Becoming a father has been the best thing, alongside marrying my wife that I have done in my life. Seeing the constant changes, the positive influence you can have on my 2 year old daughter is really cool on an every day basis.
It is no lie, that parenting has not come easy. Having a Cardiac Kid was not as much as challenging when the surgery, rehabilitation and all of that was happening, it is the after effects of the whole hospital process I think that has been harder.
The hardest thing I think about being a Dad is the sense of moral responsibility that I hold to my family, then my business responsibility, and the sad thing is that my health and fitness was coming a sad last.
I like running, I love cycling, surfing and fishing. I love strength training though. But if I think deeper, I really love the feeling of feeling invincible, strong and powerful. This, was the feeling that I was missing during the really hard, early months of parenting.
Some would think that it is easy to train hours and hours a week, since I run a powerlifting club in my gym! Sad to say, that is not the case.
So, I have learned some very valuable lessons:
- Your health matters just as much now as it will later. From watching, learning and listening to men who are older and wiser than me, you are best to take action now, than to be TOLD to take action by a doctor.
- Three hours per week of strength training is well and truly enough to get positive benefits.
- The three hours you spend on yourself makes you more productive and happier at home and at work.
- The time you have training, can be a really good social time out and this is just as important as the physical benefits you achieve from working out.
In a recent study I was reading, there was a very specific and startling revelation that was made. “The age period between 30-40years of age is the single biggest change across a man’s health in his life time.” The study went onto talk about the impacts of things such as, starting a family, stopping organised sport involvement, career changes and improvements meaning extra time and work pressures, stopping exercising in a structured sense due to family and work pressures. The study talked about the impacts of this 10 year period on the next 20 years of the average man’s life, especially that within the ages of 40-50 years of age, the difference in heart disease diagnoses particularly has been found to jump across many populations, including Australia, United Kingdom and United States of America. The study postulated that the move from an active to sedentary lifestyle in a man’s thirties is potentially a very damaging risk factor in the development of many chronic diseases that are often diagnosed in the 40’s and 50’s in men.
My business, Vector Health caters to busy people, because I, as the owner of the business am a very busy person. I have empathy when someone tells me they work 80+ hours a week. AND I know that sometimes, that’s just life and you cannot do that much about it.
In summary, I do not believe that being a Dad is bad for you or your health. In fact it is the opposite. I consider it the most powerful motivator I have EVER had to be strong, fit and alive as long as possible with the absolute best quality of life. There are challenges for sure, but the motivation to be the best Dad possible should make it possible to keep yourself in amazing shape, to lead by example and foster the next generation by showing them that busy people can be fit and healthy.
So, if you are interested in joining a culture of inclusiveness, mate-ship and want to bond over lifting heavy things repeatedly and feeling really good about yourself for 3 hours a week, then our club trains from 3-7pm across Monday, Wednesday and Friday (we usually finish a little earlier, around 6-6:30pm).
And, if you say to me that you can do two days, then we just make it work, because there is so much research out there that almost begs men to just exercise, because something is ALWAYS better than nothing.
So, no bullshit Kettle bell swings, burpees or other exercises that people tell you that make you stronger. Just exercises that have been proven over time to turn lambs into lions.
You can either lead, or follow. At least if you are leading, you have the feeling of being in control.
If you want to experience the feeling of being strong, confident and feeling like you have some control over your life again, then click on the link below to register and I will call you to organize a time to come in and help you set up a plan to succeed.