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.

No it’s not a Kit-Kat bar…

But the message behind their advertising slogan is one great way.

Gimme a Break!

1. Breakway from the Barbells

For us Gung-ho guys sometimes the hardest part of working out is NOT working out at all.  As hard as it may be when you feel you’re making progress with your workouts and the WEIGHTS are going up while your WAIST is going down, it’s always a good idea to have rest weeks designed into your training the same way you have sets and reps.

So that’s why after 12 weeks of hard and intense workouts, it’s time I take a break from the gym…and maybe you should too! Usually I try and take an entire week off from the gym every 8-10 weeks to give my body as well as my mind a rest so I can recharge my body’s batteries and be ready to start a new workout routine for another couple months.

2. Deload the Dumbbells.

Wether you are focusing on fat loss or getting stronger, when doing a longer training routine of 12-16 weeks it’s probably best to have a deload week every 4 weeks in your workouts. This is usually where you reduce the normal working weights and reps in your workout by 50%.  If you don’t have the mental muscle to stay away from the gym entirely, deload weeks are a great way to prevent burnout, get strong over time and avoid injury in the process while still remaining active.

3. Alternate don’t Adapt

Your body is made to adapt, otherwise you wouldn’t be here to read this… Research shows your body adapts to your workouts after 4-6 weeks. It adapts to your rep ranges first, then it catches on to your movement patterns. This is why it’s important to do different exercises from many different angles to stay one step ahead of that dreaded training plateau where your gains come to a screeching halt.

An example for chest would be to do barbell bench press for 4 sets of 6 reps on Monday, 2 sets of 12 of incline dumbbell presses on Wednesday and 3 sets of 8 of decline pushups on Friday…

I also like to cut myself some slack with my nutrition during my recovery week and not follow such a set eating schedule of eating 5-6 meals a day, every 3-4 hours.

Although I follow this structure 90% of the time as I believe in the benefits it gives me of higher energy and better health it’s good to go Primal every once and awhile and just eat when you’re hungry and even try intermittent fasting for 24 hours once a week.

I think the future of of food and healthy nutrition is in the past and that we should eat like our primal ancestors did most of the time sticking to wild meat, plants, nut and berries.

Eating this way and avoiding all the manufactured grains prevents our body’s fat storing hormone insulin from going on a constant roller coaster ride with our blood sugar. This way our body is burning fat for fuel, giving protein to our hungry muscles and we don’t have to worry if we go longer than 3 hours without stuffing our face.

So if you want to prevent workout burnout and be healthy and happy for the long term, sometimes it’s best to take 2 steps forward and one step back…

What can you do in 3 minutes?

You can make your bed…

You can update your Facebook status…

You can cook 3 batches of Minute Rice…

OK maybe there is a lot of things you can do in 3 minutes.

But one of the biggest obstacles we have as busy dads is finding the time to stick with our workout routine.

But in reality we all have the same amount of time in a day, so it’s really about how we MANAGE our time.

No matter what your situation, there are other dads out there juggling a lot more than you when it comes to family and fitness.

So for those days when you are about to write your scheduled workout off because of no time, I got you covered.

The 3 Minute Workout.

This bodyweight workout can be done anywhere at anytime without any equipment.

No, this shouldn’t replace your regular workout, despite what the TV infomercials want you to believe, you won’t get abs in 7 minutes!

But for a quick metabolic boost that will give you some energy and burn up some calories, put this workout in your training toolbox as an Emergency Workout.

So you now have NO EXCUSES. But you do have 3 minutes…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you have an Emergency Workout? Let me know by posting a comment 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!

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…

Now if your eating mostly natural foods like lean meats, fruits and veggies you shouldn’t have to count calories anyway. You won’t find nutritional information on an apple because it’s naturally good for you!

But most people get frustrated with their workout routine because they don’t have any idea how much calories they are eating everyday, and fat loss is still simply about the calories you consume vs. the calories you burn off.

So if you have an iPhone check out this app to help get you back on track to eating real food and getting real results…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Got any cool apps you would like to share? Let me know and leave a comment below!

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.

Do you like playing cards?

Personally I never enjoyed playing cards, I just couldn’t get into it…

But that is about to change because I just discovered a cool new workout routine that fits in great with the Dad Fitness Lifestyle and also fits in your pocket!

Have you ever heard of FitDeck? FitDeck is a unique deck of 56 playing cards containing illustrations and instructions describing over 50 different exercises, stretches, and movements.

These ‘no-equipment’ FitDecks contain exercises that require only your bodyweight to perform. ‘FitDeck Bodyweight’ is also the most popular series of ‘no-equipment’ FitDecks.

To share the details on this awesome fitness tool with you, I got the founder of Fit Deck, Phil Black, on the phone for a recorded interview.

Click this link to listen to the interview and get your own set of Fit Deck workout cards:

==>http://tiny.cc/eb1UB

I just ordered some of the FitDeck cards myself, as they are dirt cheap, portable and make great stocking stuffers for Christmas…

Here is the link again to the interview and to order your own set of Fit Deck cards:

Enjoy!

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

=============================================

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…