DURABLE DAD

 4/25/2025 #17 "Aging is inevitable, but how you age is up to you" Fit Tip: Track Your Workouts Strength is the best metric of an effective workout. But how do you know if you are getting stronger if you never track your workouts or have any kind of written plan? If you are not looking back at what weight and reps you used last time you did a certain exercise, how do you know what you should attempt this time? In order to be able to effectively apply progressive overload (gradually increasing demands on body to adapt and improve strength)   you ought to track your workouts. What gets measured gets managed . There a lots of ways to do this on your phone, but good ol' fashioned notepad and pen works too. I use Google sheets for myself and my clients to track workouts and think it works great.  What is Mobility? I often talk about mobility, but what is that exactly? It is not stretchiness or flexibility. It is the ability to move well. Mobility is strength within movement ....

Issue #16 Fit Tip: Pre-workout It’s caffeine. If you like caffeine and are fine with becoming dependent on a drug for workout motivation, go for it. Ok, that sounds pretty harsh; but I do advise caution because once you become dependent on stimulants to have a decent workout, they are no longer benefiting you. You will find studies that show cognitive and power output benefits from caffeine, but these benefits drop off as you become very tolerant to the effects of caffeine. How is a pre-workout any different? A few extra ingredients in addition to a large amount of caffeine (200-300mg) make pre-workouts especially “effective” for workouts. The extra ingredients that potentially improve endurance and performance are citrulline and beta-alanine (this is what gives you the face tingles.) But again, the studies show these effects take a very high amount of caffeine used on subjects who have little or no caffeine tolerance built up. So what really sets pre-workout supplements apart is supe...

Issue #15 Less is More Do the training that elicits the most amount of change with the least amount of work - Adam Schafer Welcome back to another awesome Friday everyone. I hope you had a chance to try out some more effective core work after last week’s newsletter. Doing a bunch of situps without also effectively strengthening the whole core is like Kellog’s Unfrosted Mini Wheats; sure, you are shredded but basically useless. So train those abs like any other muscle: do a lower amount of challenging reps, rather than countless easy situps.  This week I finally bash those classes you can take at the gym, share a butcher's page I often utilize, and challenge you to balance fitness and hygiene.  Fit Tip: Give the Boot to Bootcamp Drop the body pump class and make more results with less work. Bodypump, LesMills, Beachbody, Orange Theory and  boot camp classes like this are often designed to feel like you have accomplished a lot without truly yielding big results. You do a b...

Issue #14  Core Memories If you want to choose the pleasure of growth, prepare yourself for some pain . -Irvin Yalom Welcome back. I hope this Friday’s fit tip changes the way you workout your core. I have dedicated a fair amount of time to building a strong core, and an equal amount of time avoiding crunches. Recently I have even made a workout plan that completely revolves around strengthening the core. The Iron Core workout (name open to change) has zero traditional situps and is fun and challenging even for an intermediate or advanced weight lifter. Fit Tip: How to Effectively Work the Core Traditional exercises that work the abdominals are often uncomfortable and dreaded by most. The only time I do a crunch is if it is followed by ... wrap supreme . Not only are the endless situps and crunches annoying, they are also ineffective at training the core. Many are using their hip flexors instead of engaging the core when doing situps. Your abs are more than just a poolside aesthet...