Varied Not Random #67: Fitness as a parent with a one-year old toddler

[@connordavis1205]

Pat, I have a now two year old son who had colic and reflux when he was a newborn. Everything you’re saying about your daughter, I FEEL it deeply. It’s absolutely brutal. I hate that you’re having to go through it, but I’m finding encouragement in the fact that we aren’t the only ones. I also work out at home with my son and my four year old daughter, and I want you to know that it does get a *little* easier! My kids are now at the age where they nap at the same time for about two hours a day, and I actually work out after they wake up. They enjoy being outside and playing with stuff in the garage while I lift. So all that to say, it gets better!

[@dlbrown06]

The one and only piece of advice I can offer as a father of a 11 yr old daughter, 8 yr old son and a new 9 week old son. Workout when everyone is sleeping. I get up at 5:30am to workout before everyone else gets up in the house. I’ve never been someone that works out well in the morning, but it gets better and easier after a few months of consistency and discipline. I feel ya on the tough baby though. My new born son was lip tied and tongue tied and isn’t eating well and has been significantly more difficult than my other two. No worries though, your daughter will get past it over time and find entirely new ways to make your life more difficult 😉 The days are long but the years are fast so try to enjoy the time while it lasts…

[@Lucy-rn2kk]

At our affiliate here in Sweden (CrossFit Medis), we have a pass called "Burpees & Babies" (you can picture the crowd!). I was never able to do any workout with any of my two toddlers - ever! They were very demanding since day one. And many other babies seemed to be just fine playing with some colorful jumping rope! Someone out here felt your pain. But now my 3 year old just gets distracted pushing the machines buttons and playing that he is working out as well. This day will come, Pat! Until then, awesome work keeping up your fitness!

[@tylerkimbler8662]

I loved this episode as someone who went through the ringer with triplets. Something I would love to see you cover...the CrossFit methodology carryover to tactical fitness for the military, especially considering some different aspect of the job. I know you talked to the carryover with fire/EMS/LEO. The military requires us to go long at times...12 mile rucks in 3 hours, 5 mile runs in 40 minutes, and sometimes the job doesn't always allow for optimum nutrition and sleep. Love the show

[@PoPluto]

I've just turned 60. Last year I missed the cutoff to "age up" into the 60-64 category by 4 days and like any masters athlete I want to try and maximise my performance as one of the younger people in my age category. I've been a regular Crossfitter since 2015 and I train 3-5 times per week at Crossfit. I do power yoga on the days when I don't do Crossfit and I eat and sleep well etc. I take very few total rest days and I'm in decent shape for my age and I feel great. I've never made the age group semi-finals (top 10% of global competitors) but I'm close, and I'm fairly sure I could make it if I increased my training volume and intensity but I'm worried about overdoing it and injuring myself. I have had a couple of fairly serious injuries in the past that have set me back but I'm managing well at my current volume. There is a part of me that wants to go harder and achieve more, and there is another part of me that tells me to back off and be happy that I'm strong and fit and err on the side of conservatism and training longevity. How do I balance the goals of training longevity and the desire to compete at a higher level?

[@btwbmedia]

Great question, we do think that ultimately being healthy as we continue to age is most beneficial but there are ways to improve and get better with a coach who understands YOUR current goals and limitations. We think your best bet is to first figure out what your current goals are and two plan out how that will look as far changing your day to day training schedule. Also, check out episode 11 and 56 for more info on the topic

[@tomcuff6071]

Love hearing these, especially as a new dad to be (October). It’s also been great hearing what workouts you guys keep on tap for different reasons, whether that be for travel or whatever. It could be a fun episode to hear both of your top 5 workouts for travel, tight on time, dumbbell only, partner, things like that. I thoroughly enjoyed when y’all brought up front squat medley as a memorable one.

[@RichardGaluszka]

Great episode (as always). I have a 4-year old and 7-month old and since the baby was born, as noted here, time has become a premium for getting workouts in. I do the same as Pat, baby naps I workout. These days it’s less CrossFit and mostly rowing. I find it’s perfect to just get on and get going without significant warm-up, and if I need to stop all is good. Concept2 provides a daily workout via email and it’s great to help keep me accountable and also following a program. I now have a goal of completing 1,000,000m in 2022 (currently at 577k). Going back to row/snatch/pull-up debate I find that rowing provides the most bang for my buck so when I am able to get CrossFit in, I don’t feel like I’ve lost fitness. Future episode recommendation/topic: Repeating workouts. When programming for yourself (as a garage gym athlete), how often are you coming back to Open workouts, the girls, heroes, etc. if at all? Would it be wise if I’m doing four (ish) CrossFit workouts in a week, one would be a retest (ie about 25%)? I would be interested to hear how you go about it as an at home/garage gym athlete!

[@mwb08a]

Loved this episode! I have a topic that is adjacent to this that I would love to hear you guys cover: Sharing CrossFit, fitness, and proper nutrition with your kids. I have a 7 and 3 year old who both mimic the lifestyle my wife and I lead, eating well and exercising regularly. What are some tips or best practices you have done or seen other parents do to share CrossFit with their kids? What age should kids pick up a barbell? How and when can the methodology be introduced to kids? Thanks!

[@amylarrabee3611]

I’m just going to be honest-I let my toddlers and preschool age kids fuss for a bit if I’m in the middle of a workout. Just like they learn not to interrupt daddy when he’s working from home, they eventually learn that they won’t get mommy to stop doing something immediately by fussing. Of course, I use discernment as a parent, but for my own sanity I have had to learn to accept some level of fussing throughout the day. Bad mom confession of the day.

[@benital165]

👍👍👍

[@worldwideachievers1234]

Could you cover the 10 skills that CrossFit recognizes as general physical skills in an upcoming video? For example CrossFit says endurance, stamina and flexibility come about through training which improves performance through a measurable organic change in body. But coordination, agility and balance come about from practice which improves performance through changes in nervous system. Can you please explain this some please. I know they’re different but little fuzzy overall on organic and nervous system. Awesome work guys keep up the great job 👏🔥

[@btwbmedia]

stay tuned, they chat about that exact topic as well as others this week!

[@nathanaelakin8072]

Hey guys, as a brand new gym owner and young dad (a 3yo, 1yo and one due in 3 months) I’m listening to this with both empathetic delight and low-grade anxiety sweats thinking on the past and prepping for the future. What are your thoughts on skill development on a busy schedule like this? For instance, if you’ve consistently got less than an hour to work out each day, how do you fit in new gymnastics skills that you want to learn, or better some lifting technique? Do you jettison skill development in favor of maintaining your current level of fitness or do you seek to broaden your fitness by continuing to develop?

[@btwbmedia]

Ultimately depends on what your goals are but there are a ton of ways to incorporate even 10-20 minutes of skill work in your session. EMOMS are an easy way to practice and get some volume in with uncomfortable movements. Also, you can dedicate one day a week to just skill development as well! There are a ton of programs, ie. the Varied Not Random program on the btwb app that allow you to choose how many times a week you want to work on skills.

[@Lucy-rn2kk]

Also, since I'm here: not sure this gives enough juice for an episode, but here it comes. But husband and I always joke around how much faster he did some X or Y workout and I tell him: well, it was the same number of reps of pullups or pushups for male and female. Unfair! I guess my question is: it is thought that male athletes have more upper body capacity than female athletes. If that is true, why body weight movements have same number of reps of males and females? In general, what variations / scaling are justifiable according to gender?

[@spencergsmith]

How about fitness as a parent with a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old, and twins on the way? 😂

[@btwbmedia]

oh boy! You have your hands full that's for sure! haha

[@DrRichardNorris]

Been a SAHD. I can empathise. My solution, thankfully, was solved years ago by being a competitive swimmer. For 20+ years I survived / thrived on 5-6 hours of sleep. As such I am up super early every day (just cannot sleep in). Worked well with he kids as I always got a workout in before the kids / family were up. Admittedly, some days were shorter or longer. Sadly, I never had CrossFit box or a home gym at the time. Now a 5 min warm-up and a spicy 21-15-9 can get it all done in 15 min. Might not have as much variance as ideal, but delivers the goods. That said, do not kids and other demands create the University of Life's Constantly Varied Functional Living at Relative High Intensity? CrossLife.- the Sport of Life!