Design Your Own Workout Plan

Your teen picks a real goal that's about energy, strength, fun, or a specific skill (never appearance) and builds their own one-week plan of bodyweight exercises to work toward it, testing a day of it with you before running the rest of the week on their own.

How to do it

1. Sit down with your teen and ask what they'd like more of when it comes to moving their body, not how they look. If they're stuck, offer a few starting points: more energy after school, running a faster mile, doing one full pull-up, feeling less out of breath on the stairs, or just having more fun moving. Let them land on one goal, in their own words.
2. Together, brainstorm or look up 4 to 6 bodyweight exercises that build toward that goal: things like jogging in place, jumping jacks, push-ups, squats, lunges, planks, stretching, or jump rope. Let your teen choose which ones sound doable and appealing to them; there's no single "correct" list.
3. Help your teen sketch a one-week plan on paper or in a notes app: which days they'll move (most days is plenty, with at least one full rest day), which exercises go on each day, and roughly how long (10 to 20 minutes is a good starting length).
4. Test-drive one day of the plan together right now. Walk through the exercises at a comfortable pace, and if anything feels too hard, too easy, or just not fun, adjust it on the spot.
5. Post the finished plan somewhere your teen will see it (a bedroom wall, the fridge, a phone note) so they can check off each day as they go through the week.
6. At the end of the week, sit down together again. Ask what felt good, what they want to keep, and what they'd change for next week's plan.

What you need

• Planning notes
• Clear floor space
• Comfortable clothing
• Water bottle
• Jump rope
• Timer

Make it yours

Younger end, around 12: Keep the plan to 3 exercises and 3 days for the first week, and keep the test-drive under 10 minutes. Older, around 14, more experience with exercise: Let them add simple structure like intervals (for example, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest) or a slightly longer session, still bodyweight-only and still with a rest day. Siblings: Each teen builds their own plan around their own goal; this works best as parallel individual plans rather than one shared plan, since goals and fitness levels differ. Small or shared space: Many of the exercises (planks, stretching, squats) need only a few feet of floor space and work in a bedroom, living room corner, or a corridor. Jogging in place or jumping jacks can move outdoors to a garden, courtyard, or nearby park if indoor space is tight