Discovering Dad » Media

Please Welcome Chris Lopez as new Contributing Writer

Jeremy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:56:09 +0000

I’m very proud to announce that Chris Lopez, aka FitandBusyDad, is officially a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad. The positive response Chris’ guest post series Fitness for Dads has received is what inspired me to ask him to join the me and the crew of outstanding writers who post regularly on the site.

Chris will continue to write articles about fitness for dads, as well as share his experience and thoughts about what it means to be a good dad.

Here’s some additional information about Chris:

Chris Lopez, BSc HK, CSCS is a fitness expert, writer and personal trainer. He is an occasional contributor to the Globe and Mail, Maximum Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines and has been helping get Busy Dads in shape for 10 years since the birth of his first child. He and his wife live in Toronto, Canada with their 4 daughters. You can also read his Spotlight on Dads feature to get some more personal insights into this great dad.

Please join me in congratulating Chris for becoming a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad!

If you want to learn more about Chris, check out his Fit and Busy Dad Blog or website. You can also follow him on Twitter @fitandbusydad.

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Thank You for Voting – Get Ready for Change

Jeremy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:41:09 +0000

Thanks to all of you who joined the Discovering Dad Pledge to Vote! This was truly a historic election, and I think everyone will agree that America is about to embark on a new path under the leadership of Barack Obama.

Some say this path will be filled with obstacles and challenges that no one leader could ever overcome; others say that a new era of prosperity and peace will be upon us within the next four years. Either way, things are going to change and it is the result of all of you exercising your right to vote.

The following Discovering Dad readers were randomly selected to win the Pledge to Vote Prize packs from Hachette Books:

Clark
PG
Lee McKusick
Roger
Daniel

All five of you will receive 10 politically-oriented books from Hachette Books USA.

Thanks again for taking the time to pledge and vote! Now, it is important that we all stay engaged and informed as to the new direction Obama decides to take America.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the results of Election 2008!

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Discovering Dad Pledge to Vote

Jeremy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:41:25 +0000

Voting is one of the most fundamental and important rights within a democracy. It is a way to ensure you have a say in who leads our country, states, counties and cities. As a local elected City Councilman, I can tell you that it is a huge honor to be voted into office by your neighbors and fellow citizens.

As a dad, it is important to me that I role model civic responsibility to my kids, and the first and most important way that I do that is by exercising my right to vote. The second way I do this is by getting informed and understanding the issues and candidates positions on them. The third way I do this is by getting involved.

You can involved too.

Discovering Dad Pledge to Vote Contest

All you have to do is leave a comment with your pledge that you will go to the polls and vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Now, I would strongly recommend taking the time over the next week to dig deeper into the issues that are important to you and your family. Where do the candidates stand on each of these issues? Which one of them will best represent your position? What can you do between now and November 4th to get involved?

I pledge to all of you that I will be informed and voting. I encourage all of you to join me!

Hachette Book Group has agreed to send 5 random pledgers a package of 10 books related to politics, including The Revolution by Ron Paul, From Hope to Higher Ground by Mike Huckabee, Hard Call by John McCain and Mike’s Election Guide by Michael Moore.

I’d love to see at least 100 dads/moms/readers pledge to vote! Thanks for voting! The contest runs through Tuesday, November 4th.

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Child Poverty in America – Blog Action Day

Jeremy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:57:29 +0000

I grew up in a small town nestled in the mountains of Western Maryland. It was a coal mining town, and the majority of jobs available were for unskilled labor. People didn’t make a lot of money, but they did what was necessary to get by and provide the basics for their family. I saw poverty but not enough to really think about it.

When I was 10 years old, my family moved to a suburb of Atlanta so that my dad could get out of the mines and get a better job. My mom was a school teacher, so she didn’t have any trouble finding a position. In this new suburban environment, I was even further removed from poverty as we fell into a typical middle class life.

Then, as I grew older and had a family of my own, we have worked hard to continuously improve our station in life. All along the way, the distance between me and poverty has grown. Does this sound like a familiar story? The majority of people I know, including me, have no idea what it’s like to live below the poverty level.

Sure, we see the commercials on TV about the dire needs of children in third world countries who live on less than a dollar a day, but it’s hard for that to really connect with us. We feel sympathy for those suffering, but then we go on with our daily lives and worry about how we’re going to retire early or pay for our kids college tuition or recover from recent losses in our stock or 401K plans.

Most of the people I know don’t worry about where the next meal will come from, but rather what kind of side dish would they like with their steak or chicken. The fact is we are out of touch with the needs of those who suffer from living below the poverty line both in America and around the world.

Poverty in America is a bigger problem than you would think, especially as it relates to children. Here are some basic statistics with links:

13 million American children live in families with income below the federal poverty level

The number of children living in poverty in America has increased by 15% between 2000 and 2007

Another 39% or 28 million kids in America live in families with “low income” levels

34% of black children; 29% of Latino children; 13% of Asian children; and, 10% of white children live in poor families

22% of rural children and 25% of central city children live in poverty, whereas 13% of suburban children live in poor families

Poverty rates are highest among families headed by single women at 28%

As of 2000, the U.S. government tax strategies only lowers the child poverty rate by 4.7%, which is the lowest among the top 16 developed nations

Here is a point of reference as to the effects of poverty on children worldwide:

26,500 children die every day from poverty related causes

There’s a couple of things about these statistics that really bother me.

For instance, how is it possible that we live in the wealthiest nation on the planet and yet roughly 20% of all children in America live in families below the poverty level?

Who bears the responsibility of helping these children? Is it the parents alone? Should the government be more involved, especially when you see that America’s strategies do the least overall among developed nations to reduce the child poverty rate?

What could these children achieve in their lives if they were given better opportunities and less stress or pressure from living in poverty?

What solutions are most effective in reducing the child poverty level in America?

What can each of us do to help solve this problem?

Personally, I feel like accountability for the solutions lies primarily with the parents. Each parent has an obligation to do everything within their power to provide a decent life for their kids. I also feel like it is up to the parents to break the cycle of poverty, although I recognize that there is a need for some outside empowerment strategies to make that happen.

There is a role for government, but I feel like it should be more incentive-based as it relates to direct financial aid to families. Tax relief is a strategy that I also support. And, I do think government can help with things like healthcare for all children, at a minimum. The thing I don’t like about government involvement is enabling the cycle of poverty to continue by giving free hand-outs to parents without a stipulation to be working.

What do you think are the solutions to eliminating child poverty in America?

This article is in support of the 2008 Blog Action Day.

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Fitness for Dads – Getting in Shape: Part 2

Jeremy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:06:40 +0000

This is a guest post by Chris Lopez from Fit and Busy Dad.

We discovered why traditional cardiovascular exercise is a waste of time if you “don’t have the time” and why resistance training is actually a more efficient option for weight maintenance, metabolic control and overall conditioning.

So what now? What can we do specifically, that accomplishes both our goals of attaining more energy so that we don’t collapse on the couch as soon as we get home from the office AND shrinks our bellies so that they don’t uncomfortably hang over our seatbelts when we’re driving?

The “Gymless” Workout

There’s some ongoing myth out there that you need a bench press, a bunch of dumbbells and an endless number of machines if you want to get a good workout in. NOT TRUE. If you think about our military personnel and even martial artists and gymnasts, one common training method among them standouts. BODYWEIGHT TRAINING.

Male gymnasts, especially, seem to have the most well-defined and functionally sound physiques in all of these past Olympic games. This wasn’t accomplished by running on a treadmill at their local 24-Hour Fitness. In fact, I don’t think gymnasts, male or female, are even allowed to do cardio. It didn’t happen by bench pressing and working their “chest” on Mondays, their “legs” on Tuesdays and splitting up every other body part and working each individually on a separate day each week. And I can guarantee that no fancy machine or gadget has ever carved out abs like the ones you saw in Beijing.

Gymanasts, and most athletes, train by moving their body in space and using their own bodyweight as resistance. Granted the age difference, time dedication and genetics are different for gymnasts than us busy dads, but the principles still remain the same. We may not be doing iron crosses hanging from suspended rings, but we still can get the physical benefits from training like gymnasts/athletes.

First, I think it’s incredibly important to address our midsections. Addressing our “core,” as it is fondly called in the popular media these days, is the first step. Our core musculature, consisting of our abdominals, mid and low back, hip and glutes are often never trained the way they were meant to be trained – do sit-ups or crunches come to mind when I mention “ab exercises”?

Our abdominal muscles’ primary function isn’t to bring our chest into our thighs (like the movement of a traditional sit-up), it’s to hold our body upright and keep our spine stable. Therefore, the best movement to train our abdominals is really NO MOVEMENT AT ALL.

I use a series of Isometric Holds to introduce my clients to abdominal or “core” training. The circuit that I have outlined below is, by far, the best way to get your core strong, activate and use your core muscles the way they were meant to be used and fix you posture all at the same time. You can watch this circuit in action below:

After our cores get stronger, it’s time to start incorporating some basic movement exercises. To get both strength and cardiovascular results, try using a bodyweight circuit like the one outlined below…

1) Bodyweight Prisoner Squat x 10-15 reps (prisoner squats are done with your hands behind your head and your elbows pulled back so that your shoulders are squeezed together)

2) Push-ups x 10 – 15 reps

3) Prisoner Step-Ups x 10 reps per leg (put your left foot on the second step of your staircase, place your hands behind your head. Push through your left heel and step-up. Bring yourself back down in a controlled manner and perform all repetitions on one leg before switching to the other)

4) Stick-Ups x 10 (this is a great postural exercise. You can find the description HERE).

5) Jumping Jacks x 20 (yes, basic can also mean “old school”. Truth be told, JJs are a great way to get your heart rate racing to make your workout more “fat burning”)

If you’re slightly overweight, start off by using a circuit like the one I filmed below. This circuit will be less of an impact on your joints and can ease you into more intense movements like jumping jacks and step-ups.

So here’s the progression for both of the above bodyweight circuits…Time yourself on your first time through the circuit and record the time. Each successive attempt through the circuit, try to beat your time. Perform the circuit 3 times per day, 3 or 4 days per week. There’ll obviously be a point when you can’t go through the whole thing any faster. When you reach that point, it’s time to change things up.

Like I mentioned in Part 1, there are an infinite number of variations and progressions on these exercises. You can YouTube or Google “bodyweight exercises”, check my blog at FitAndBusyDad.blogspot.com (I’ve done a lot of Q’n’A and have an “Exercise of the Week Feature”) or you can check out my e-Book, “20-Minute Workouts for The World’s Busiest Dads” which contains a few circuit variations as well.

The take home message here, guys, is that not being able to get to the gym is no longer an excuse. All you need is your bodyweight and some creativity. As much as technology is propelling us into the future, man was never built to sit on a machine and move our thighs in and out against resistance. We need to be on our feet moving, lifting, pushing and pulling ourselves into better shape. No one has ever created a gym better than the one we were born with – our bodies. We just have to know how to use it the right way.

Chris Lopez, BSc HK, CSCS is a fitness expert, writer and personal trainer. He is an occasional contributor to the Globe and Mail, Maximum Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines and has been helping get Busy Dads in shape for 10 years since the birth of his first child. He and his wife live in Toronto, Canada with their 4 daughters. Visit Chris’ blog at FitAndBusyDad.blogspot.com or sign-up for your free report & workout at www.FitAndBusyDad.com.

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