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.

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.

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.

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.

Training

It’s Complexicated – 4 Barbell Complexes For Time-Poor Dads

Assuming you have access to a barbell – in the garden, the garage or the gym – then barbell complexes will probably offer you the best fitness return on time invested that I can think of.

Their beauty, despite the name, lies in their simplicity and time-effectiveness. They are virtually idiot-proof and can have you in and out of the gym in half an hour which gives you plenty of time to swing by the shops on the way home to buy some nappies and a little treat for Tired Out Mum.

You pick up the barbell (or unrack it) and perform a set number of reps of multiple exercises without putting the bar down. Then repeat. For Super Fit Dads it’s the next step along from the trusty kettlebell, requiring just a little more space and a little more money to buy your barbell and weights.

Training

Testing Times – term 1 progress report

Progression, it’s said, is the key to success.

So, with this in mind, whilst I approached testing week at my Crossfit box with confidence that I would, most likely, have progressed somewhat from my relatively lowly starting position, I might fall short of where I had hoped to be. Which was a stupid idea because I hadn’t actually given much thought to where I’d hoped to end up.

Training

What the Dickens? PRs everywhere

It was the best of weeks, it was the worst of weeks, to paraphrase someone, somewhere, sometime. I forget who.

When other things were turning quite bleak and the gravity of a situation was hammered home in the most unceremonious of fashions, a few rays of sunshine appeared on the horizon to offer satisfaction and a sense of progress.

Workouts

5 Easy Kettlebell Workouts in 20 Minutes or Less

The kettlebell: much feared and with good reason. Well, sort of.

Introduced to the West by a pretty heavy Russian Spetznaz dude (Pavel Tsatsouline) and a whimsical, but ferociously strong, American guy who is older enough to be a grandpa but can still do one-handed pull-ups (Steve Maxwell) – so the story goes – the iron ball and handle is actually the perfect accoutrement for anyone wanting a super-quick, super-intense workout.

In short, this piece of kit was made for Super Fit Dads (and Mums).

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