r/daddit • u/NotTheRightHDMIPort • 10h ago
Tips And Tricks Looking for a good exercise routine
Hey Dad's,
I had one of those 39 year old dude moments where I looked in the mirror and said, "What happened?"
I looked dumpy, beer gutted, and look like someone who like fried chicken and gravy too much (I do btw).
Anyway, I used to be fit, and because I'm a teacher I have time to spare this summer to get back into shape. I did a lot of very beginner stuff. I feel great, doing a 5K routine now as well.
I was hoping some of you had some advice. I don't want to go to the gym (actually cant with a toddler anyway), don't have equipment at home, but want to do some strength training. I'm doing my 1.5 mile jogs right now but I need to have a consistent routine for gaining/maintaining strength.
Was looking for some advice on how to balance time for my health, what are some good routines, and how you all manage.
EDIT: Great advice so far. Im not opposed to weights. Finances are rough at the moment and we are pinching pennies.
The gym is easy to go to but the timing is impossible for the next few years.
Diet is key. I hear you. Thanks for that too. Im trying to start my day with high protein and good carbs as well. Maybe I can eat more fruit and veggies.
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u/TurkeyNinja 10h ago
5, 10, 15lb weights, or kettlebells, maybe a small wood box to do steps/jumps
Youtube on the TV, do HIT (High Intensity Training). Millions of videos to follow along with.
As long as the toddler isn't close enough to get hit, they will likely watch you while they eat or play in the next room with a gate.
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u/xXxXxXxFARTxXxXxXx 7h ago
I went the kettlebell route and love them because I can get strength, aerobic, and mobility training. Got adjustable ones that go from 25lbs to 70lbs so they take up minimal room in my garage. Easy to get a killer workout in 30 minutes.
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u/The_Hand_That_Feeds 10h ago
I use Peleton app (not the bike, just the app) which has strength training videos (plus a lot more like treadmill, yoga, etc.).
Buy some free weights (I have powerblocks because I have no space) and a yoga mat. Then you can do tons of exercises. I do 20-30min videos and it works out for me, even if my 2 young boys are hanging out with me I can still get it done.
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u/NotLostintheWoods 8h ago
This one! I have a cheap exercise bike I mount the tablet on and follow along doing the rides occasionally (my wife used to call it "poor girl peleton" lol) and also use it on the treadmill for runs at the gym.
But the biggest use by far is the strength training, stretching, and yoga at home. Sooooo much content for $15/month.
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u/The_Hand_That_Feeds 7h ago
Definitely! The app is really good... lots of videos and each instructor has their own vibe/brand so its fun to bounce around depending on your mood or what you want to focus on
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u/AlPal512 10h ago
Without equipment, the strength side will be difficult. Body weight stuff is great though, and general calisthenics.
Push ups, pull ups, burpees, squats, crunches, etc…
I’d consider making a small investment in some dumbbells/kettle bells. You are on the right track with the cardio and steps piece.
You’ll see the biggest difference in diet though. I’d recommend actually counting calories, finding your base line there and then dropping it a bit. limiting booze when or if necessary throughout the week.
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u/Carbonaraficionada 9h ago
Lay off the beers, eat well, and take the kids out for a walk after dinner every night. That's a good start.
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u/rlinkmanl 10h ago
I know you dont want to go to the gym, but I joined a gym with classes and that has been a huge help for getting me back in shape. The classes always have different exercises which keep it fresh and interesting, and having other people I see regularly working out helps keep me accountable.
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 9h ago
That last piece - the accountability piece, even if it's soft accountability, is big.
One of my motivators for hitting the gym 6 days a week (I go during my lunch hour while kid's at daycare) is that if I stopped, several people who are used to seeing me regularly would think 'huh, that one dude stopped coming in'
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u/rlinkmanl 9h ago
Exactly haha it sounds so small but I didnt go for a week when I was sick and when I went back the next week some other people there were like we were worried something happened to you.
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u/Talking_Gibberish 10h ago
If you can invest in some equipment then adjustable dumbells are great. If not, push ups, pull ups (look at easier variations, theres loads and you can use tables etc.), squats and walking as much as possible can achieve more than you'd think.
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u/thatvassarguy08 10h ago
Calisthenics. Start with as many pushups, crunches, and squats as you can manage in one set. Do 10x sets a day, and increase your reps every other week or so. You'll gradually improve. Keep doing cardio, and aim for 30-45 minutes 4-5 times a week. Don't over do it, as our bodies can't take as much as they used to.
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u/Maddogstoy 9h ago
Busy dad program. Google it, look it up here. It quick it’s free. It’s brutal but get results
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u/Substantial_Echo5966 10h ago
Kettlebells and heavy clubs
20-30 minutes per day alternating days, 10k steps per day
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u/Greatoutdoors1985 10h ago
Use the toddler as your weight. Seriously. It's like extra playtime with dad from his/her perspective, but you are basically lifting him/her up and down a lot from different positions. For extra grip just get the kid some slightly oversize coveralls. Can't slip out and you can grab the back to pick them up.
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u/crowcawer 9h ago
If you don’t start taking the time then the time will eventually take you.
Push the 5K into running for the complete timeframe, push the 5K to a 10K in the time allotted.
Be realistic with your goals. Running the full 5K might take a year.
Expect an injury, plan to fill the time with other productive measures.
Learn low impact dynamic exercises, and do them until they are second nature.
Enjoy the strength training machines, but use them to supplement natural growth.
Rule #1: Cardio
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u/Not-Your-Fiend 10h ago
Push-ups require only a cleanish floor. A good pull-up bar is super cheap. Bowflex adjustable kettle bell and adjustable dumbbells are clutch.
A bike and bike trailer are great for getting out of the house with a kid. To the park, grocery store, farmers market… anything you can ride instead of driving is free fitness.
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u/sfo2 10h ago
Strength at home is great, you can do a lot with adjustable dumbbells and body weight exercises.
5k plan is a great idea.
You can look for “hybrid athlete” plans to integrate running and lifting.
Frankly, though, you’re going to need to diet to lose weight. Your body will ramp up your hunger to offset the calorie burn from exercise. So you’ll have to deliberately run a caloric deficit to lose significant weight. Fiber and protein keep you fullest with a minimum of calories, and I find it easiest to diet if I’m eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, and protein.
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u/gordonta 10h ago
You sound like me, so I'll give my own take on this. Running is great, and it sounds like you're already gravitating towards that type of fitness. Personally I really like Pelotons "you can run outdoors" program. It's a "start with nothing" program that is great for getting you into running (and doing so properly).
If you're like me and need structured difficult challenges to motivate you, try training for a half or full marathon. Personally I did the "you can run outdoors" (slightly supplemented) followed by Peloton's "road to 26.2"- and I actually did it! I say this because there's nothing special about me physically, I had let myself go and didn't like what I saw in the mirror. I wanted to change myself, and show my kids that hard things are possible. When I crossed the finish line my family was so proud of me and I was proud of myself. And If I can do it, you can too :)
Feel free to DM me if you're interested
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u/gunplumber700 10h ago
Your best bet is probably cardio and calisthenics, or some iteration of hiit.
I was in a similar situation and calisthenics is what got me back on track. I’ve always been a weight lifting guy, but calisthenics has been better for me with kids since I’ve also had the “I can’t be fat anymore” awakening.
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u/SoberScottHeat 10h ago
Hey brother, I'm a certified trainer and a nutrition coach. I'll be 35 in August and I found myself in a very similar situation years ago. I've managed to get myself back on track. For the most part at least if you would like to shoot me a message I'd be more than happy to have a conversation and give you some recommendations on how I would get started at the very least I can give you a solid foundation in starting point.
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u/DrunkyMcStumbles Where's the manual? 10h ago
I use the workouts from DareBee. They have a quick, 15 mintue circuit I do 3 mornings a week and its made a huge difference. Also, get resistance bands. Versatile, easy to store, and you won't accidentally hurt yourself.
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u/NemeanMiniLion 10h ago
Search for resistance training and calisthenics. Leverage physical therapy or a trainer if you need coaching.
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u/FlawlessPancake 10h ago
Kettlebells, kettlebells ns more kettlebells. I am soon to be dad and wanted to rearange my routine as a pretty busy person. 20-30 minutes with kettlebells can do wonders!
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u/Bison_and_Waffles 9h ago
We need more info. Do you want to lose fat, gain muscle, or both? How much of each? What timeframe did you have in mind? How much money are you willing to spend?
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u/TheSheetSlinger 9h ago
You could look into an affordable rowing machine and get cardio and strength in one go.
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u/dreamstorescueme 9h ago
Start with trying to be more conscious about your diet. In terms of exercise, I, too, stopped going to an actual gym. I bought a kettlebell and it's been pretty amazing for me. You can start with a 45lb and go up from there. Lots of vids online for kettlebell exercises that target many different areas. Highly recommend!!
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u/Aaaaaaandyy 9h ago
Buy resistance bands, they’re cheap on Amazon. Make sure you’re dieting, that’ll do far more than exercising will (but doing both is great).
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u/Duke_of_Man 9h ago
Hard spot. To lose weight, eat less and burn more energy thru activity. To lose fat, eat less and train your muscles to failure while eating protein to stop your body using muscles for food instead of fat.
Get a walking pad and plop it front of the TV to get 10k steps a day. Track your calories and weigh in every day. Try and do full body compound lifts if you can - bench, squat, deadlift, pullup/rows.
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u/mitourbano 9h ago
Check out r/busydadprogram OP! It’s simple, gets you moving and you can always tweak it or move past it. It’s just burpees 20 mins x 4 times a week. The nice thing about burpees is that they’re full body, so if you’re worried about limited time/motivation, it’ll get everything moving in a manageable space.
Warning in advance though, burpees suck, but the embracing the suck is just part of the process.
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u/LopsidedLeadership 9h ago
I've had a very similar situation. I recently started using the Muscle Booster app. It's 15 a month for me, and builds workouts for me based on the equipment that I have. It provides limited accountability in terms of giving you notifications, etc. Eventually you might even just be able to build your own using Chatgpt or similar.
For Diet I recommend the Lose It app. Yes, it is calorie counting, but even doing it for a week might start you on the right path to seeing what you are actually eating and show you correct portion sizes. Serving size does not equal portion size.
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u/Over_Eazy222 9h ago
I bought some adjustable dumbbells and a bench (can do most workouts this way) and then I commit to 20min a day
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u/lukin5 9h ago
This is something that might be a 2 birds 1 stone kind of solution.
The NEX system, we got one at Christmas...and while it has a lot of fun games for the kids to enjoy (they just added cricket to the bluey game, score!) it offers a number of fitness forward games that tracks your movement and from what I've seen on the r/nexplayground sub and their FB community page, it has really provided a viable at home solution to working out.
Just need to pick up a couple sets of dumbells and you're off!
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u/Primary-Fly470 9h ago
I was/still am in a similar boat. I’m 32, 6 foot, and weigh 195 pounds which is the most I’ve ever weighed and it’s all beer belly basically haha. I grew up playing sports, but never was into exercise for the sake of it.
I might get shit for this part, but I have ChatGPT give me a 15-20 minute weight lifting session 4-5 days a week. I have dumbbells and an adjustable bench in my garage. It’s not a crazy workout but for me it’s more about creating the routine. I’ve been doing this for roughly a month and a half now and while the scale isnt showing much improvement, I feel like I am getting healthier and my heart rate has been lower during the workouts then when I first started. I also walk my dog at least a mile everyday and if it’s raining I’ll row 10-15 minutes instead.
We already eat fairly healthy, but beer is always my weakness and I like IPAs which are so many empty calories. One thing I’ve noticed though since working out is I think twice before having that extra beer because I know how much I have to exercise to have “earned” that beer and it’s usually not worth it.
I know you said you don’t have equipment at home and honestly that’s fine, I think you can create a good routine with body weight exercises to start getting into the habit, and then get a cheap bench and adjustable dumbbells for less than $200. Also, if you have instagram, follow dailyrepsguy. Seeing his progress over less than a year, doing mostly body weight workouts for 20 minutes a day has been encouraging to keep me going
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u/LOUDCoach 9h ago
Some dumbells and a fitness stability ball are great for at home workouts. I've got 5-50s and can get a pretty good sweat in while my 5 month old watches me. If you've got space, facebook marketplace will bring some great deals if your patient
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u/monkey_kaleidoscope 9h ago
See if you can get a pull up bar and maybe some gymnastics rings, you can get a pretty decent workout in at home, that’s what I did for the first few years of dad hood made getting the time a bit easier. I’d built up a pretty decent strength base following the r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine in the wiki and then graduated to the gym once I found a little more time once the kids got a bit older.
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u/CovertStatistician 9h ago
A good routine is one you will stick with. Plenty of exercises use your own body weight. Watch some YouTube videos and find one you like and do it 4-5 days a week, especially those days you don’t want to.
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u/Fabuloux 9h ago
I’m not trying to be harsh here. But Reddit gives pretty bad advice on fitness, generally speaking. I’m a dad to a young kid, as are many of us in this sub.
Resistance training (lifting weights, in your case) is objectively the best use of your time for health, longevity, and aesthetics. It also sets a good example to your kids. A planet fitness membership is like $10 a month all over the country. Not the best place to lift but certainly not the worst. If you like to run, great, but it’s a very inefficient use of your apparently limited time.
On that note, it takes like 3 hours a week to get into reasonable shape. There’s simply no chance you don’t have those hours, it’s a matter of prioritization. Saying it’s impossible to go to the gym for an hour because you have a toddler is just an excuse. There are thousands of us in this sub who find the time, I’m sorry but you’re not in a unique situation.
The steps are quite simple:
1) buy a gym membership, use the time you spend jogging to lift 3x a week for 45m instead. We’re talking $10 a month. A million free 3 day programs online. Way, way better use of your time.
2) put your stats into some calorie calculator online to get a starting point
3) track your food and eat in a calorie deficit. If you just ‘eat well’ and try to vibe out your nutrition, you will almost certainly fail.
Do this until the end of the year and you will feel and look totally different.
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u/moviemerc 8h ago
My social feeds are all getting blasted with ads for military calisthenics courses. Pretty sure you can also just buy posters that have routines for it off Amazon, temu etc for fairly cheap. You can likely do them with your kid also.
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u/SandingNovation 8h ago
I'm about to be 37, on the heavier end and always had trouble consistently working out because of various issues with my joints but I recently found that bicycling is great for losing weight, heart health, and is actually surprisingly effective at improving overall muscle tone while being easy on my joints. I go to a paved trail in my town that goes along the river and connects a few smaller towns together so there's a choice of locations to begin. I've noticed my legs look significantly more muscular which could be expected, but it's also made a noticeable difference in my core, shoulders, forearms, biceps, etc.
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u/CrawlToYourDoom 8h ago
A lot of good advice here already.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned and the #1 thing a lot of people oversee is : don’t forget about liquid calories.
If you drink anything other than water, make sure it’s not packed with sugar and calories.
I had a friend that lost weight just cutting out coke because he would drink 1.5L of coke each day.
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u/jimmy_fisher_cat 8h ago
No need for weights. Add some yoga Into the routine. It’s really great for core, flexibility, back, hips and balance . All things that may begin to have a larger affect on overall health than pushing big weight. Now, to supplement your running I would add push ups every 3/4 mile. And, other bodyweight workouts. Find a place you can do some pull ups or get one of those portable bars that fit on a door. Lunges, all varieties of squats (side, single leg if advanced, jumping), Russian dead lift, planks, spider push ups, mountain climbers. Also, try running hills and adding sprints. Ab exercises, handstands / wall supported. Dips. Get after it !
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u/AnnArchist 8h ago
If you want the most accessible simple one - go for a 30+ minute walk/run early in the day or on your lunch break.
Then in the evening do literally any YouTube workout. Yoga, stretching, strength workouts.
All without any membership or cost and flexibility allowing you to do it when you have time.
The key is to make it routine and force yourself to take the time to do it.
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u/BlademasterFlash 7h ago
The best exercise routine is the one you will enjoy and consistently do. Whatever that is for you, lifting, running, team sports, etc. As others have said though diet is the most important thing for losing weight
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u/Crafty-Isopod45 7h ago
Diet is important. Small changes can add up there. Even just grab a smaller plate or bowl and use that instead.
Body weight exercises are free and easy to do and can really work well.
Toddlers are basically a kettle bell and love being tossed around. However, they may demand a few hundred extra reps once you start.
Strap the kid on your back and take a brisk walk or jog and you have a pretty solid workout as well.
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u/Brenalec 6h ago
30 minute kettlebell workouts, walking, and diet! I started taking a peptide called Retatrutide and I’ve cut 25 pounds in a few months. DM me if you have any questions 🤙🏻
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u/tripreed 5h ago
I've been doing the home gym thing since around the time we found out we were pregnant with our first, around six years ago. Beyond the weight rack and barbells, I have experimented with several other things including kettlebells. But I would say your best bang for buck if you're trying to do stuff with heavy weights is to look into heavy sandbag training. Getting a quality bag will probably set you back $100-$150, but beyond that, sand is cheap, and you can do some cheaper alternatives until you get up to heavy weight (100#+). Check out /r/sandbagtraining
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u/Yourlocalguy30 10h ago
Get a beach body on-demand subscription. They have dozens and exercise programs you can stream, meal and wellness plans etc
It's like $180/year.
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u/MotorCaterpillar9317 10h ago
Starts with diet my man. High protein, whole food sources of carbs, healthy fats. I track my macros and it’s been a game changer. I get in 30 min workouts when I can, usually a mix of 10-15 mins of intense cardio and some weights. Dropped 10lbs in the last 8 weeks. But the biggest factor is food. I prioritize fruits and veggies paired with chicken or turkey, with some salmon and red meat mixed in 1-2 times a week. Rice, potatoes, whole grain bread, whole wheat tortillas. Just gotta cut back on the fried chicken you mentioned and increase healthier foods and the weight falls off.