Though it's sometimes tempting, humans aren't built to hibernate all winter.
We need regular physical activity to stay healthy. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggests adults should get 150-300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous aerobic physical activity. Children should be getting at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity daily. Modern studies suggest that even short bursts of physical activity or gentle exercise is better than nothing.
But physical exercise can be hard to get when the weather seems to be conspiring to keep all of Missouri huddled inside. What do you and your children do when the roads are too icy to reach the gym and it's too cold to venture outside?
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get a workout indoors. Many don't even require special equipment.
"There are all kinds of workouts you can do," said Andy Coldiron, co-owner of Bluff Street CrossFit in Fulton. "It's all about getting that heart rate up."
Remember, pain isn't always gain. Don't push yourself to the point of injury when trying the below activities, and consult your doctor before attempting dramatic changes in your activity level.
Tidy up
No need to wait for spring to clean. Getting caught up on housework is actually a great way to add a workout to your daily schedule, WebMD suggests. Carrying heavy baskets of laundry up and down stairs, reaching high to scrub a mirror, pushing a vacuum - it all adds up.
For added benefit, put on some fast-paced music and try to amp up the speed at which you complete tasks. Exaggerate your movements: don't just walk the vacuum around, try doing lunges. Make large circles with the cloth when wiping a window.
If you do venture outside, shoveling snow is a full-body workout that also gets the heart pumping. Just don't push too hard: a study of emergency room data from 1990-2006 revealed about 11,500 snow shoveling-related injuries per year in the U.S., many involving the lower back. About half were caused by over-exertion and 20 percent by falls.
Nationwide Children's Hospital suggests using ergonomic snow shovels, pushing snow instead of lifting it, wearing appropriate clothing and taking frequent breaks to avoid injury.
Dance
Dancing is a workout for the body, heart and even the mind, thanks to choreography that requires following a complex series of moves. You don't have to be a tango master - even the macarena or the chicken dance can be a workout with enough enthusiasm.
Try throwing a family dance party. Put together a playlist of some of your family's favorite songs, crank up the volume and go wild. Ask your children to teach you the latest hot dance moves, and maybe they'd like to learn a dance you remember from your youth. Or maybe they'll just be mortified, but it's worth a shot.
For those who lack confidence in their freestyle abilities, the internet is full of tutorial videos on how to master various dancing styles.
Practice the basics
The exercises you remember from gym class might not be the most exciting, but many are easy to do indoors. Revisit old favorites such as squats, push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and lunges. Put on an audiobook or your favorite show and try to maintain some form of activity until the end of a chapter or episode.
Hula-hooping, jumping rope and lifting barbels are also good basic exercises, if the equipment is available to you. Jugs of water or canned goods make good substitutes for weights.
Coldiron said while he prefers to do his workouts in the gym, he has a treadmill at home for those days it just isn't possible.
Try videos
Your mental image of workout instructional videos might involve perky people in leotards and scrunchies high-stepping to funky music.
In the age of Youtube, Jane Fonda and Jazzercise are no longer the norm. A quick internet search will bring up free videos explaining the basics of any kind of workout you'd like to try, from martial arts like tai chi to body building to yoga.
Some channels offer get fit series, such as Yoga with Adriene's annual 30-day yoga challenges. Others fit unusual and intriguing niches, such as SofaBar, a channel hosted by a figure skater. There are even channels and videos tailored to children.
Trying Youtube workout videos is a low-commitment way to experiment with many types of exercise and find new favorites. Just press play.