while parents can utilize their iBitz Unity, the adult version available at ibitz.com, in order to track their entire family’s fitness.
It’s been proven that physical fitness builds self-esteem, social relationships, and an appreciation for exercise at every age. According to the New York Times Well blog, healthy, physically active kids are more likely to be academically motivated, self-confident, and goal oriented. For more ways to get your family enthusiastic about getting active, find ways to incorporate their favorite games. Make sure all of the family is included and remember, have fun!
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About Life Time Fitness, Inc.
As The Healthy Way of Life Company, Life Time Fitness (NYSE:LTM) helps organizations, communities and individuals achieve their total health objectives, athletic aspirations and fitness goals by engaging in their areas of interest — or discovering new passions — both inside and outside of Life Time’s distinctive and large sports, professional fitness, family recreation and spa destinations, most of which operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Company’s Healthy Way of Life approach enables customers to achieve this by providing the best programs, people and places of uncompromising quality and value. As of Nov. X, 2013, the Company operated 107 centers under the LIFE TIME FITNESS® and LIFE TIME ATHLETIC® brands in the United States and Canada. Additional information about Life Time centers, programs and services is available at lifetimefitness.com.
About GeoPalz
GeoPalz is a family-owned business founded in 2008 by Rich and Sheri Schmelzer and Alexandra O'Leary, the creators of Jibbitz(TM) - the stylish shoe accessories for Crocs(TM). As parents, the creators of GeoPalz felt it necessary to create colorful, durable kid-friendly activity trackers, to further their mission of encouraging youth to lead active lifestyles. iBitz, motivate children by converting physical activity into digital coins, game tokens, and rewards, unlocking exclusive content, as well as earn virtual and physical goods within a safe online and mobile community. www.geopalz.com - www.facebook.com/GeoPalz -www.twitter.com/GeoPalz