I’ve recently acquired offspring which has substantially limited my gym time to being almost nonexistent.  Instead of allowing myself to slowly morph into an amorphous blob of fat and regret, I’ve started to follow the world renowned Dad Bod Method.

What is the Dad Bod Method you ask?

The basic idea is this:  Instead of sectioning off large amounts of time for the gym I do little bits of exercise here and there.  Also, use your child as weights whenever possible.

“This sounds made up.  Did you make this up?” – Anonymous

I will admit, I may be playing fast and loose with the terms ‘World renowned’ or ‘method’ but I feel it’s a good place to start if you want to get in shape when your free time is limited.

Maybe you don’t have a free two hours to spend at the gym.  Do you have a free minute or two?

Our choices are either a) let our collective bodies fall completely out of shape, or b) exercise when we can.

I choose b.

Ready for the secret to the success of the dad bod method?

“Yes!”- Henry, Reader from Kentucky

When I come across a few free seconds, I do some sort of exercise.

“OK! What’s next?”- Exuberant reader

There is no next.  That’s it.

Boom.  Life changing, isn’t it?  I’ll repeat myself so the lesson really hammers into your subconscious.  When I have a free minute or two, instead of sitting there getting fat, I do a quick exercise set.

Not every time I have a free second, mind you.  Just some of the time.  I’m not a lunatic.  I’m not just constantly doing push-ups when I’m not immediately occupied.  You don’t have to do very many sets throughout the day to get in great physical shape.

Doing a few push-ups before I pick Baby Burrito Bowl up or a few air squats while I’m holding her is the difference between being fit and slowly losing my muscle.  I won’t get the body of a greek god this way, but I won’t get the body of Peter Griffin, either.

It just takes a little more effort to do five push-ups than it takes to do zero push-ups.  But, when you add up all those tiny amounts of effort you end up with vastly different results than the alternative.

I also incorporate Baby Burrito Bowl into my workout.  When I’m holding her I do air squats and lunges.  Instead of just bouncing her in the most economical way possible I attempt to focus on a particular muscle group.  Maybe that means treating her body like a dumb bell and practicing my curls, or straightening my arms and doing shoulder raises.

Disclaimer: Baby Burrito Bowl loves it when I exercise with her.  She does not like sitting still.  When she’s crying and I start to move around and exercise with her she calms down.  So just think on that anti-exercise-with-babies people.  

Here’s a few pictures of us in action:

Obviously, the number one key is getting those gains safety.  We’re trying to get huge safety muscles.  At no point do I put Baby Burrito Bowl in any danger, nor do any type of lift with her that would be unsafe.  I never tax my muscles to the point where I’m holding her while attempting to get out one more rep.  This should go without saying but the last thing the Dad Bod Method needs is a bunch of morons ruining our good name by doing overhead snatches with their wee ones.

I have a few contraptions around the house to make quick exercise easier.  Almost all of us have floors in our homes so push-ups, sit-ups and planks are easy options.  We have a pull-up bar that camps out around our bathroom door.  It’s easy to walk by and do a pull-up or two real quick before going into the bathroom.  We also have a couple kettle bells and an ab-wheel thing.

When you’re watching TV at night set a timer for every fifteen minutes.  When the timer beeps do a quick set of push-ups or air squats.  Another option is to do workouts during commercial breaks or between episodes if you’re watching Netflix.

Pavel Tsatsouline Protocol

The dad bod method is similar to the philosophy of Belarusian fitness expert Pavel Tsatsouline.  His basic exercise philosophy is if you can do ten of something, don’t do ten, do five.  Never tax your muscles out completely.  Do more sets, but less reps.

I don’t have time to tax each muscle to failure.  It’s a happy coincidence that doing a bunch of shorter, easier sets might actually lead to better results.

The most muscular I’ve ever been was during my time working as a manager of a retail shoe store.  I didn’t have time to go to the gym so instead I brought kettle bells and bands into the store.  When I didn’t have a customer I’d go into the back and do a set of shoulder presses or whatever.

Over an eight hour shift you can do a lot of random exercises.

Because I never knew when a customer would come in I wouldn’t go to failure.  I didn’t want to have to walk out onto the sales floor all sweaty and out of breath.   I wasn’t purposely following the Pavel Tsatsouline protocol but, through dumb luck and necessity, I made my own version of it.

The dad bod method is different from the Pavel Tsatsouline protocol because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t incorporate babies into his regimen and mine is more throughout the day rather than during a specific time at the gym.  You know what?  They’re different, okay?

Here’s a podcast with Tim Ferris and Pavel Tsatsouline if you want to hear him go further into his method.

Tim Ferris Podcast with Pavel

I hope you enjoyed this article.  Now go do some push-ups.

Feel free to share this article with anyone in your life who has kids and would like to save money on exercise equipment.

Oh, while you’re here go ahead and read one or two of these articles.  I mean, you don’t have to.  You know what, never mind.  I just don’t want you to feel obligated.

5 Easy Ways to Get Back (and stay) in Shape

Where FI and Frugality Intersect

Optimism- You’re Not Getting Any Younger