8 Reasons to Be a Fit Dad

As dads, we take our roles as protectors and providers very seriously. Often, this can become a detriment to our health. But it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario. In fact, to be the best father, husband, wrestling partner, swim coach, chauffeur, cheerleader, and flat tire repairman we can be, we need to prioritize becoming physically and mentally fit dads.

By simply reclaiming our energy, losing the weight that’s crept up over the years, and prioritizing nutrient-dense foods that give us the ability to play one more game of tag, we can live into our potential and purpose by making sure that we’re family men, who also have businesses.

The “Daily Sweat” started as a New Years’ challenge that many men within the Front Row Dads community used to realign with their goals of improved health and vitality. It’s since morphed into a daily check-in for Dads to hold each other accountable to a worthy goal.

The rule was simple – just sweat every day doing something. Whether a CrossFit workout, a Pilates class, or some time alone with the wife – if you worked up a sweat, count it.

Here are 8 Reasons to Become a Fit Dad:

1) Less Weight and More Energy
There’s a reason that the search query “dad bod” returns 270 million results. It’s an epidemic that we’ve decided as a culture is acceptable and unstoppable.

But ask anyone in possession of a dad bod, and they’ll tell you that it’s not the future they had imagined. In addition to the confidence issues it can create, waist to height ratios and visceral fat levels are highly correlated with health, longevity, and vitality.

For many of us, weight loss is the end goal of a diet or the “daily sweat” challenge, and for good reason. Carrying around less weight will improve your energy, focus, and happiness more than pounding a Red Bull or driving a fancy car.

“The power plant doesn’t have energy, it creates energy!” – Brendon Burchard

Your body also responds to the demands you place on it. This means, when you start exercising every day, your body will create more energy to fuel the life you’ve created.

So if that’s 10 hours chained to a desk, then another 4 watching Sports Center at home, you’re going to have a hard time climbing those stairs next time you’re on vacation.

By training your body and mind to do something active and get sweaty every day, you’ll build up more energy stores, build muscles, and create a faster burning metabolism in the process. So not only will you have more mental energy and focus for your career, you’ll have it in the moments when it counts with your family.

2) Sleep Better
Most men don’t get enough sleep. To maximize our recovery and optimize our hormones, we should be getting around 7ish hours every night, and maintaining a similar bed and wake time.

If you’re getting less than 5 on a consistent basis, you’re sabotaging your potential for maximum energy and lower belly fat. Some studies report that driving in this state is basically like having 2 beers in your system.

Introducing a daily sweat routine will help you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.

In addition, when you’re exercising, you’re more likely to make better food choices, resulting in more weight loss, which BOTH have big effects on sleep quantity and quality.

3) Less Pain
Anyone who’s had chronic back pain or been confined to a wheelchair or crutches for an extended period of time will tell you how much they missed their ability to move. To make sure we’re staying healthy, we need to move well, and then move often.

By simply adding in a workout routine that includes some core work, you can avoid most non-impact injuries. Strengthening the legs will help you avoid knee pain when running, and for every pound you lose, you’ll remove 5lbs of pressure on your ankles with every step you take.

4) Less Stress
Even though we live in an age where we don’t have to hunt for food, are rarely in danger, and have all of our basics provided for us, that doesn’t mean we’re immune to stress.

In fact, with the rapid pace of life and constant access to our smartphones, many people report nearly overwhelming stress on a daily basis.

Stress is linked to heart disease, belly fat, and depression, among other things. It’s also linked to the time you shouted at your kids when they interrupted you while you were trying to fix the printer.

A daily sweat practice gives you time to take a breather from the demands of the outside world, and take some medicine in the form of movement.

Less stress = better sleep, better mood, better sex, better relationships, and less body fat.

5) More Money
People shouldn’t be judged on how they look. It’s not fair.

But they are.

Research shows that fit men make more money than their overweight counterparts. And while the morality of this is a subject for a different article, you can use the power of the Daily Sweat to help you build a bigger and more impactful business.

Plus, when combined with less stress, this is a winning combination.

6) Live Longer and Last Longer
It’s no secret that people with a healthy body mass index (BMI) live longer. They also have fewer medical bills, end up in the hospital less, and have decreased instances of cancer.

Modern technology and medical advances continue to give us new ways of increasing our lifespan, but the best gift we can give ourselves and our children is a healthy body that will last for a long time.

Losing just a few lbs can dramatically decrease your cancer risk, as well as give you more energy to do the things that are important as you get older.

Decreasing fat mass through weight loss and increasing exercise is great for your wife too! You’ll increase your libido at the same time as you are able to increase vasodilation (blood flow), which means you’ll get harder erections and be able to last longer in bed.

Also, like mentioned above, when you exercise more, you sleep better, which results in more production of your body’s natural testosterone.

7) Confidence
This goes hand in hand with many of the previous points, but when you look better, you feel better, you make more money, and you’ll be a better dad, husband, protector, and lover of the people that are important to you.

Confidence is something that money can’t buy, but can only be earned through ‘estimable acts’. Things that you do that are worthy of esteem. A daily sweat practice is a great place to start and creates a practical habit that you can build on to be the dad you want to be.

But don’t just take my word for it:

Curtis C. has been doing the Daily Sweat Challenge for over 6 months now and has this to say:

“The accountability of knowing that I’m checking in with the daily sweat challenge helps motivate me to get to the gym when I’m not feeling like it. It is also important for me to be a healthy example to my children and to look and be the best version of myself for my wife.”

8) Show Your Kids What’s Important
You’re a great dad and you’d take a bullet for your kids. Don’t just be there for the big moments though. Let them catch you in the act of prioritizing your health for the little things, too. Whether you’re at the park or helping them practice for the big game, one of the best gifts we can give our children is by being able. Being able to be present, being able to run the bases, or being able to show them what a healthy physical and mental practice looks like.

Start Today

The Daily Sweat Challenge is powerful and can be used to create lasting transformation in your life and in your family.

You don’t need to wait until the New Year, or even until Monday. Start today and challenge yourself to put this practice into play on a daily basis for just a month.

Once you begin to see how good it feels to move, clear your head, get some exercise, and build your energy, stopping won’t be an option.

fit-dad-nate-palmer

Nate Palmer is highly passionate about helping humans perform at a higher level. He also happens to be a dad, husband, and the #1 bestselling author of Passport Fitness. Nate coaches entrepreneurs to become unstoppable by weaponizing their nutrition and training. Find out how to unleash your energy at n8trainingsystems.com.

Nate is a coach, speaker, and writer, whose work has been popularized in media outlets such as The Huffington Post, Testosterone Nation, Breaking Muscle, STACK Media, and Thrive Global.

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