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!

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Heck, I am a fitness writer myself and after 15 years of studying health and fitness inside and outside the gym as well as earning lots of advanced certifications I am confident that the advice I give works and is also safe and helpful for a healthy person.

Unfortunately with the age of the internet everyone thinks that they are suddenly qualified in exercise science and advanced program design.

That’s why mechanics don’t do brain surgery and why your dentist don’t fix your plumbing, (although some of their tools do looks the same).

It’s because they SPECIALIZE in their field and when we want expert results we go to an expert.

But you still have to be careful who you consider an expert despite some fancy letters after their name.

After seeing a workout routine that was left in the gym the other day I am almost ASHAMED to be called a Personal Trainer in the same breath as the “personal trainer” who designed this exercise program below!

This has got to be the WORST weight training program I have EVER seen!

…and trust me I have seen it all and this even goes way beyond any of the over hyped bodybuilder routines found in the magazines.

I am sure my 2 year old daughter would come up with a better routine, as her squat technique is impeccable.

It’s no wonder guys at the gym are walking around with torn up shoulders and bad backs.  I would rather they stay home and did nothing, than follow stuff like this and breakdown their muscles and mobility with the overuse and redundant exercises found below.

95% of these exercises are not only a waste of anyone’s time for building muscle but the unnatural angles recommended for some of these movements make them go from bad to down right DANGEROUS!

So I hope the “trainer” who blindly slapped this workout routine together goes back to eating their Cracker Jacks and the personal trainer certification that came with it…

WARNING: Displaying this workout is for novelty purposes only and may cause a choking hazard if anyone with a brain reads it while eating or drinking.

The Worst Workout Routine EVER

3 sets of 10 for everything.
(wow, that’s creative)

Day 1

Wide Grip Bench Press
Wide Grip Incline Bench Press
Pullover
Decline DB Press
Bench Dip
Cable Flys
Cable Crossover
Pushup

Day 2

Lying Bicep Curl
Preacher Curl
EZ bar Concentration curl
Cable Bicep curl
Tricep Overhead DB Press
Skull Crusher
One arm Cable pushdown
Dip

Day 3

Pullup
Cable One Arm Pulldown
Lat Pulldown
Seated Cable Row
T Bar Row
Bent Over Db row
Reverse Fly
Back Ext.

As for lower body exercises I didn’t see any but was too disgusted to turn the page and waste my time reading any more of this garbage.

If you are a busy dad and is looking for professionally designed workout routines done for busy dads by a busy dad, check out www.DadFitness.com for safe and effective workouts and nutrition plans that give you maximum results in minimum time.

Even at a really young age I would rather watch a cooking show on TV than watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… But I do share the turtles love for pizza!

Basic cooking and learning what REAL food is should be a skill that EVERY kid is taught in school, right up there with math and science.

Now that I am a father I realize even more, how important it is to not only play a part in preparing healthy food for myself but also for my daughter.

Even at 20 months old her favorite snack is fresh fruit and berries and at dinner last night she asked for more broccoli!

Don’t get me wrong, I am no food Nazi!  I think it’s one of the greatest pleasures of life.  But I think most people live to eat instead of eating to live…

We still let her enjoy being a kid and let her eat some of the treats and sweets that we all have on occasion.  Mostly when she is out visiting family and friends we loosen up on the food rules but when she is home most of the time we try and feed her the healthy meals that we prepare as a family.

After stumbling onto Jamie Oliver on the Food Network a few years back I watched as this guy with the funny accent not only cooked quick great tasting food but also started a food revolution to combat the skyrocketing child obesity rates in the world today.

Plus Jamie is also a busy dad so he knows what works and what’s practical when it comes to feeding kids healthy meals.

It made me realize that as parents teaching kids about healthy eating can be the biggest contribution we can make to the next generation.

If you are a parent, I highly recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to watch this powerful video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I REALLY want to hear what you think!

Let me know by leaving a comment below…

No matter what level of fitness knowledge you think you may have, you always need to look and learn from other trainers and coaches to improve your mind and body. As the author of Dad Fitness, I still strive to learn and improve my knowledge to help others get the fastest results possible.

After spending 5 days hanging out with guys like Craig Ballantyne of Men’s Health and fitness icon Shawn Phillips, I started to pick up on some of the secrets these guys use to stay in awesome shape even while traveling.

So here are 5 Tips To Stay Fit While Traveling.

1. Workout No Matter What. After a busy 5 days of sitting on my butt in meetings and seminars I still managed to workout 4 out of the 5 days while in Florida. Which is even more than I workout at home!

The first day I got together with Rommel Acda of FitInAHurry.com, and Deb Froehlich of CelluiteCircuits.com and we trained together in the hotel gym. It wasn’t very big but had enough to get a great workout using our bodyweight and a few dumbbells.

Then the next day along with Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training we all headed to the local Powerhouse gym to get a great workout in a more upbeat gym atmosphere.

Wether it’s a quick hotel room bodyweight workout, a hotel gym workout or a Powerhouse gym workout, just make sure you do some exercise while traveling to offset all the sitting down on airplanes and in meetings.

2. All You Can Eat. The great thing about travelling to new cities is experiencing new places to eat. But if you’re not careful you could be paying the airlines extra weight on the way home, and I am not talking about your luggage…

So do what all the fit trainers did every morning to start their day off right; eat a nutritious breakfast. Even though our hotel served a FREE buffet breakfast every morning, most everyone who is in great shape skipped the bacon and breads and had a huge freshly prepared omelet stuffed with veggies with a little fruit on the side, me included. Keep lunch small with a salad or whole grain wrap so you don’t get sleepy during the afternoon meetings, and enjoy a nice dinner with some lean meat and veggies and even a glass of wine.

3. Drink Up. I don’t mean spend your nights at the hotel bar getting sloshed. I mean drink lots of cold refreshing water. It will keep you full and focused and your mind off the donuts and croissants sitting across the conference table.

It’s really easy to drink lots of H2O during these hotel conferences as they usually serve you pitchers of water in your meeting rooms and in the big conference rooms. Just to be sure you always have water on hand, pick up a couple of litres of spring water at the hotel gift shop and keep on ice in your room.

4. Ditch the Cab. If you are up for some sight seeing or heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner, ditch the cab fare, get some directions and walk there instead. Google Maps on your smart phone works great for this!  Walking is a great way to see a new city and burn some calories. Strolling back to the hotel after dinner is a great way to end the evening and ease the guilt from that decadent dessert.

You can also try to find a park or gym a couple miles away and walk or run there to get your heart pumping and your warmup out of the way.

5. Recharge. If you’re traveling solo, staying at a hotel is a great way to get some extra rest and relaxation. You get the bed to yourself, and you have no worries of the kids jumping in the bed at the wee hours of the morning.

It’s also a great time to catch up on some work or read that book you have been trying to get through. A dip in the hotel pool and a hot sauna afterwards might be just what you need to recharge your batteries before you get back on the road.

So there you have it, 5 Travel Tips To Stay Fit so you’re wife still recognizes you when you get home…

How do YOU stay fit on the road? Let me know and leave a comment below.

I want to take a moment to sincerely THANK-YOU for following Dad Fitness. Stay tuned for more great stuff from Dad Fitness in 2010 as we work together to make it our best year ever!

I would like to wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season and all the best life has to offer in the New Year…

Wishing You Health and Happiness,

Sean Barker

http://www.DadFitness.com

…and if you don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy Festivus!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I would have made the trip with them, but unfortunately I couldn’t get time off work.  We are planning on taking a vacation in September anyway to attend my wife’s sister’s wedding on the rock.

I must say I certainly miss the two ladies of the house as I really look forward to little Matea running to greet me at the door when I get home from work.

Today, was especially quiet as our area was hit with an unexpected 5 hour power outage from 9am-2pm!

With a couple days off from work and some extra time to myself I was looking forward to starting the day with an early morning workout then running some errands which I normally have little time to do when I am working or home with Matea.

But when the power went out, everything was put on hold.

Any outdoor activities were also out of the picture as it’s been pouring rain all day…

With no internet to distract me I took advantage of this time by using the couple hours of power my Macbook had left to work on some writing projects for Dad Fitness.

I even surprised myself as I got on a creative roll and completed 3 new health and fitness articles which you will be seeing very soon!

Then when my laptop when dead, I did some cleaning up around the house and even got to organizing my home office bookshelf which was being weighed down by all the books I continue to read. I try to read at least 3-4 books a month on health and fitness, self improvement, business and marketing.

When the lights came back on I was charged up to hit the gym for an intense full body workout.

Today’s workout was considered a “Light Push” workout that involved a little more isolation exercises that I usually do but it was fun and refreshing and my legs were like rubber after the first two exercises. Everything was 2 sets of 12 reps except calves.

A Leg Press

B1 Bulgarian Split Squat

B2 Dumbbell Floor Presses (keep elbows tucked to emphasize triceps)

C1 DB Fly’s

C2 Triceps “Concentration” Extensions (lie on a bench with a dumbbell held overhead with one arm and lower the forearm across your chest until the dumbbell touches. Use the other arm to support and/or assist the working arm)

D1. Dumbbell Lateral Raises

D2. Overhead Barbell Shrugs

E. Seated Calf Extensions, 3 sets of 10

To refuel after today’s workout I had a chocolate milk and a banana.

Then  it was “Dinner for 1″ as I made my famous Dad Fitness Quick and Easy Chili for supper with lots of leftovers for healthy meals for the week.

Finished off the meal with a little 90% cocoa dark chocolate.

Looking forward to talking with my wife this evening as I hold down the fort here at home…

The Barker’s will be at full power on Thursday when the girls return!

2. I finally took the plunge to follow my lifelong passion for health and fitness. Despite continuing to work my regular job as a heavy equipment operator I got certified as a personal trainer, and started my online business called Dad Fitness. I plan on eventually making this my full-time job so I can create my lifestyle around my career and be in total control of my income so I can be there for my family.

With the current news that I will be laid off from my operator job due to the economic downturn I feel the time is NOW to “feel the fear, and do it anyway”. How can I someday tell my kids that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up, if their Dad is afraid to do the same. It’s not what you say, its what you DO.

3. Dating my wife. After having our baby daughter no matter how much we thought we were prepared, we were hit with quite the wake-up call. As we got busy being parents, we let “life” get in the way of us being husband and wife. After realizing it was OK to accept help from our family once in awhile, we started having a date night at least once every 2nd week. We hope to even make this happen once a week in 2009.

4. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” This quote comes from my favorite book of 2008. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I realized even following what has been considered a healthy lifestyle of eating for the last 15 years, that I was obsessed with food. “Eat this, at that time, so many times a day” was making me not enjoy food anymore. This book has changed my entire outlook on how we eat as a society and specifically how I eat.

5. I invested in MYSELF. With the world economy in a downturn I continue to make an investment that will NEVER fail me. I try to read an hour each day, 3-4 books a month and continue to advance my personal training certifications with advanced courses in training and nutrition.

I try to surround myself with positive people who are successful at doing what I WANT to do. I even traveled to Toronto this year to attend my first Mastermind meeting. I also read a lot on self improvement including success, business, money, time management, relationships and anything that I feel will help improve my health, wealth and happiness. You will never get dumber by reading a book…

6. Total Body Workouts. Like most guys who started training in the gym my background came from bodybuilding. I even went a step farther as my interest in the sport grew and competed in a few contests. But after 15 years in this industry my training philosophy is changing. For most regular folks you just want to get in shape, bodybuilding style workouts are NOT the best way to go.

That’s why the last year or so I have been designing my workouts around full-body workouts opposed to the typical body part splits such as a chest day or arm day. Most busy dads want to get the best bang for their workout buck and working your entire body with compound exercises that use a lot of muscles together is the most effective and most functional way to workout. This is the backbone of my Dad Fitness workouts and is why you can lose fat and build muscle with just 3 short workouts a week.

7. I replaced supplements with food. This year I have been gradually cutting back on the supplements that I have been taking for years and relying on whole natural foods for my vitamins and minerals. Instead of taking vitamin C, I eat more oranges and bell peppers. Instead of taking additional vitamin E, I eat more mixed nuts. I even give up taking a protein bar to work for my mid-morning snack and eat mixed nuts instead.

I also recently give up taking my post-workout protein shake and replaced it with chocolate milk. Studies show chocolate milk works just as well to help your muscle recover after a workout. Now I only take fish oil and a multivitamin twice a day to supplement my diet. As for all those empty protein tubs, they make great piggy banks for all the money I am saving!

8. Be ruthless with my time. Since becoming a busy dad who works a full-time job and running my own business I have had to better manage my time before someone else would. Making my family also number one on my priority list I had to make sure I blocked out time in each day to get things done. I don’t need a blackberry or an iphone to help organize my time as I think they are ironically time-stealers, not time-savers. I use a basic planner that I write in every day to keep me on track with work, workouts, appointments, business contacts etc. I review this every night and make sure things are planned to the best of my ability for the next day.

Another big change I made was to outsource any tasks that I have no interest in doing or think I could be doing something better with my time. Instead of spending 4 hours snow blowing our driveway I pay a company to clear my driveway with a loader that takes 5 minutes and use that time to work on my business or spend with my family.

9. I stopped microwaving plastic. You probably heard about the warnings of heating plastics and specifically the chemical found in plastics, BPA. The problem with BPA is that it doesn’t stay in the plastic. It leaches into whatever food or beverage you put in a plastic container, canned good, or plastic baby bottle. And if you microwave the containers or bottles, you are likely increasing the amount of BPA that leaches into your food.

BPA mimics the sex hormone estradiol, which can trigger major changes in your body such as brain damage, hyperactivity, abnormal sexual behaviour, increased fat formation and risk of obesity and early puberty and disrupted reproductive cycles. I simply switched to the Pyrex glass containers to store and warm my food at work and at home. This is the only time I use a microwave as I stay away from any processed foods that come in a box or container that you can heat in a microwave. I suggest you do the same.

10. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” This is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt. I have this posted on the wall of my home office and this simple phrase really helps me get through the tough times. Personally at this time my wife and I are looking to leave our current jobs and move across the country to follow our true passion in life and to explore better opportunities for our family. Making such a big change and taking risks are hard to do.

But you MUST fight the fear and do things anyway if you want to be successful in all facets of your life. If you are feeling frustrated with your current situation in life, realize you can’t change everything overnight, but in the meantime keep working towards your goals and do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

PS. Don’t forget to check out my latest article posted on TheFatherLife.com.

==>King Of The Grill

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

The mailman delivered IT this morning.

A letter that states…

“Please be advised that unfortunately due to current economic conditions you will be laid off from your employment at Wabush Mines, commencing on February 16th, 2009 and continuing until notice of recall is issued. At this time the company anticipates that the layoff will continue until at least the middle of 2009.”

Yes, I lost my job!

Working as a heavy equipment operator with Wabush Mines has been my regular day job for the last 5 years. It pays really well with full benefits for me and my family. The last few weeks we heard the company will be laying off almost 50% of its workforce!

The other nearby iron ore mine here in Labrador City, IOCC is also expecting to get hit with massive layoffs.

Unfortunately this is all we hear everyday now with the world continuing to plummet into an economic downturn. As the iron ore mines here supplies the steel to markets such as China, they rely on the demand for steel in order to produce.

As devastating as this news is to my family. There is a silver lining.

We had plans to leave our jobs here this spring anyway and move to western Canada, specifically Calgary to pursue our passions and a higher quality of life.

This would allow me to follow my passion in health and fitness and work full time on my Dad Fitness business. My wife already has no problem to transfer her job as a Wildlife Biologist.

Bus Stop psp

The mailman said “I am sorry” as he passed me the envelope holding a huge stack of these letters that everyone around this small town expects to get today.

Looking over the letter there must of been a mistake.

They forgot the line: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I honestly believe EVERYTHING happens for a reason.

If you and your family is effected by this worldwide downfall post your comments I will continue to invest in the only thing that is in my control, my HEALTH.

To invest in your health, join me and get started with
==>The Dad Fitness System.

It’s comes with a 100% risk-free guarantee. Unlike some other things in life…

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

…to go and visit her sister in New Brunswick for a week.

This is the first time daddy’s little girl will be away from me since she was born.

I certainly miss them both so much already. But was just talking to my wife and they arrived safe and sound which is what really matters.

As for me I will be heading out of town on Sunday to attend a weekend mastermind meeting in Toronto with Craig Ballantyne, Men’s Health expert and creator of TurbulenceTraining.com

It will be a weekend of networking with 10 other fitness professionals to enhance and grow our fitness businesses to help more people worldwide get fit for life.

No matter how much you think you know or what fitness level you may be at, always strive to learn more from the top experts in the health and fitness industry.

Don’t try and design exercise programs for yourself if you don’t have the experience and expertise to do so. Even myself as well as lots of the top trainers in the world look to other trainers in the industry to design exercise programs for them.

I also do the same every now and then and use workouts from other top trainers because they say the hardest person to design an exercise program for is YOURSELF!

Let me do the work for you and start using professionally designed fat burning workouts that are designed for busy dads.

Click this link to==>Download 16 weeks of fat burning workouts

…Tonight I will be heading to a buffet dinner with some friends.

So I thought I would share with you an awesome tip when you are attending any holiday buffets this Christmas.

It’s actually from a great book called “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think”

It’s called the Rule of Two. You can choose anything you want at the buffet, but you can never have more than two items on your plate. If you want to load it up with nuts and cake, go ahead. If you want to go back for seconds and load it up again with chips and carrots, go ahead.

Although this sounds like a recipe for disaster, it actually works quite well for people for three reasons:

• You tend to take the two types of food you want most. People who love desserts don’t work their way up to desserts. They’ll start with the desserts, and then stop.

• You tend to not overfill you plate. Putting only two things on our plate helps keep our serving sizes somewhat small because we psychologically don’t want to overload on a particular item.

• You tend to not go back more than two times. In one study did on the Rule of Two, 83 percent of people only made one or two additional returns to the buffet.

This morning I also had a great workout at the gym. It was short and intense and was a high rep day with short rest periods of 45 secs!

That’s it for today I am heading outdoors to start putting up our Christmas lights!

PS. If you feel like you ate a little too much yesterday and want to get back on track you can get your workouts instantly at DadFitness.com so you can burn off those extra calories.

…Or if you are like me and love the convenience of online shopping from the comfort of your own home the Dad Fitness System is just the thing to give to someone who is also a busy dad looking to get in shape in the New Year.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com