Ever wonder how much exercise you should really be doing and why? This Fit Kick has your answers.

For more quick and fun fit tips by degreed experts in the field of health and fitness ...

Bethany has been busy walking the walk lately, which is exactly what we parents should be doing when it comes to our kids, says Dr. David Katz of Yale University's School of Public Heath. Nearly 80% of moms and dads with kids ages six to 11 report they feel responsible for their kids' physical fitness. In many ways, they are. How do they hold themselves accountable for this all-important responsibility, though? Well, by practicing what they preach. Here, 10 ways parents can walk the walk and coax their kiddos off the couch.

• Turn off the TV. Ax the video games and the Internet too. Instead, tune into the outdoors. Once there, move your bodies. Kids spend nearly six hours each day glued to some sort of screen. Time to break this habit.
  
• Walk. Find opportunities to walk. Walk the mall, walk your neighborhood, take the stairs. Just log 10,000 steps per day and you'll cover about five miles.
• Be flexible. Set modest goals and your kids will be more likely to comply with physical fun.
• Make it fun. Exercise is so much easier when it's fun. Forget traditional sports and try dancing, balloon volleyball in the living room, a sack race in the back yard.
• Make it a contest. Find who in your family can do the most push-ups, who can dribble a basketball the fastest, who can run the farthest.
• Run. Find local fun runs that are open to all ages, and get your whole crew to sign up and race for the finish line.
• Get some wheels. Ride bikes and get some scooters, roller blades, and skateboards.
• Dance. Crank up the music and dance. No inhibitions, no rules, no weight gain -- dancing for 15 minutes per day can trim 10 pounds per year.
• Take a hike. Find some trails, and walk. Pack a picnic lunch, play Frisbee, and toss a football too while you're at it.
  
• Stay young. Play kid games with your kids, like tag and hide-and-seek. Ask your little ones to lead the family in a game of their choice.

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If you don't want cancer, you've got to get off the couch. Now, I don't promise you won't get cancer if you change your couch-potato ways -- I got cancer and never was a couch girl myself -- but this one simple step will at least offer you some protection against the disease we all want to keep at bay.

Don't worry, you don't have to work up much of a sweat in your fight against cancer. Simply moving will do the trick. Sure, a hard-core run works but so does a round of golf. Or a walk with your pooch. Or a game of kickball in the back yard with your kids. Any type of physical activity will do -- as long as it's not done while reclining on the couch. Jumping on your couch might work, though.

No one knows for sure why exercise is a cancer butt-kicker. Maybe it's the inflammation and stress-fighting powers physical activity delivers. It doesn't matter why it works, really. It just works. So get walking, dancing, hiking, raking, mowing, and more. Just move.

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• Eat right. If you eat right, your kids are likely to follow suit. That means five servings of fruits and veggies each day, whole grains instead of refined products, and a limited number of red meats and processed foods.
  
  

• Move. Inspire your kids to get 60 minutes of vigorous exercise most days of the week by engaging in your own fitness pursuits. Discuss the value of being active with your kids too.
  
  
• Avoid smoking. Don't smoke, don't hang out around smoke, and chat with your youngsters about the dangers of smoking.
  
  
• Practice skin smarts. Protect your own skin from the sun, and slather your kids too. And teach them this American Cancer Society jingle: Slip! Slop! Slap! Wrap! Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, and wrap sunglasses around your eyes.
  
  

What ideas do you have for heading kids in a healthy life direction?

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Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is 110 pounds lighter than he once was. The 50-year-old presidential candidate shed so much weight that he reversed diabetes and heart disease and has become one of the most vocal advocates for the fitness movement.

Tipping the scales at 300 pounds a few years ago, Huckabee couldn't even lace his sneakers. Now, he's running marathons.

On finding time to exercise during his hectic schedule, Huckabee says, "I don't find the time. I make it."

And there you have it. Huckabee makes a conscious and deliberate effort to stay fit. That's what it takes. It doesn't take a gym, he says. Just look around your living room and work space and find ways to move more. Lean against a wall and do wall push-ups, for example. You'll strengthen your your chest, shoulders, triceps, and biceps with this one exercise.

Fitness is a win-win scenario, says Huckabee. You'll power your metabolism with trained muscles. You'll shed fat faster and keep it off. You'll achieve strength and energy. And you'll be more likely to survive and enjoy each day of your life. What a pay-off.

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Bev told us that she danced her little butt off recently at her husband's work holiday party. You should follow her lead. Get out there at your own holiday party or simply crank up the tunes and let loose on your living room floor. Not only will you have a blast, you'll burn about 136 calories for every 30 minutes of dancing.

Not exactly sure how to shake your booty? Go to the site learntodance.com where learning to dance is as easy as pie. While there, you can learn to move with free online lessons, locate a dance studio near you, and check out the best instructional materials around. Step by step, you can master the latest trends in Argentine Tango, Ballet, Ballroom dancing, Breakdance, Country/Western, Freestyle, Hip Hop, Salsa, Swing, Tap, and more.

Dancing can be lots of fun. It's lots good for your body too. Click here to learn more about the health benefits of moving' and groovin'.

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I don't know about you but Thanksgiving days make me feel a little lethargic. Maybe it's the slowness of the day or the fatigue that follows that big turkey feast. Whatever the cause, I don't like the inactivity of the day. That's why I'm not giving into it this year. I'm sticking to my usual active routine. I'm going to run, do my few planks, maybe a few push-ups, and then I plan on suggesting a handful of family activities to keep my whole brood on the move. Here are some of my ideas:

• A kiddie backyard treasure hunt, complete with map and hidden treasures.

• A bike ride for those old enough to push their pedals 'round and 'round.

• A walk with garbage bags in hands for a little neighborhood trash pick-up.

• A football toss, with various sized footballs for the various sized kiddos in my gang.

• A baseball tournament, with plastic balls and bats so the adult pitchers don't get too bruised.

I could go on -- we have scooters and skates and more to keep us plenty busy and we can surely turn any activity into a junkyard sport -- but I think I've made my point: I don't like the sitting-around mentality of this holiday. I much prefer to give thanks while moving about. So that's what I'll do -- move. How about you?

I was watching TV last night, flipping at high speed through all the channels with my handy-dandy remote, when I remembered the long-ago days requiring an actual walk to the television set for a little channel surfing. It got me thinking about technology, about how the very thing that is revolutionizing the world in so many ways -- think electronic medical records, on-line banking, the fact that I'm publishing this post in cyberspace for all to read -- is also making us one lazy mass of people.

How about automatic garage door openers? Growing up, I remember hustling out of the car, often on cold and snowy days, to manually lift my family's garage door. Once our car was nestled safely inside, the door had to be yanked back down. These days are long gone. Now, I have a button in my mini-van programmed to shoot that garage door up and down at a moment's notice. I don't think I've ever even touched my garage door with my hand.

Sprinkler systems. Remember watering your lawn with a sprinkler attached to your hose and dragging it from place to place until every blade of grass got a drink? Now we have the luxury of sprinklers running on auto pilot. We also have drive-through and drive-up options at almost every restaurant around. We don't even need to exit our cars to collect our carry-out slop. And riding lawn mowers. We're not talking traditional technology here but still, it illustrates my point. I saw a neighbor plowing through his miniature-sized yard the other day on his big and burly John Deere ride-on. Could the 30 minutes it might take to manicure his entire lot of grass be so difficult?

Exercise is fun! Exercise is an activity that makes your body strong. How can you exercise? You can play soccer. You can ride a bike. You can rake leaves. You can play football.

Sound a little elementary? It should -- because it comes straight from my first-grade kid's Weekly Reader. Written for your average grade school student, the Weekly Reader is a four-page magazine of sorts that pays special attention to a special topic. This week's topic: Fitness. In addition to the lesson I featured above, this little publication also includes a run-down on bones.

Your body has many bones. Exercise keeps those bones strong. Some bones hold up your body. Other bones protect the inside of your body. All your bones together make up your skeleton.

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Good news. I walked 2.5 miles today -- before I even began my workout for the day. I know this because of my new handy-dandy pedometer.

Yes, I splurged today. Spent a few bucks on a step and distance pedometer at Target. Clipped it to my shorts at 11:00 AM and by 7:00 PM, I'd traveled those couple of miles. Then I ventured into the outdoors to run and arrived back home with a final reading of 6.2 miles and more than 12,000 steps. So cool.

I'm not sure why I'm charting my every step. My brother-in-law is doing it, so it made sense I try it too. What will I do with this information? Not much, except appreciate how much I move in the course of a day. I once heard everyone should take about 10,000 steps per day for the sake of health. Knowing I mastered this task makes me feel accomplished.

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Spend all day sitting in front of a computer? Although that generally isn't a healthy way to spend hours on end, many of us just can't avoid it. But, surprisingly, there is a small upside: the internet, sitting right in front of you, is a powerful tool for weight loss.

In a study that compared internet-based exercise programs against more traditional printed-on-paper plans the internet programs finished right up there in terms of effectiveness and motivational power. Both groups kept activity logs and filled out regular questionnaires to keep them on track, which I think may have been the biggest help, but it is nice to know that online programs can be successful. For many people the internet is just so much more convenient these days than anything else.

So, depending on your situation, you might want to try squeezing in just a little websurfing as long as you're going to be stuck in front of that computer anyway. It might do your body good!

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