I started a new muscle building Dad Fitness workout routine yesterday.

I had a few whole wheat hamburger buns laying around as well so I decided to put them to use for this guy’s gourmet version of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Meet the Garlic Grilled Beef and Cheese Sandwich

1 clove of chopped garlic
1 tsp of parsley
1/4 cup of unsalted butter

2 large whole wheat kaiser rolls
2 tbsp of bbq sauce
4 slices of aged cheddar cheese
6 oz of thinly sliced leftover roast beef

In a small bowl mix garlic, parsley and butter together and melt in microwave for 30 secs.

Butter outside of rolls (tops and bottoms) with basting brush

Spread 1tbsp of bbq sauce on inside of each bun

Place 2 bottoms butter-side down in skillet on medium heat

Add 2 slices of  cheddar and roast beef to each bun in skillet

Place top rolls on sandwiches and cook 5-10 minutes or until golden brown

Carefully turn sandwiches over with spatula or tongs and cook for additional 5-7 minutes until golden brown and cheese is melted.

Remove from pan and enjoy with some spicy Peperoncini peppers on the side.

So the next time you want a Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich for lunch don’t think Arby’s!  Think homemade REAL food with the Grilled Garlic Roast and Cheedar from the Dad Fitness Workout and Nutrition System.

So when it comes to keeping my bodyfat around 10% year round I am not a guy to count calories or have a cardio crush on the treadmill display (which studies show are inaccurate anyway).

Despite what you may have heard in the gym, muscle does not WEIGH more than fat. A pound is a pound despite what’s being weighed. But muscle is more DENSE, meaning 5lbs of muscle takes up less space than 5lbs of fat (and makes you look a hell of a lot better!) Plus muscle is metabolically active unlike fat which just hangs around for the ride and makes chinups that much harder.

But on page 46 in the September issue of Men’s Health, I noticed a chart showing the estimated calories burned not by hitting the gym but by doing “manly” around the house activities. Remember, muscles are made for movements not mirrors.

Average number of calories an 180lb man burns in an hour of…
(I currently weigh 175lbs, close enough)

Chopping and splitting wood, 491
Cleaning gutters, 409
Mowing grass (pushing by hand), 491
Painting outside, 409
Planting trees, 368
Raking, 352
Trimming trees, 286
Carpentry, 245
Papering or Plastering, 245
Sanding, 368
Wiring and Plumbing, 245
General cleaning, 245

So after a busy and productive morning off yesterday where I “prepared” dinner before breakfast (by throwing a roast in the crockpot), headed to the gym for a quick Dad Fitness workout, mowed and raked the front and back lawn,then cleaned up around the house all before lunch, it made me break out the calculator.

Calorie Countdown Calculator

Dad Fitness Workout (45 mins)- 362 calories

Mowing Grass (30 mins) – 245 calories

Raking Grass (30 mins) – 176 calories

House Cleanup (30 mins) – 122 calories

The total caloric burn from just these 4 activities alone comes to 905 calories!

Provided you eat REAL food that was made by Mother Nature and not Man, like is found in the Dad Fitness Meal Plans, you can eat great tasting food and not have to worry about dieting and counting calories.

So the next time your wife gives you the dreaded “to-do” list think about all the extra calories you are going to burn by mowing the lawn or painting the deck.

Thankfully, from now on, counting calories will be one chore that you won’t have to think about…

Well, today I turn the big THREE TWO…

Nothing too crazy planned that I KNOW of anyway. My wife is taking the day off so we can all spend the day together.

(I am up early and letting her sleep in so I wanted to post this)

This makes for a great magazine headline on your nearest news stand but unfortunately you become disappointed and confused once you flip through the pages.

Wether it’s the magical Acai or Gogi berry one week, or the raw, cooked or frozen diet the next, it’s all a marketing illusion for companies to sell you more of their stuff.

So let’s breakdown the Diet Dogma.

The idea of a “Perfect” Diet is like chasing a moving target, and if you continue to chase this moving target you are setting yourself up for failure.

Even some of the most common advice you hear regarding healthy eating is contradictory and not always perfect or practical for everyone.

-Eat 6 small meals a day…
(quite the chore for us busy dads with families who work 12 hours a day)

-Don’t eat late at night…
(kinda sucks for us night-shift workers or culture’s in the Mediterranean who eat a late dinner)

-Eat lots of fruits and vegetables…
(tell that to the Inuit who hardly ate any and have the lowest rate of heart disease)

-Eat high protein…
(some of the longest living and highest performing athletes in the world get 75% of their calories from carbs)

-Eat low carbs…
(except first thing in the morning, before or after your workout, on Tuesday’s or during a full moon)

-High fat, low fat…
(high fat diets with healthy fats from fish and nuts is highly recommended these days…but not the best advice if you are going in for surgery or if you have a peanut allergy. As for low fat, you’ll have to fight with the French on that one)

-Chocolate is healthy
(but only if it’s from 87.625% organic dark Cacao beans that hasn’t seen the light of day in the northern mountains of Papua New Guinea)

-Alcohol is bad
(the healthy elders of Sardinia, Italy or Okinawa, Japan with their red wine and sake would disagree)

From only organic, to vegan vegetarians the list goes on between the battle of the perfect diet and more importantly for your dieting dollar.

As a fitness professional myself who has a passion for encouraging healthy lifestyle habits, I still believe all these methods are valid and do work but their long term success depends on the person’s personality and lifestyle, not shear will power.

Humans have healthily survived for millions of years without having to call Jenny. That’s because different cultures from different parts of the world evolved on what worked best for them.

The North American culture continues to feed the media it’s law of the land for healthy diets but ironically it is one of the biggest leader’s or maybe the biggest losers for preventing heart disease and obesity in the modern world.

Unfortunately, most of the food we now eat is being purchased not prepared. What used to be known as a meal has now become a snack that we eat in-between even bigger meals.

No longer is even food enough. According to every second page in a health and fitness magazine we also need pills and powders to supplement our already sub-standard diet.

The problem is when people believe the media’s messages on what is best for them and allow billion dollar companies to dictate what, when and how much we eat.

OCD has turned into OCE, Obsessive Compulsive Eating, and crossing the line between self-discipline because you ate GOOD and self-punishment because you ate BAD is where things go wrong. I always say that the food guilt is sometimes worse than the food itself.

Remember holistic health is mind AND body. So don’t beat yourself up the next time you have a slice of cake at a Birthday party.

Continue to move more, enjoy eating REAL food and stress less.

Eating healthy without obsessing over eating healthy, now that sounds like the Perfect Diet…

To celebrate my 32nd Birthday I am offering my entire Dad Fitness Workout and Nutrition System for 50% off the regular price!

You get over 10 workout and nutrition programs and bonuses for less than $20, for 24 hours only!

Help me celebrate and help yourself get fit fast while you enjoy life and eat REAL food with Dad Fitness…

Starting living the Dad Fitness Lifestyle TODAY

50% off discount==>http://www.DadFitness.com

Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night and de-stress during the day with short naps or meditation. Sleep one hour for every 2 hours you’re awake.

By following these 7 Habits of Highly Fit Dads 90% of the time and focusing on progress and not perfection you can have some freedom and still be a fit father.

With summer just around the corner, it’s not too late to get started now!

If you want a simple program that tells you what to eat, and how to workout to get maximum results in minimum time – get over
to Dad Fitness, The Ultimate Workout and Nutrition Plan For Busy Dads

Coincidentally it seems the same people who neglect this important part of their workout are the same people complaining about shoulder pain or back pain and wrap themselves up like a mummy before their workout with wrist wraps, elbow wraps, knee wraps and the infamous weight lifting belt for EVERY exercise so they can manage to get through their workout.

Even though I don’t recommend the “old school” warmups of walking on a treadmill for 5 minutes and then static stretching before your workout, (which I will explain in a future post) it is still a lot better than doing nothing at all!

What I do recommend is a Dynamic Warm-Up before you workout, so here is my current warmup I do before EVERY Dad Fitness workout to enhance muscular activation and increase joint mobility.

Give this one a try or let me know what you do for your workout warmup by leaving a comment below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

You might remember this from your old high school math class.

It was Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Despite Einstein’s well known brilliance, what amazes me even more was he was also a busy dad of 3 kids.

Einstein was known for challenging the status quo and I think if he was alive today he would tell us busy dads who continue to waste time on long boring workouts that leave us even more exhausted to smarten up and fly right!

Einstein doing his interval training

So let’s do the math…

A typical workout may look like this.

Pushups, 3 sets of 12-15 reps, rest 60 secs
Deadlifts, 3 sets of 6-8 reps, rest 60 secs
Bicep Curls, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, rest 60 secs
Shoulder Press, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, rest 60 secs

With each set taking almost a minute to complete and resting a minute in between sets this workout would take you about 30 minutes on paper.

But in reality, this workout would take even longer as you would have to move around the gym setting up each exercise and changing weights, not to mention actually getting to the gym.

Even a 40 minute workout is not bad compared to most endurance type workouts found in the muscle mags on your local newsstand.

What if I could show you how to get this same great workout using all the same exercises in half the time and without all the equipment?

Would you be interested? If your a busy dad, you should be.

Enter the Dad Fitness Theory of Efficiency, which is
E=Dad ^Fit

I am so smart…SMRT

Where E is Efficiency, Dad is well… you!, and Fit is what you will become using this workout routine

So it’s time we pulled a General Motors with our workouts by getting rid of the excess junk and focusing on what works…no offense Saturn owners.

Check out this video to see the same Dad Fitness workout using the exact same exercises done in all in one movement but without the wasted time.

Plus all you need is a simple set of dumbbells!

Click here to view the embedded video.

*Warmup with 10 reps of bodyweight burpees.

Dumbbell Pushup, no rest, go directly to
Dumbbell Deadlift, no rest, go directly to
Dumbell Bicep Curl, no rest, go directly to
Dumbbell Shoulder Press, rest 60 secs

Complete this circuit 8-10 times before resting, and repeat the circuit 3 times.

Total workout time is about 15 minutes. How’s that for efficiency?

So lets get smart with our time and put the “work” back into our workouts so we can spend less time with the dumbbells and more time being a dad…

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!

Last night my wife and I decided to stay in for our date night and rent a couple movies. Finally seen Slumdog Millionaire which lived up to the hype and then finished off the night with a good scare with The Haunting in Connecticut.

For dinner we made Charred Chicken Tacos from the July/August issue of  Men’s Health.

Here is the recipe from Men’s Health online.

Char Chicken Tacos

12 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs (breasts work, too)
1 ripe avocado, peeled and pit removed
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
2 limes (1 quartered)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 jalapeno peppers
1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rings

1. First, make the guacamole: In a mixing bowl, combine the avocado, garlic, cilantro, and juice of one lime. Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper.

2. Preheat a grill on medium high. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the chicken pieces and then rub them with the cumin, and chili powder or cayenne. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Add the chicken, whole jalapenos, and onion rings to the grill. Cook the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side until it’s lightly charred and firm to the touch. Cook the jalapenos and onions for the same amount of time, turning them to make sure they caramelize evenly.

3. Serve the grilled chicken with the guac, grilled vegetables, hunks of fresh lime, and more cilantro.

Eat with warm corn tortillas and black beans. Makes 2 servings

Per serving 490 calories, 35 grams (g) protein, 24 g carbohydrates (10 g fiber), 30 g fat, 120 milligrams sodium

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Our town had a scheduled power outage from 4am this morning until 12pm. So when the lights came back I headed to the gym for a workout.

Today I started a new Dad Fitness workout routine based on the Push-Pull workout method.

But this workout may look opposite to what you see with most weight training programs.

Usually the most common workouts involves exercises where you do 3 sets of 8-10 reps.

A much better way to change up your routine and spark new gains in lean muscle is to turn your workout upside and do 8 sets of 3 reps instead.

This allows you to focus on the perfect performance of only 3 reps per set instead of pumping away until your muscles go to failure.

For greater gains in muscle with your busy dad workouts focus more on PERFORMANCE with your reps than FATIGUE.

Here was my workout of the day.

A1 Barbell Deadlifts, 8 sets of 3

A2 Supported Dumbbell Curls Leaning Against Post, 8 sets of 3

B1 Wide Grip Pullups, 8 sets of 3

B2 Stiff Leg Deadlifts, 8 sets of 3

C Serratus Crunch (holding dumbbells straight up over shoulders while you crunch)

I rested 60 seconds between sets as I rotated back and forth from A1, A2, B1, B2

It took me a little over an hour because of loading and unloading all the weight plates which seemed to be a workout in itself!

Planning on getting to the gym for Day 2 tomorrow…