“Actions act upon other actions” – David Mermin 

“Train to Live”—it’s a saying I’ve been using a lot lately. Improving your physical fitness to improve your overall life is crucial; however, your life is packed with a barrage of daily tasks that make it damn near impossible to get your training in. The issue we run into is on most days we can’t dedicate time to training. Getting stronger relies on us finding that time. Day after day we skip the training session and sometimes it’s not for a lack of trying. Although we must train to live, sometimes we have to live and train. 

Fathers hit a reset point when kids come into their lives. Some may reset to a more sedentary lifestyle while others adapt to their new roles. Adapting is of course the right way to face the current challenge of fatherhood and fitness.

Before kids, my training sessions would take me to the local “globo” gym. A session of bench press and pec deck flys would cost me about 1.5-2 hours a day. Long gone are those days. The time I spent building my body has now gone to building a family.  

In comes the “Life Circuit”, blending your training to your hectic day. Daily life as a father carries many tasks which have to be completed. Diapers needs changing, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made, fruit cut up and carpets vacuumed. Your daily life is a workout. Now just add some movements to those days that will increase your strength and conditioning. 

With very little to no equipment you can begin your training and meet your fatherly duties; you need to look at your day as an accumulation of repetitions and excercises. We aren’t focusing an entire hour to training at once; but we are focusing 5 minutes of training in between tasks that add up to that desired amount of training—whether it’s an accumulation of reps or time under load. 

Here’s an example:

W/one kettle bell complete:

15 second goblet squat hold + 15 squat jumps + 15 Kettlebell swings 

Work on some fatherly tasks then hit the superset again (about every 5-15 minuntes) try and complete 4-5 rounds. 

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You can also complete circuits while only using your body weight, throwing in a barrage of push-ups, sit-ups and burpees. 

For Example:

Complete

25 push-ups

25 air squats 

25 sit-ups 

Aim for a total of 100 reps of each excercise (4 rounds) or more.

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As you can see my work space is hectic, life is hectic. It’s no Lifetime Fitness posh gym session. My foot has been stabbed by many a Lego. Balancing life, fatherhood and training requires us to adapt. 

These movements can supplement the work you do at your now very limited gym time. You can increase your mobility and stability. Overall, each movement will assist in your overall mechanics. And, you’ll burn more calories than sitting on the couch. 

There will always be excuses to fight your progress and not act. Sometimes, those excuses are legitimate. Instead of surrendering all progress, adapt. Mold your training into your daily life. Your life is fluid—not static. So go with the flow and move. 

Stay tuned! We are working on a life circuit workout of the week. Each workout will target certain movements/muscle groups which will help your overall performance in the gym and in life.