The fear of the “Dad Bod”

How to stay fit as a new Dad

About 19 months ago I had a baby (well my wife had a baby, i just watched on in awe). It is an incredible time and like nothing I've ever experienced. Before our child came along I told myself that staying reasonably fit would remain a priority and that I'd be able to balance everything comfortably with work, house work, a new child and our relationship. Oh how wrong those thoughts were. One thing I learned fast is to never complain to a new mum that you feel like your body is a bit sloppy and you don’t seem to have the time to fit in some exercise (insert angry tired stare). Being a husband can be tough. Being a father and a husband is when you learn what selflessness really is. Trying to maintain a regime that enables you to maintain some level of fitness is quite difficult. Understanding that health is important and remaining healthy throughout a child's life is going to be one of the most important ways to positively influence their life.  

Being fit and healthy has always come reasonably easy for me. One of my favourite things to do is physical activity. Once a reasonable athlete and always loving adventure sports, it would be unusual for me not to be physically active less than about 15 hours per week. I would run, ride, swim, lift weights, do yoga, surf, hike and occasionally do a bit of rock climbing (although I was rubbish at that). Eating healthy was never a chore. Although like almost everyone I was conscious of what I looked like, I never really felt like I looked too bad until the dreaded “Dad Bod” started to show itself. It seems that everyone says to embrace the “Dad Bod” but i couldn’t. What used to look like abdominals muscles now resembled sloppy doughnut sitting under my skin. And any sort of antigravity properties my body had before had fallen down into some love handles at the top of my hips. That chest that used to sit up nicely started to resemble deflated balloons. Any of the thoughts that I'd be able to fit in plenty of physical activity quickly diminished and was taken over by poop filled nappies, night time wakings and washing up breast pumps, cooking, cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning some more. 

At about the 12 month mark I was in a bit of a spot. The time had come to either change something or the “Dad Bod” was here to stay and I would join the men that would look at someone and say “I looked like that once”.

Find some time

It is hard to help your children if you can’t take care of yourself on a mental and physical level. Maintain your fitness levels to keep up with your children at the park, to help carry them when they fall down, and above all else, to help inspire them to get fit by watching you – their biggest idol and role model.

Finding time can be difficult when you are navigating your way through a new world but sitting down with your significant other and finding time for you and them is super important for both of you. As a man we think we can do everything, but raising a child throws that out the window. You will have to learn to throw any preconceived thoughts about DIY and make sure you learn to do things together.
Personally, I found time later in the evenings. I realised that sitting on the couch watching reruns of Big Bang Theory was not really the most efficient use of my time. So after our child goes off to sleep i’d put on the running shoes and pound the pavement or hit the gym. So the time that i found was just about taking out something that was not adding any value at all and replacing it with something i love to do and has a positive impact. Sounds easy but i do love me some couch time.
The time we found for my wife (Rach) was in the mornings. Because Rach works for herself she was able to be a bit flexible with her start times. After we get up, have breakfast and get a few things ready, Rach then gets in some yoga, goes for a surf or occasionally goes to the gym.
So find the time that best suits you and the role each of you have decided to play in your child's life. Oh and nobody has the best parenting style. Find what is going to work for you to optimise what you and your partner want.

Make the sweat count 

Now that you have found that bit of time you need to learn to maximise it. Gone where the 2-3 hour surfs and the 45 min run in the morning and ocean swim in the afternoon. I had found 30-40 minutes on a few nights a week. It was time to be efficient with exercise. Going for a walk wasn't going to cut it (read below for some of my workouts). The other thing was to do incidental exercise like taking the stairs instead of the lift, carrying my child when walking for some extra weight, going for walks with my wife on child when we have a bit of spare time during the day. 

My “Avoid the Dad Bod” workouts

As mentioned above, it was about efficiency. I love nothing more (other than my wife and child) than going for a 10-12km run, followed by a nice relaxing 1km swim or a 60 minute yoga session, there was only 30-40 minutes and it was dark. So here are a few of the workouts:

• Workout 1. Hill Sprints.
  150m uphill x 8
  Finish with 2 x 30 walking lunges

• Workout 2. The mini Murph
  1km run
  50 pull ups
  100 push ups
  200 Squats
  1km run

• Workout 3. High intensity running
  3 x 1km run
  3 x 200m sprint

• Workout 4. Assault on a bike
  Stationary bike 8 x 30s (as hard as you can possibly go). 60s rest between.
  Don’t be fooled, this is one of the toughest workouts.

• Workout 5. Weights (8 sets of each)
  Bench Press (6-25 rep range increasing weight each set)
  Pull ups (as many reps as possible)
  Walking lunges (add more weight each set and aim for 40 steps each set)

The above workouts were designed for me by me and designed to maximise aerobic fitness, strength, physical health and physiological adaptation as efficiently as possible. It was hard at first and the first few sessions admittedly I pulled the pin early but now I get through them well.

Have as much fun with your wife and children as possible for as long as you can by staying fit, strong and healthy.