I have been on an iTunes kick lately downloading a couple audio books a week and watching documentaries. (Better than crappy cable!)

If you liked the documentary Food Inc., (which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it yet) you will also like Killer at Large.

This film provides a strong wake up call about the dangerous rise of obesity, especially in our kids as well as the importance of local organic farming.

I remember meeting with world-renown strength and conditioning expert Charles Poliquin a few years back and we talked about the alarming rate of childhood obesity. With his informative wit he said “When I was growing up, the fat kids in school were made fun of because they were the minority, now childhood obesity has gotten so bad it’s the skinny kids in school that are being made fun of”

Sad but true. ..Unfortunately, this is not a laughing matter and I believe it all starts at home in teaching our kids the value in preparing and eating REAL food. Then the schools need to step up and give health education the same importance as math and science. How smart are you really when you are destroying your health?

Now I also don’t agree with being a food Nazi and raising our kids on some strict diets. We let our daughter Matea enjoy being a kid by having the typical treats that we all enjoy from time to time. But like I stress in my Dad Fitness Cookbook, Fast Food For Fit Families, you can strike the perfect balance between food and fitness if you prepare healthy meals at home. Matea’s favorite is my Tasty Turkey Meatloaf!

So I hope you take the time to watch this film this weekend so you don’t have to be watching your kids weight…

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Here is an excerpt from page one of the Dad Fitness System. Make sure to read the whole story and watch the video gym tour I made for you as well….

Hope you enjoy my personal story and I would love to hear yours in the comments below!

Thanks Dad

by Sean Barker, CPT

Wabush, Labrador, Canada. A small mining town nestled in the cold and desolate woodland of northern Canada. 7 months of the year this isolated town in the middle of nowhere is covered in a deep and cold blanket of snow. Darkness comes early and temperatures with the wind-chill can reach –70 degrees Celsius. But there is a place where I go where the temperature is a lot warmer.

Tucked away in the basement of the local recreation center is a little room I like to call The Dungeon. Some people call it “The Weight Room,” others call it a gym, but to me it’s a dungeon.

It was originally built back in the early 80’s by old veteran power lifters. One in particular went on to win a gold medal in international competition. Almost every piece of exercise equipment was made by hand in the nearby iron ore mines. Welded and made of cold steel, almost every piece of equipment you see in this “gym” was built from scratch.

Chalk filled barbells, dumbbells, squat racks and lifting platforms are what fill this gym. No chrome, no fancy machines, and one broken exercise bike tucked away in the corner. As for music, there is no surround sound system here playing Ryan Seacrest’s Top 40 Countdown, just an old stereo that mostly caters to heavy metal music… perfect.

Entering the Rec. Center, I reach the bottom of the stairs. As I enter through the old squeaky door, I drop down a little ramp onto the floor, which is concrete with rubber matting. Even the rubber matting covering the floor are old conveyor belts salvaged from the local mines. The low ceiling with condensation dripping from overhead pipes and bad lighting would give anyone the feeling of claustrophobia. The horrifying screams, the sound of cold steel, and the smell of sweat momentarily give me a chill like a cold winters day.

But at the same time a fire begins to burn inside that is making my blood boil in anticipation of wrapping my hands around hundreds of pounds of cold steel. Your heart immediately begins to race, knowing before you leave you will endure a physical torture familiar with any dungeon.

The homemade paint chipped dumbbells don’t all go up in 5lb increments. After your 60’s you have 67’s, 73’s, 80’s, 82’s, 97’s, and 100 pounders. Unfortunately, this is where the rack ends. But you have to be creative, and there are still plenty of plates to make any bar bend.

I have trained in gyms all over the world, and I wouldn’t trade this gym for a Gold’s in Venice. I practically grew up in this gym. I have been training there for over 15 years.

I was first introduced to lifting weights at 12 years old. My father who was in his late thirties at the time started training at our local weight-room. No it was not a “gym” it was a weight room in the basement of our small town’s recreation centre.

I started to train consistently at age 16. As time went by the veteran lifters at the local gym really noticed that I stood out above any one my age, not just for my physique but also for my sincere dedication and love for training.

I would get up bright and early while on summer vacation to be at the gym to train with my father (who had trained for over 20 years), and loved the challenge of pumping iron and the camaraderie that existed between the regular lifters at the gym. I loved learning from the old school lifters such as a former Mr. Barbados, and an international gold medal winner in powerlifting. It was like our own version of Pumping Iron, the bodybuilding documentary that made Arnold famous.

I will always cherish those memories of getting up early in the morning when all my friends were sleeping or at hockey practice, and spending that time in the gym with my father. As for all the guys I knew who grew up playing hockey and listening to their hockey dads scream at them for an hour, hardly any continue to play today.

The time together in the gym taught me life long lessons of work ethic, goal setting, failure, and many more. I only hope that I can instill the same values in my children and show them the vital importance that exercise plays in living a long and healthy life. I sincerely hope that Dad Fitness will inspire you to do the same…

Check out the video tour of The Dungeon and the stories behind the old equipment!

Where do YOU workout? Do your gym have a story behind it?

Let me know in the comments below…

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One of the most common questions I get asked about working out is

“What do YOUR workout routine look like?

Well ever since I created The Dad Fitness System I would just point them to www.DadFitness.com where they can get their own copy of The Ultimate Fitness Plan For Busy Dads downloaded instantly to their computer.

It works for me and it’s working for other busy dads all around the world.

But this year I have been improving the Dad Fitness workouts to better fit MY busy lifestyle and for all of YOU living the Dad Fitness lifestyle as well.

You see, being a busy dad and husband working a full-time job and running a business on the side doesn’t allow me to spend 5-6 days a week working out at the gym to stay fit.

I will be honest though, I LOVE working out at the gym, especially our little dungeon of a gym here in town. No lineups, no machines, just torn up benches with some rusty barbells and dumbbells. I guess you can call me “old school”.

But as much as I would like to I can’t always get there as often as I wish as I spend most of my days off from working shift work staying home with my 19 month old daughter while my wife is at work.

Some weeks I find it hard to get to the gym even 3 days a week so I had to adapt and tweak the Dad Fitness workouts.

So I designed a workout routine that focuses on 2 gym workouts a week and one bodyweight workout a week, totaling 3 short but intense workouts a week. …Which is all most of us really need to get in great shape anyway.

I have been loving this routine as I can get in 2 intense gym workouts a week and have no problem getting in the 3rd bodyweight workout as it can be done at home with minimal equipment, at the gym or even at my local playground when the weather permits.

Now that’s the way workouts should be, they should fit around YOUR lifestyle, not the other way around like most programs you might find in the magazines.

I am building muscle, gaining strength and staying lean like never before and it’s all because of the intricate design of these workouts.

Every exercise, Every rep and Every set is specifically selected and has a scientific reason for being in the program.

This gives you the complete “Training Triangle” to build muscle, gain strength and burn fat all in minimum time and in one simple 3 day a week workout routine.

So here is the breakdown of what I like to call Dad Fitness 2.0

• 3 workouts a week consisting of 2 gym workouts and 1 bodyweight workout.

• The workouts rotate on a 2 week cycle meaning there is a Week 1 of workouts and a Week 2, before you repeat the same workouts.
• Each routine is followed for 8 weeks allowing each weekly workout to be completed 4 times.

This keeps my motivation high and prevents the dreaded training plateau by rotating exercises every 2 weeks instead of every week like most programs.

So here is an example of just of ONE of the weekly workout routines in the upcoming yet to be released Dad Fitness 2.0 Fitness Plan.

Day 1, Week 1, Gym

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

Decline Barbell Bench Press, 2 sets of 4-6 reps.

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press, 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press, 2 sets of 4-6 reps

Standing Triple Threat Dumbbell Lateral Raise Superset, (side, front and rear) 2 sets of 6-8 reps each

Lying Flat Ez Bar Tricep Extensions, 2 sets of 4-6 reps

Tricep Cable Pushdowns, 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Cable Crunch, 2 sets of 8-10 reps

Day 2, Week 1, Gym

Legs, Back and Biceps

Barbell Squats, 2 sets of 4-6 reps

Dumbbell Lunges, 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Weighted Pullups, 2 sets of 4-6 reps

Bent Over Barbell Rows, 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Standing Barbell Curls, 2 sets of 4-6 reps

Standing Dumbbell Curls, 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Standing Calf Raise, 2 set of 8-10 reps

Day 3, Week 1, Bodyweight

One Leg Squats, 3 sets of max reps

Medicine Ball Pushups, 3 sets of max reps

Inverted Pullups, 3 sets of max reps

Dips, 3 sets of max reps

Parallel Grip Pullups, 3 sets of max reps

Front Plank, 2 set of 60 secs

Side Plank, 2 sets of 45 secs

I don’t have an exact date yet for the release of Dad Fitness 2.0 but I am working hard to get it complete so it can be YOUR favorite workout of 2010!

and let me know your favorite workout of 2009 by posting a comment below…

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I hope you have been having an awesome holiday season with your family!

Christmas morning was so fun as our 19 month old daughter Matea is finally old enough this year to open her gifts and dig into all the goodies from Santa.

That’s the real joy of being a dad during Christmas is seeing your child’s face light up when they tip toe out to see what Santa left under the tree Christmas morning.

…and of course she had just as much fun with some of the boxes than the gifts themselves!

I know you are probably feeling bad about all the eating and drinking you have been doing over the holidays.

But guess what…It’s OK.

Trust me I know how you feel. I ate and drank too much as well. But I am not worried and I don’t want you to worry either.

What I want you to do is turn these feelings into ACTION. Today is the last day of the year! Let’s put 2009 behind us…

I know you still have New Years Eve to contend with but you don’t have to wait until the clock strikes 12 to make a commitment.

Start TODAY and ask yourself.

“What are my goals? What are my behaviors?

Do my behaviors match my goals?”

What you did in 2009 doesn’t matter – the year is GONE. Just be aware of how effective your behaviors were in reaching your goals.

The real question you should ask yourself is what will the next year hold for you?

So lets get to work on making this your best year ever!

Want to know what workout routine has been working better for me as a busy dad than anything I have been doing all year?

With a new year upon us we all try to start off with a sense of renewal regarding our health and happiness.

Regarding the Dad Fitness System, I have been experimenting with a new approach to being a strong and fit dad.

With feedback from you living the Dad Fitness lifestyle and my personal experience I have been tweaking the program to give you even faster results.

Let’s just call it Dad Fitness 2.0…

The biggest mistake you can make with your workout routine is to keep doing what you’re doing.

You are right in thinking that consistency is the key to long term results, but preventing that dreaded plateau where your body shaping results come to a screeching halt is the real key to life long fitness.

Workouts are all about pushing your body a little harder than it’s is comfortable with so it can adapt by burning fat and building stronger muscles.

But none of this means anything if you can’t adapt your workouts to your lifestyle.

Do you want to know how to stay consistent with your workouts while getting results week after week, month after month?

Be like water!

I will let the great Bruce Lee explain…

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash.

Be water, my friend.”

This is what the NEW Dad Fitness workouts is all about in 2010, being like water and adapting the workouts to our evolving role as busy dads.

So stay tuned in the new year as I help you lose your gut and build lean muscle and share with you the New Way To Workout from Dad Fitness,
The Ultimate Fitness Plan For Busy Dads.

Happy New Year!

Share your GOALS and BEHAVIORS to become a fitter dad in 2010 by posting a comment below!

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I know you’re probably busy getting ready for the holidays so I just got a quick video for you today that will make you think the next time you go to drink soda…

Give them the Dad Fitness System and the best part is you don’t have to wait in line at the post office as it is sent online as a instant digital download…

==>Get The Dad Fitness System Here

Happy Holidays!

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