How Often Should Busy Dads Do Strength Training Workouts?
With their limited time to exercise, busy dads want to know how often they should workout to get stronger? Like the answer to so many fitness-related questions, “It depends”. Peoples’ bodies, life situations, workouts, and goals are all unique to them which makes it difficult to really give a definitive answer.
That said, we get this question a lot so we think it’s helpful to try to give some general recommendations.
Consistency is key. We think it’s best to be conservative when determining how many days per week you can work out. We typically recommend between 1-3 days per week. Aiming for too many days per week is likely to just leave you frustrated or overtired (or both!). Busy dads (especially if newer to training) can often make gains with only one day of strength training per week with the right program design.
We recommend full-body workouts rather than dividing your workouts by body part (like alternating upper body days and lower body days). Busy dads often have very unpredictable workout schedules and things often come up that disrupt their workout plans. Full-body workouts provide consistency and reduce the chance of detraining a particular body part/movement when the inevitable disruptions come up.
To maximize results, it’s possible to design an effective training program that allows you to workout up to 3-4 days per week and still stay fresh. For example, The Busy Fit Dad Training System consists of 25 minute full-body workouts that focus on multiple sets of a single movement pattern with only a single set near failure for the others. The “focus” movement rotates with each workout to allow for recovery before that movement pattern is focused on again.
Busy dads usually don’t have a lot of time and that’s okay. Your workouts don’t need to be long to be effective so limit yourself to 20-45 minutes for each workout. How long each workout lasts will depend on your fitness, goals, and how frequently you workout. With effective program design, a lot of busy dads find they can get great results with just a few 25 minute workouts each week.
While you can learn a lot through your own trial and error, working with a trainer or coach that understands the “busy dad” lifestyle can help you get the best results in the shortest amount of time. 1COACH offers both a training program template for busy dads to use as well as 1:1 fitness coaching. We’ve also put together a free sample workout you can use to get started.
Have questions? Send us an email at info@my1coach.com.
I can hear a few of you asking…”What exactly do you mean when you say exercises for different “movement patterns”?
Here are some examples
Upper Body Push: bench press, push up, shoulder press
Upper Body Pull: chin up/pull up, row
Lower Body Push: squat, lunge
Core stability: plank, side plank
Dave Peckinpaugh, MS is the Head Coach at 1COACH and developer of the BUSY FIT DAD TRAINING SYSTEM. He has a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology, is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach with the NSCA, is a Certified Exercise Physiologist with the ACSM, and has been both a full-time and adjunct faculty member teaching college coursework in Kinesiology.
Send us an email at info@my1coach.com with any questions or simply to let us know how things are going for you.