There's nothing wrong with giving a standard Father's Day tie as a gift. But if you really want to make dad happy, plan some active time together with the family.

Hiking is a great option as June weather is perfect for it. Plus, a hike can be adjusted to work for any fitness level/family structure. Have little kids or is dad new to hiking? Pick an easy, well-groomed trail. If everyone is up for something more challenging, there are trails that will provide that in spades. Not only is hiking an excellent workout, it's an escape from the day-to-day grind, a chance to connect with family, and it does wonders for your stress level... all things dad would appreciate.

To find a hiking trail, you can check with your local parks and recreation office. You can also search an online database such as GORP's trail listing.

If you also want to give dad something wrapped with a bow, why not choose a gift that fits with the day's activity? There are plenty of hiking-themed gifts that will inspire dad to be active all year. A summer or year-long pass to area or state parks would be great, a Roll-a-Table is perfect for hiking or camping trips, and a water bottle or Camelbak hydration pack is always a good idea.

Check out Jacki's post for some more fit Father's Day ideas.

If gift-giving isn't your thing but you want to honor your dad this Father's Day (it's less than two weeks away!), then spend June 21 getting fit together. It won't take much planning, it can cost next to nothing, and exercising with pops will show him you really care.

Encouraging dads to be more active is one of the most caring gestures you can make, says The American Council on Exercise, America's nonprofit fitness authority. Go for a hike, a bike, a match on the tennis courts or something else entirely, and you'll both burn a bunch of calories. ACE says your 180-pound dad can burn about 9.8 calories per minute weight training, 13.9 jogging and 8.2 cycling. For more calorie-burning activities, check out this chart, pick your passion and then get your special guy to join you for some fit fun.

And if you can, keep the sentiment going with ongoing fitness dates -- plan to swim laps together each week, schedule regular power walks, add Dad to your gym routine or squeeze in some time for Wii challenges. Tried boxing yet? It'll make you sweat for sure. And if you're really ambitious, sign yourself and Dad up for a race -- training together and then crossing the finish line would be quite the gift.

Got any fit plans for Dad this year?

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader. We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other. That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Adidas is giving gorgeous gym bags to each featured member. To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions, with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Carissa Tessaro

Age: 25

Occupation: I work full-time at Georgetown Law. I am also getting my Masters degree on a part-time basis at Georgetown in the Communication Culture and Technology Program. And to top it all off, I have a part-time job at a local event promotions company, which adds about 10 to 20 extra hours of work to my week.

How often do you exercise? Six times a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Everything! Or at least I will try everything once. I love the Precor AMT, as it has such a wide adaptable range of motion. My fall-back is the elliptical (either a Precor with adaptable cross-ramp and resistance or the AMT) and the treadmill. My gym offers a great variety of classes (spin, strength training, boot camp, 15 minute ab classes, total body conditioning) which are great. Without all the variety I would definitely get bored.

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I spent many of my summer vacations as a little girl visiting SeaWorld. I loved it so much that I almost pursued marine biology. The thought of riding Shamu was and still is more enticing to me than flying or any other magical act. So, bringing my family of four to SeaWorld last week was a no-brainer. This time, though, not only was I in search of fun ... I decided to dissect the park and find out how it fared in the healthy living department. Could we leave more fit than when we arrived?

I've done this experiment before at other major theme parks and vacation destinations and these are the things I look for.

• Is there an opportunity to be physically active?
• Is healthy food readily available?
• Will I and other guests be inspired to do and be better?
• Is the vacation fun?

Here, I focus on physical activity.

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz. I would like to start teaching my family good eating habits. I'm overweight and my children are too. Where should I start? Thanks. Charlene

A. Hello Miss Charlene. Thanks for the great question. Raising fit and healthy children is my soap box, and actually one of my favorite lecture topics. Why? It's so important! Parents literally have the capability to set their children up with terrific habits which will greatly increase their chances of living a long healthy life. What a wonderful gift! The opposite is true as well. Moms and Dads who do not insist upon healthy foods and exercise can doom their children with awful diseases, ailments and even worse ... premature death. Junk food is no fun in the long run, and we as parents, owe it to our beautiful babies to provide a healthy start.

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When we think about the biological clock ticking away, we pretty much immediately think of women. After all, age only matters for the mom -- the father can be as old as he wants and it doesn't make a difference, right?

According to a recent Danish study of over 100,000 children, not exactly. Children in the study who were fathered by men over 45 were much less likely to reach their nineteenth birthday than were the children of men in their late 20s.

The older men's children were especially likely to die from birth defects like heart problems. Another common cause of death was as a result of suicide, accidents, or fights, which could be explained by their higher rates of autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.

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If your dad was obese when he was young, are you at a higher risk of liver disease? A recent study indicates you are.

The U.S. study, including over 1700 participants with an average age of 42, found that "people whose fathers were clinically obese at an early age were more likely to have increased liver enzyme levels, an indicator of liver disease." These findings held ground regardless of the subject's BMI, indicating that the father's weight truly is a factor.

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All those talk shows that host the "Who's Your Daddy?" episodes are soon to be out of commission. (What was with all of those anyway, Maury Povich?) Meijer and Rite Aid stores are going to start stocking low-cost paternity tests. I can't imagine there's a huge market for such an item, but the manufacturer, Identigene, feels that there are people that would like to solve paternity disputes quietly and economically -- without involving lawyers.

The kits retails for $29.99. They include cotton swabs for taking cell samples from inside the mouth. The swabs are then sealed and sent to a lab with an additional $119 processing fee. Results can be accessed online within three to five business days.

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I just returned from a place I've decided to be Man Heaven. Man Heaven is a place where loads and loads of men dressed in various colored athletic jerseys giddily board trams with feverish excitement to spend time with their favorite sports heroes. These men were squirming in their seats, beaming bright smiles and high-fiving their way all the way to the entrance gates of Disney World's Hollywood Studios. ESPN the Weekend is Man Heaven.

The weekend was filled with endless opportunities to meet, train with, question and listen to America's favorite ESPN stars: Donovan McNabb, Tony Gonzalez, Hershel Walker, John Stockton, Cal Ripken Jr., Chris Carter and more. Oodles of ESPN Sportscasters took stages across the park hosting their own scheduled and aired ESPN shows, and also hosted other fun question and answer sessions with the stars of Man Heaven.

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Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy

My guest this week is the very excellent athlete and adventurer Will Gadd. Starring on Discovery Channel's Fearless Planet, Will guides us through the world's most spectacular natural wonders to teach us how these land formations were created. The show is really so gripping that as I lay sick and exhausted in bed a few weeks ago, I refused to fall asleep. I couldn't miss his journey through and lesson about the Sahara. (No.....I don't have TiVo.Yes, I know I'm a nerd.) I was wishing this show was around when I was back in school learning about geography. If it was.....I think I would have actually been interested in the subject and learned all of the things I was supposed to learn back then. Totally entertaining!

From Canmore, Alberta, Will has won every major ice-climbing competition in the world and holds the distance world record in paragliding. He's one of the most successful outdoor sports athletes in the world, as well as an award-winning film-maker and writer. He has flown his para-glider over the Grand Canyon, climbed icebergs in the North Atlantic, won the X Games, written a best-selling outdoor instructional book and regularly writes for the New York Times and other international magazines and newspapers.

As I interviewed Will, we giggled a lot as he was totally down to earth (when not hanging from it). He's a new Daddy and considers that his most exciting, yet rewarding adventure. He's also the real deal when it comes to healthy living. He has some especially unique insight on food, which I think we could all learn from.

Fitz: You're the ultimate outdoor sports guy....in amazing shape. You're world renowned for excellence in ice climbing, mountain climbing, paragliding, kayaking , caving and skiing; a bit of a lunatic. How did you get started with all of this?

Will: I actually began my escapades in utero. My Mom was hitting the mountains while pregnant with me. My Dad's a climber too. I grew up with it.

Fitz: What does your wife think about you dangling upside-down from ice all the time?

Will: She totally gets it. She's (Kim Csizmazia) also a champion ice climber.

Fitz: That would probably help! And now you have a daughter?

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While chatting with my mother recently, she told me the details of the postpartum depression that she suffered from for some time after my younger sister was born. The fact that she had the condition was no secret, as she believes that talking about your problems and things that are bothering you, is one of the best ways to work through them. In fact, she says that the day she discussed her feelings of depression with our family doctor at the time, things began to look up immediately.

Unfortunately, many women don't feel comfortable talking about the negative feelings they have after they've had a baby. We are all taught that a new baby is supposed to be a joyous and wonderful event. Even though we know that we'll be tired and sore and then tired again, we expect that the happiness we feel about the new baby will override the rest of these feelings. Many women though, feel incredibly depressed and rightly so. They are exhausted, their hormones are all out of whack and they're going through a new and very stressful experience.

There is nothing wrong with feeling depressed after having a baby and I think that women need to be told this the same way that they're taught how to breathe during labor and shown how to breastfeed after the baby is born. A new mother's emotional health is just as important as her physical health, and she needs to know that there is no shame in having less than wonderful feelings about her new baby. The only real shame is when unaddressed feelings of depression lead a desperate new mom to do harm to herself or her children. If you are the husband, family member or friend of someone who has a new baby (and this group includes new dads, because they aren't immune either), encourage them to talk about how they're doing, whether or not they seem perfectly content. And if you are a parent feeling less-than-great about your new situation, do not feel ashamed to talk to someone, anyone, about how you feel because help is out there.

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According to a study done by Marcus Westin of Uppsala University, single parents have poorer health than married couples or couples living together. The results applied to both single moms and single dads, although single mothers were less likely to seek medical help when needed than single fathers (and both were less likely than their married counterparts). The studied seemed to show a strong link between the generally poorer health of single parents and the decreased social outlets they inevitably face as a result of being solely responsible for children. Marcus Westin believes that the solution lies in making it easier for single parents to get out and involved in civic and social activities.

That kind of makes sense, although I'm thinking stress probably has something to do with it too?

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My kids are on a mission to try to out-do Mommy in the neat recipe contest, and I think they're winning. Almost every time I put a meal down on the table, they ask to change it up in some way or add something else to it. Often, my first thought is Eww!, but I never say that. As long as their requests are healthy I say "sure, let's give it a try!" Then...after they've done the taste test first and have given their approval I give a try myself. I've loved it all.

I think it's cool that they're not slaves to social pressure or traditional meal planning. They like what they like and they have oodles of new ideas. Maybe they'll spawn their own recipe book with this stuff, but for now....here are a few of their innovative and healthful treats. Enjoy!

Nutty Nana: Peel one entire banana and smear reduced fat peanut butter on it. Sometimes we put cherries on top of the peanut butter.

Yodelaheehoo Yogurt: Open a cup of your favorite yogurt and add any of the following ingredients: grapes, yogurt raisins, raisins, broken pretzels.

I just finished making pancakes for my children, and as they sit merrily at the table they have no idea they're chomping away on bananas too. Normally, I'm not so sneaky and my one and four year olds are well aware that we eat foods that are 'healthy for their body'. They're kids though, and yesterday they refused the idea of adding my yummy yellow ingredient.

So today I just did it. They don't seem to be noticing, and I don't feel even a smidge bad about being moderately deceptive. My job is to provide them with terrific nutrition and that's what I'm doing. Even if it is on the sly. Sometimes I cook up some extra peas and corn and throw it in their chicken noodle soup too. Whoooo what a rebel I am!

Even the healthiest kids can be a little leery to trying new things. My son for instance, won't come near bananas. So today, I smashed some up and hid them in his breakfast. Nice shot of secret potassium. As you cook and create see if you can sneak in some extra good stuff too. They'll argue less, and you'll feel better about their consumption at the end of the day.

If you're a parent at home trying to entertain your kids while giving them the opportunity to get fit and burn off some steam, here are some simple, fun and inexpensive ideas to help.

Paper plate hop scotch: Take five to ten paper plates and print large numbers on them. Place them on carpeted floor or grass in a straight line, or scatter them out in random order. Have kids jump from plate to plate in numeric order. If your child can not count yet, forget the numbers and simply have them jump from plate to plate

Plastic cup relay races: Place five cups at the edge of your largest room several inches apart from each other. Start your child at the opposite side of the room. Have her race to get each cup individually and place them on her starting side of the room. For a greater workout, use more cups!