In this blog, I will outline the exact process I use with my students and myself, to make sure you know how to start exercising as a Dad, even if you’ve tried and failed to get into shape over and over again!
Starting to exercise is tough for anyone, especially if you’ve had a long break from doing so. Even seasoned athletes struggle to get back to exercising after time off.
And for the average Dad who just wants to get in shape to look and feel better, so they can lead their family by example, it’s no easy feat.
You know how important it is to exercise, but often you don’t know how to make it a part of your lifestyle, and your schedule, as well as get the results that you’re looking for. After all, no one wants to exercise without feeling stronger, leaner, and as if you’re going to live longer.
know your baseline - go from dad bod to warrior bod
It’s no good trying to do fancy movements which don’t work for your body type, biomechanics (your movement patterns), fitness level, aches, and pains.
So if you’re not fit, you’ve built up a Dad Bod, then drop the ego, and understand it’s best to start small and build up.
Knowing your baseline includes understanding your:
- Strength
- Speed
- Posture
- Balance
- Injury history, and likelihood of reinjury
- Recovery time
There’s a lot more to your baseline, but understanding these will be a good start.
how to measure your baseline
Now you know the key baselines you need to measure against, it’s important to have some set tests to benchmark your progress against.
There are countless fitness and strength tests, but I’ll show you the simplest ones that most people are familiar with.
Below, I’ll share with you a few simple ways you can assess each athletic skill I mentioned above:
- Strength – Maximal Push Ups for the upper body, and maximal Squats for the lower body
- Speed – How fast you can run 100m, and how many Straight Punches can you throw in 30 seconds
- Posture – Take pictures of your body (front, back, and both sides in underwear) to assess your body’s tightnesses, and imbalances
- Balance – How long you can stand on one leg for, and Lateral Jump test (jump to either side, with one leg in the air at all times
- Injury history, and likelihood of reinjury – This must be specific to your injury, and assessed accordingly
- Recovery time – Your heart rate one minute after finishing your workout, ideally using the same workout over time to compare and contrast
Make sure you are honest with yourself when conducting these tests, as you want as accurate results as possible. Also, you must push yourself to your maximal effort, but only if it is safe to do so without injury, or worsening current posture and/or pain issues you may have.
You can learn more about why posture matters in our blog post here.
It’s important to understand that a lot of these tests are generic, so they have some use. But the key is interpreting those baselines of yours into the right way to exercise, and then the right exercise plan for you.
understand the right way to train: key tips for dads
If you know someone in shape from Bodybuilding or Powerlifting, it doesn’t mean that’s how you should train too.
There’s a better way.
It’s learning how humans were made to move, and then following that blueprint.
This means you have to use rotational movements as the fundamentals of your training.
Think about it.
We were built to do a few key movements:
- Stand
- Walk
- Run
- Throw
All of which involve rotation to some degree.
And you don’t want to become so stiff with dysfunctional muscle, that you can’t touch your toes, or even scratch your back.
Focus on movements like single-arm pushing, and pulling, for the upper body.
Think punching a bag, pressing a weight etc.
And single leg extension and flexion for the lower body.
Like single-leg split squatting, or sprinting.
I share more in my What Is Functional Training blog here. Read through it for a deep dive on what it is, and why you need to train a certain way.
find the right exercise plan
Now you have your baseline and the right way to train…
It’s time to find or create an exercise plan tailored to you.
The best option would be to get the right person to build your plan around your body’s needs, schedule, and setup.
But if you’re building your own plan, there’s a lot to consider.
Either way, the key is to log the following every time you train:
- Reps (how many times you did each exercise)
- Sets (how many ‘rounds’ of each exercise or set of exercises you did)
- Exercises (which exercises you completed)
- Break time (how long you rested in between sets for)
- Record videos of key movements you struggle with (to analyse your technique)
Logging those key things will massively set you apart from your previous attempts at getting in shape.
As most people just turn up, think about what machine or set of random exercises they will do in that session, then call it a day.
Then, they wonder why they are not seeing results.
The answer is simple – They don’t have a clear plan that is suited to them.
Find or create your plan properly, and you will not only save time by exercising more efficiently, but you will also ‘get time back’ in the form of better results from all the effort you put in.
build progress from day one
There’s no use doing the same thing over and over.
So have the mentality that you will progress each time you train.
That doesn’t mean you should be switching up your exercises every time because you’re bored.
Instead, you need to use these simple progression builders:
- Perform each rep better than the last (better technique)
- Increase weight used (heavier dumbbell, kettlebell etc.)
- Increase time under tension (do it slower)
- Have more focus (be more present)
- Engage your whole body (connect your body’s muscles from head to toe)
In most sessions, you will not be able to increase your weight each time, unless you are an absolute beginner, and are experiencing ‘noobie gains’.
However, everyone can do the other progression builders each time they exercise.
review regularly
If you do the above properly, and you commit to the process, you’ll want to know how you’re progressing.
And there are different kinds of reviews you need to do, depending on the stage of your exercise journey.
Start by answering these questions/points below.
a simple review after exercising
- Did I put in maximal effort?
- How would I rate my performance out of 10?
- What did I learn?
- Where can I improve next time?
the weekly exercise review
- Take progress photos of your body (front, back, and sides in underwear)
- Weigh yourself at the same time, on the same day (Monday AM is best)
- Assess the quality of your sleep, energy, nutrition, stress, mindset, training, and habit adherence
the monthly exercise review
- Take measurements of key areas of your body like chest, waist, hips etc.
- Evaluate your training programme to see how it needs to be updated with new exercises, more reps, sets etc.
- Test against your baseline e.g. Initially, you could do 2 rounds of Shadowboxing without feeling out of breath, and now you can do 4
This is a good start, but not the end.
The path ahead is about self-mastery.
Commit to it, and you’ll find your strength before you know it 👊
learn how to start exercising as a dad for free
Now that you know how to start exercising, it would be great if you could action all of the above with our simple yet effective method to build a Warrior’s physique, and a Zen work-life balance, so you can ultimately lead your family by example.
So, if you want to discover the 5 ways to train smarter so you can maximise muscle building with the right 30 minute workouts, then go ahead and access my free training here.
Inside, you’ll learn how you can get 2+ hours back a day, simply by doing the right kind of workouts, which give you the energy, focus, and discipline to get more done in LESS time, without you having to sacrifice family time.
