I admit, I never was an Einstein when it came to Math. The only time I enjoy counting numbers is in the gym or at the bank.
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)
I am probably going to hit the gym in a bit for a quick Dad Fitness workout because it makes me feel so much better for the the rest of the day and to help burn off some of the treat foods that I will be enjoying later, hopefully some Quebec style pizza and cake!
Even though it’s MY Birthday I thought I would rather give than receive so I wrote a new article for you called the Perfect Diet.
…it’s not what you might think
I put a lot of thought into it and I would really appreciate it if you took a few minutes out of your day to read it as I am sure it will help you a lot and make you think about how you approach your health and fitness..
The Perfect Diet
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
1. Weekly Workouts
Do 3 Dad Fitness workouts a week of strength training and metabolic intervals. Keep your workouts under an hour.
2. Calorie Counting
Don’t count calories and don’t diet…count ingredients and eat real food that hardly has any.
3. Five Feedings
Eat 3 meals a day with 2 snacks; lean meats, fruits, nuts and veggies. If it’s not a plant or animal don’t eat it.
4. Big Breakfast
Have a big breakfast, medium lunch, small dinner. Most overweight people eat a small breakfast, medium lunch and large dinner.
5. Healthy Hydration
Drink only zero calorie natural liquids, water, coffee and tea…diet soda is not natural.
6. Sun and Sports
Get outside and be active with family and friends. Don’t be all show and no go, muscles are meant to move, so put them to use and run, jump, climb and play.
7. Rest and Relax
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
I CRINGE every time I see some clown stroll into the gym cold off the street and start loading up the bar without completing a proper warmup.
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…
E=mc²
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!
*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…
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