Fit Tip Friday #71

📃Announcement

Welcome to this week's Fit Tip Friday.Today is an incredibly special day - it is the due date of my 3rd daughter. She hasn't arrived... yet... but once she does I plan on taking all of October off from writing for Layman's Fitness to focus on this special season with my family's new addition.  So you'll hear from me again in November (11/3). 

📃Life Changes and Fitness

Having a baby is a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127). It's also a significant life change that introduces new responsibilities.  

In the last few years with Layman's Fitness, I've heard from several guys who have "got off track" with fitness due to having a baby.On one hand, there's an appropriate and understandable pause in life's responsibilities when a baby comes.On the other hand, guys I've spoken with have taken several steps back with their fitness when a baby arrives and regressed with fitness habits that became hard to break. Is there a middle ground? Is there a way to not "fall off track" with fitness with a new arrival? In this newsletter, I want to share some of my own thoughts (as a dad) on how I'm thinking through fitness in this next season. 

💪Exercising When a Baby Arrives

At the outset, I do want to recognize that not all baby arrivals are created equal.There's a massive difference between the responsibilities you have when your firstborn, third-born, or sixth-born arrives. There are also all kinds of pregnancy complications that can happen pre and post-delivery. So no situation will ever be the same, and it's just impossible to predict or address every scenario. But here's how I'm thinking about fitness in this upcoming season. 1. There are 9 months to prepare and prioritizeFor any expecting parent at the 9-month mark, you know the overwhelming feeling of readiness and anticipation for your baby to arrive. You've waited 9 months, which feels like an eternity at times. But the Lord in His wisdom gives you 9-months to prepare both yourself and your family for the arrival of the baby. Use all of that time to prioritize, plan, communicate, and share expectations with your wife and family about what life might look like after the baby comes. So with fitness... What will your routine look like? What will meal-prep look like? What will sleep look like? What will our family routine look like? There are dozens of questions you can work through during this preparatory season. With exercise, you don't want to start thinking about what exercise will look like in that season after the baby is here. Start thinking, planning, preparing, and communicating expectations sooner rather than later. This preparation process is ultimately what led me to invest in a home gym. The time savings and convenience of a home gym really starts to pay off during seasons of life changes. 2. Implement a modular exercise routineModularity is a construction concept that allows you to stack or remove units to expand or shrink. Buying modular furniture, for instance, allows you the flexibility to have one base unit or several depending on how many you want.  

This concept can be applied to your exercise routine. Having a baby is a time to apply shrinkage to your exercise routine, especially for the first precious weeks. So, if you plan and prepare just right, you can have a type of modular routine that you can shrink down for a few weeks. For me, that looks like a 1-3x week version of Simple & Sinister, which I can do in my garage for ~20-30 minutes in each session. That's as small as I can make my routine while still keeping it effective, and not robbing time from the arrival season.  There also will be plenty of family walks and hikes in the fall Texas weather. So putting it all together, start thinking about a routine 9-months before the baby arrives that you can shrink down when baby comes and scale back up when your routine is re-stabilized. 3. The opportunity to slow down and enjoy the seasonLastly, having a baby is an incredible time to focus and celebrate the new arrival to your family. It's a special season and it goes fast.For me, it's an opportunity to slow down and relish the moments of a new arrival. It's a time to observe the changing relationships in my family and to help shape the right kind of home atmosphere that my wife and I envision. It's a time to enjoy life in slow motion. I have lower fitness expectations for myself in this season, and I'm okay with that.I don't, however, allow myself to develop habits that become hard to break in several months. I use a modular routine I can do at home to keep me on track, but one I can shrink down to slow down. I also try to sleep whenever I can... if I can... still haven't figured that one out yet :)

📃Resources 

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📃Recommended Home Gym EquipmentAs always, this is my recommended list of home gym equipment.1a. Kettlebell Kings - The Quality Purchase1b. Lifeline Kettlebell - The Budget Purchase2. Pull-Up Bar3. Headphones 4. An Ab Roller5. Exercise Mat6. A Jump Rope7. A Watch Pedometer8. SafeRingz - A Silicone Wedding BandThese are affiliate links, and as an Amazon associate I earn on qualifying purchases. But these are all equipment that I have personally used or highly recommend!

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