TrainingWorkouts

Curls Are For Girls…Right?

Or do curls actually get the girls? You decide…

This week we have a guest post from Keegan Smith of the Real Movement Project. Keegan is well known for being a strength coach at the Sydney Roosters. He has an extremely forward-thinking approach to strength training and combines freakish gymnastic movements and strength with some very solid weightlifting skills.

keegan

He’s an absolute evangelist for a holistic, healthy lifestyle based around movement and has designed a lifestyle of his own choosing whilst charging forward in trying to create a better life for many others, now and in the future.

Over to Keegan.

LifestyleNutritionPersonal development

15 Smart Tips For New Dads – How To Get Your Mojo Back

All new Dads know the drill. Any would-be or wannabe Dads might as well get with the program, too, because it will creep up before you know what’s hit you.

I’m talking about the ‘Dad effect’, the gradual phenomenon that takes you from punchy to paunchy, from smooth to slovenly and from expectant to exasperated in the space of a few short months.

Its entirely natural given the accumulated lack of sleep and complete disruption to a lifestyle that previously seemed to footloose and fancy free. Your amazing little bundle of joy cares not for your training schedule, your early starts for work and the latest series on HBO.

As a consequence your waistline slowly expands, your jeans sink a little lower around your waist and your stubble starts to become more beard-like by the day.

It needn’t be like this, however. There are a number of small steps you can take to arrest this decline and get your mojo back post-baby.

Heck, if you can tick enough of these off, then you might even find yourself having sex again. Well, maybe.

Coaches use a range of methods to get the best out of their charges: there is no magic formula.
LifestyleTraining

Coach Class – The 6 Types Of Fitness Coach You Need To Work With

As much as I advocate and embrace the two pillars self-sufficiency and time-efficiency when it comes to training – especially for Super Fit Dads who have limited resources (time, money and space) – there are times when you need to lean on the experts for a little extra motivation, wisdom and inspiration as you traverse the rocky path of progress.

But picking or finding the right coach can be a tricky and potentially expensive exercise. There are some great coaches out there – the ones who simultaneously cajole and nurture you to ever-increasing heights of achievement. There are some terrible coaches who seem to be surviving on past glories, or no glories at all.

Then there are the myriad of average coaches, those who are neither particularly good nor bad. This example of the species is, perhaps, the most dangerous because their average-ness makes it harder to escape their clutches and start afresh elsewhere.

To save you time in the selection process I’m going to outline 6 types of coaches to look out for. Each offers extraordinary scope for learning and progression – if you can track one of these guys down, you’re likely to be in very safe hands.

I’ve been lucky enough to train with at least one of each type over the past few years; I’ll mention who they are as we work through the list.

LifestyleTrainingWorkouts

The ONLY Fitness Apps You Need on Your Phone

Regardless of whether you view your mobile phone as the bane of your life or The Ring to your inner Gollum, it’s probably not going anywhere fast.

In fact, for the time being, until smart watches get smarter, you’re going to be stuck with it.

So how can time-poor Dads fight back against these time-sapping, attention-seeking and productivity-diminishing devices that have us walking the streets like zombies, necks crowed and eyes transfixed not on where we are going or the world around us but on a tiny 3″ screen?

Well, at the very least, we can take advantage of some of the health and fitness information and tools they are able to deliver.

That’s only fair, right?

Listed below are some of the best fitness apps for Dads I’ve found and currently use. It’s by no means an exhaustive list but it gives me a start on redressing the balance of power between me and the dreaded device.

FinanceLifestylePersonal development

Success Tips – What I Wish I’d Known at 25


For all the benefits the digital era brings (think Uber, Strava and, errr, Dominos delivery), it can sometimes feel as though we’re under attack.

A incessant daily barrage of information, news, requests, meetings, reports and other noise rains down on us like mortar shells, and keeping up, let alone getting ahead, can be impossible.

info 2

There are so many distractions and so much to do that taking time out to set goals and make plans for the future feels like a luxury that many people simply don’t think they can afford. Which is a real shame because academic studies have repeatedly shown that those people who set clearly defined goals achieve much more of what they want in life than those who don’t.

Put another way, a goal that isn’t written down is just a dream. And it’s unlikely to be achieved.

In light of this, is there a framework that can be set up and adhered to that allows you to take back ownership and control of your life? Can you set up rules that will help you create a rich and fulfilling life that benefits you and all those you come into contact with?

Here is my charter: a list of success tips or measures that I’d be happy for my son to adhere to as he develops into an adult or, more precisely, some things I wish I’d known 5 or 10 years ago.

A body composition scan will keep you accountable.
LifestyleTraining

Made To Measure – 5 Ways For Dads To Stay Accountable In Your Training

For time-starved Dads (especially)  – but, let’s face it, everybody is time-starved these days – staying the course with a training program or exercise regimen boils down largely to staying accountable.

Peter Drucker famously said, “if you can measure it, you can manage it.” When one of the gurus of modern business management drops an edict like this, it’s well worth paying attention.

This mantra can be readily transferred from the business world to pretty much any sphere but where it becomes especially applicable for Super Fit Dads is in health and fitness.

Crossfit

Myth-Busting: Cracking the Crossfit Code

It’s been just over a year since I started Crossfit training. To say I was in a bad place mentally when something prompted me to finally get along to my local box is something of an understatement. A dead man walking is putting it a bit strongly, but isn’t that far from the mark.

So given my relative experience, or more the fact that I’m no longer a complete Crossfit beginner, it feels like an opportune time to reflect on my experience to date, assess my progress but mostly to see if any of the myths surrounding “the sport” have been dispelled.

work trip nutrition
Nutrition

On The Road – 3 Ways To Stay Healthy On A Work Trip

When I travel for work my diet and training routine invariably suffers. 5am starts often call for a Maccas at the airport which, in turn, usually means a second coffee and some kind of baked delight is required by the time the nine o’clock meeting rolls around.

survive winter blues
Lifestyle

5 Lifestyle Hacks To Beat The Winter Blues

As the Antipodean winter well and truly begins to bite, everything can seem that little bit harder and less fun.

You know this time of year only too well and you don’t particularly like it. Skipping out of bed for a 6am beach training session at 11 degrees becomes a very different proposition to when it’s a balmy 16 degrees. The work-year seems to finally be kicking in with a vengeance, keeping you back at the office until some ungodly hour (like 5.30pm). Masterchef is back on TV. Yep, winter is here, alright.

So here are some of the key things I’m doing to keep my body and mind on track and avoid a descent into seasonal negative nelly-dom.

CrossfitTraining

Bumps in the road – 3 signs that you’re training too much

A wise man once told me that progress is not lineal. And so it has proved in Super Fit Dad-land as the burgeoning juggernaut of PBs, progress and self-satisfied improvement has careened off the road and screeched to an abrupt halt. The wheels, it seems, have well and truly fallen off the wagon.

What has happened to precipitate such an almighty decline in performance? And has it really been that bad? Let’s look at the symptoms for clues.

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