Get fit and have fun with fitness bingo

It’s not always easy to get pumped up to hit the gym – attending a spin class with an instructor who seems to have trained at MI5 is not an appealing prospect for all of us mere mortals.

Just like anything in life, exercise is a lot more tempting and successful when it’s something that you enjoy. The excellent thing is that there are some really fun ways to get your heart rate up and burn some of the overindulged calories from the weekend. Fitness bingo is certainly right up there as one of the most fun ways to hit your daily fitness goals for six.

Let’s take a look at the different ways that you can get that booty off the sofa, squeeze into something athletic, and enjoy an excellent spot of bingo at the same time!

WORKOUT BINGO

In this form of fitness bingo, we’re going to concentrate purely on exercise. This is a great opportunity to get your partner and kids involved too!

What you’ll need

• Bingo cards: two master cards, plus one blank card per player
• Pens/pencils/markers
• An exercise (resistance) band and a skipping rope
• A pair of scissors
• Motivation!
• Prize: make the prize a nice dinner, a break from chores, or something similar that will benefit the household but still make the winner feel special.

How to play

• Create two master cards filled with the names of different exercises in each square.
• Cut up one of these master cards and shuffle them into a deck.
• Make sure each player has a blank card.
• Read out the exercises on the full master card, asking players to write each exercise in any square that they want on their card. Do this until all the exercises have been written down by all players.
• Choose the repetition amount for exercises depending on everyone’s fitness level (5 to 10 “reps” is always a good place to start, and you can always nudge this up over the coming weeks).
• Once everyone’s ready, the caller simply flips over the first card on the top of the deck and calls out the exercise listed.
• Each player must complete the exercise for real, and then mark off the matching square on their card. (For example, if the exercise called out is “push-ups”, then everyone must do 5 push-ups and then mark off the “push-ups” square on their card.)
• Continue to flip the card on the top of the deck and call it out, repeating the process above.
• The first person to cross out their squares in a line in any direction wins – and you’ve all done a fair few exercises in the process: result!

HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE BINGO

As we all know, exercise isn’t the only thing that can help you improve your health. If you follow up an hour of exercise with a pint and a pie, then it’s unlikely that much is going to change in your body. So, healthy eating and exercise bingo games are a great way to get your fitness in, while looking after the ol’ digestive system too. They are another great way to involve your whole family, and you can make a game run over a couple of weeks, or however long you’d like (whatever works for you).

What you’ll need

• Bingo cards
• Markers/pens/pencils
• Exercise band

How to play

• Create a master card that you and the family fill up with a combination of exercises and healthy eating challenges. They can be all kinds of things and you can tailor this to tackle your collective “weak” spots, for instance, “plank for 30 seconds” or “go a whole day without a fizzy drink”.
• Print one card per player.
• Set a time limit for the card to be completed: one or two weeks is normally enough.
• Everyone must choose a different activity to do each day over the course of the two weeks.
• Usually, the person who crosses out a line first wins, but this is also a great card to bring in “blackout” bingo, where the person who marks off everything on the card wins – not just one line.
• The prizes for kids can be their favourite meal or their choice of outing. Adults can get things like massages, facials, a day without the children, date night, etc.

GET FIT VIRTUALLY

Keep in mind that you don’t always have to do this with people located in your immediate household. The year 2020 certainly taught us that it’s possible to tackle almost anything virtually, and this also applies to health and fitness.

Why not get in touch with your best bud and try these bingo fitness challenges together? The same principles and rules apply with both of the above games, of course you’ll just be doing it over some screen time instead of in person.

ONLINE BINGO GAMES FOR ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT

As you can see, online bingo and other bingo games can always be changed and personalised to suit any occasion, whether that’s getting sporty while you’re at it, or hosting a virtual party. At Lucky Pants Bingo, our bingo site is filled with an exciting array of games for everyone to enjoy, not least some exciting slots! If you’re looking for something with a bit more of a kick than traditional bingo, then keep an eye out for fun, entertaining games like Slingo bingo. Sign up with Lucky Pants Bingo and take advantage of our specials, promotions and hours of entertainment.

Planning your next fitness bingo session? We've simplified things for you! Here's a bingo card that you can download and get into the fitness bingo action in no time! Right click and save picture will do the trick!