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…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

Let me know in the comments below…

“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…

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!

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!

We have been having some late nights with our little daughter Matea as she has come down with a runny nose and a tough cough which is keeping her up at night.

Hiking up around a mountain in a couples inches of snow with my 32lb 16 month old daughter on my back!

Yep, that’s what us crazy Canadians do for a workout this time of year.

So try not to let the cooler days keep you from getting out and staying active with your family.

The seasons may change but your healthy habits should stay the same…

To keep you on track with your workouts I am giving you one of the famous Dad Fitness workouts straight from The Dad Fitness System

Enjoy!

Bodyweight Warm-up (this should take you no more than 5 minutes)

• Prisoner-Squat – 12 reps
• Arm Circles – 8 reps per side
• Pushups – 8 reps
• Walking Lunge – 8 reps per side

Dad Fitness Strength Workout

1) DB Step-Up (10-12 reps) 2 sets: Rest 90sec between each set
2A) Flat DB Bench Press (10-12 reps) 2 sets: no rest – go directly to:
2B) Standing Hammer Curl (10-12 reps) 2 sets: Rest 90sec between each set
3A) One Arm Elbow In DB Row (10-12 reps) 2 sets: no rest – go directly to:
3B) One Arm DB Shoulder Press (10-12 reps) 2 sets: 90sec between each set.
4) Lying Reverse Crunch (10-12 reps) 2 sets: 90sec between each set

Who needs bottled water?

Fat Burning Interval Cardio

Interval consisting of 14 minutes on stationary bike or regular bike,
Low intensity pedaling for 2 min, high intensity pedaling for 1 min until 12 min, then low intensity pedaling for remaining 2 min

Cooldown Stretches

Do you have a “crazy” workout? Let me know by posting a comment below!

One of the most common requests I get from busy dads is for short bodyweight workouts that they can do anywhere at anytime.

So I dug into my training “tickle truck” and created Muscles In Minutes, 15 Minute Bodyweight Workouts For Busy Dads.

The envy of every Canadian kid growing up: Mr. Dress Up's "Tickle Trunk"

Finally you have no more excuses for skipping workouts and getting in great shape!

With The Dad Fitness Muscles In Minutes workouts you can lose that gut and build rock hard muscle anywhere at anytime.

Whether it’s before work, after work or even during work! (it’s better than coffee and donuts during your break)

You can always find 15 minutes to squeeze in a quick workout so you can start looking better and feeling better.

•    You don’t need an expensive gym membership.
•    You don’t need crappy home workout equipment.
•    You don’t need a lot of time.

Thanks to a marvel of science we call gravity all you need is your bodyweight to get fitter and stronger despite being a time-crunched dad.

Here is a sneak peak at Day 1 of Muscles In Minutes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Muscles In Minutes is now available and is included for FREE when you get the Dad Fitness System.

Click Here To Get Started TODAY!==>http://www.DadFitness.com

Well, the big day is almost here.

No…not Father’s Day, but the launch of the all NEW DadFitness.com and The Dad Fitness Lifestyle System.

I am celebrating Father’s Day early this year with busy dads around the world with the relaunch of Dad Fitness.

Starting tomorrow at 12 noon, The NEW Dad Fitness System will be available with some cool new bonuses and a limited time offer to get in the best shape you can this summer.

Here is a sneak peak of the NEW bonuses.

Buff and Busy Home Workout
(Retail Value= $29.99)

Busy dads can now build maximum muscle at home in minimum time with The Buff and Busy Workout from Dad Fitness.
You can finally be the buffest dad on the beach this summer with only 3 short home workouts a week! This workout program uses
the most effective muscle building technique called undulating periodization which has been proven to be
more effective in inducing maximum muscle gains when compared to traditional workout programs.

The Truth About Fit Dads Audio Series
(Retail Value= $99.99)

Listen in to these 3 EXCLUSIVE interviews with the busiest and fittest dads in the health and fitness industry today!
Brad Pilon reveals shocking truths about obsessive eating, food recalls and the shady supplement industry.
Mike Roussell gives you the 6 pillars of nutrition, how to lose more than 2lbs a week and the challenges of having baby twins! Zach Even-esh gets real about why us dads need to stay fit despite our busy schedule, why you don’t need a gym and how to balance hectic days and still get in a great workout. Finally you will hear how you can get in great shape despite being a busy dad…

Manley Meals Cookbook
(Retail Value: $39.99)

If your a hungry dad who likes to eat REAL food with your family and still want to get in great shape, you will love this cookbook.
Sean Barker shows you the real recipes he eats on a weekly basis to stay in great shape year round despite working 2 jobs and running a family.
This is fit and fast food recipes for guys who likes all the classics like burgers, pizza, pasta and how to grill the perfect steak.
Plus your kids won’t know they are eating healthy with these tasty wholesome ingredients!

The Man Who Never Was rip

VERY IMPORTANT: When you get your copy of the Dad Fitness System during this special promotion you will also get the 8 other FREE bonuses that has been a part of the Dad Fitness System. BUT, after this special is over all 8 of the other bonuses from other fitness experts will be gone for good!

So, during this Father’s Day special you will get all 11 bonuses for FREE along with the Dad Fitness System.

This is a HUGE package at a tremendous value, which includes workouts, meal plans, recipes and everything you need as a busy dad to build muscle and burn fat in only 3 hours a week.

The greatest gift you can give yourself or even your own dad is the gift of health!

Be ready at 12 noon tomorrow at www.DadFitness.com to get fit for life and be the best damn dad you can for you and your family…

I am looking forward to hearing your success story!

]]> http://dadfitnessblog.com/the-dad-fitness-fathers-day-fitness-celebration-328/feed 0 http://dadfitnessblog.com/todays-workout-and-dad-fitness-contest-winner-311 http://dadfitnessblog.com/todays-workout-and-dad-fitness-contest-winner-311#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:38:06 +0000 Sean Barker http://dadfitnessblog.com/?p=311 .!.

I am finally back to my regular workouts after battling the flu.

Still easing back into training after a week off.

Today’s workout went pretty well, here’s what I did.

Dynamic Warmup

Flat BB Bench Press

Flat DB Bench Press

Weighted Dips

Lying Tricep Extensions

DB External Rotations

Stretching Cooldown

3 sets each, 5-10 reps

My stinky old gym was very warm and humid today so I am glad I was done in 40 mins flat.

Came home and had a great lunch of homemade chili that was leftover from dinner last night.

Here’s how I make my chili.

With Father’s Day just around the corner I have a HUGE Dad Fitness Celebration going on starting on Friday at noon with 10 FREE bonuses available to busy dads who get their copy of the NEW Dad Fitness System during this time.

I also held a little contest asking my newsletter subscribers to tell me “why it is important to be in shape as a busy dad”

Well, I received lots of responses via email but I was hoping for more comments on the blog. Guys don’t be shy!

The winner will receive the entire NEW Dad Fitness System for free!

…and the winner is…Scott Vaughn

Here was Scott’s response:

It is important that I get in shape as a dad because my son’s definition of “what a man is” will come from his observation of me. If I am weak, easily winded and soft, he’ll have nothing to aspire to as a man. A boy who doesn’t value his masculinity is a confused & directionless soul. I want my son to know that being a man is a great & awesome thing.

Congrats Scott for stepping up to the plate and sharing your thoughts!

Shoot me an email at info@dadfitness.com and I will hook you up with the entire new Dad Fitness System on me;-)