For the past 15 or so years my workout routine has been primarily focused on long distance endurance cardio. Namely it’s swimming, cycling, and running for triathlons. I enjoy it and I get zen from all the experiences. The problem that has arisen over the last few or more years is that being a dad means that my life priority are my children. Those children and still young and very young so they’re also a handful. Combine that with being a single dad and almost all available time is sucked up into what needs to be done to support us and very little time for the wants-to-be-done things in life.
Don’t get me wrong I do have large chunks of time, but I also have more interests in life than cutting through the water or gliding over roads and trails. In essence I don’t have as much as I would like in a day which is pending a winning lottery ticket. In order to adapt to this I’m having to adapt the workout routine.
I’m not a personal trainer or a coach, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know how to build a routine. The basics are simple:
- Upper Body
- Lower Body
- Full Body
- Core
- Cardio
This is further combined into doing each Upper, Lower, and Full body each once a week combined with Core and Cardio for each session. There are plenty of overlaps with each making it simple. There is also beauty here where the anaerobic part of each session only takes 20-30 minutes a day!
Since I’m used to triathlon training I’m also used to having training cycles/blocks that build on the previous. Each cycle lasts 3-4 weeks. That means that every 3-4 weeks the workouts change. This also means you can increase intensity every cycle, change the focus to be more technical based, and/or have detraining cycles to prepare for a strenuous planned activity.
lets start with the first month of the cycle and what’s planned. This part is pretty easy. The most cost efficient routine is a body weight routine, but I really enjoy kettlebells and resistance bands. This is why I built it into the routine. This is what I came up with for the first cycle:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Full Body | Kettlebell Deadlifts: 3X8 | Pull ups: 3XBURN OUT | Kettlebell Goblet Squats: 3X8 | Resistance Band Rows: 3X15 | Plank w/ Kettlebell Drag | |
| Lower Body | Pull Up: 3X6 Warmup | Kettlebell Swings: 3X15 | Resistance Band Lateral Walks: 3X15 | Kettlebell Lunges: 3X15 | Resistance Band Hamstring Curls: 3X15 | Kettlebell Burpess: 3X12 |
| Upper Body | Pull Ups: 3XBURN OUT | Kettlebell Overhead Press: 3X12 | Resistance Band Lateral Raises: 3X15 | Kettlebell Single-Arm Rows: 3X12 | Russian Twists: 3X15 | Hollow Hold with Pull-Up Bar |
This is pretty basic and easy to accomplish. Each set has reps, weight is never too much to blow a blood vessel, 30 seconds between each set, and boom you have a workout that’ll make you just sore enough in only 20 minutes. This whole thing can also be accomplished between other tasks while I’m working, hobbies, or being Harry Homemaker.
Of course thats only half of it. Let’s assuming there can be another 30 to 60 minute blocks available 3-5 times a week. This depends on the family calendar of course. Running always gives the most bang for the buck so during the week that becomes the default cardio of the day. It’s also the cheapest entry level requiring only shoes and shorts (if you don’t want to be arrested for public indecency). That covers the slots when I have 30 to 40 minutes available. The next is swimming by my personal preference. I can knock out 2400 meters in about 40ish minutes. Combine that with the 20 minute round trip to get to the pool and there is the available workout when I have an hour or more. The last is cycling. Traditionally it takes my body twice as long to cycle compared to running to get the same burn. Of course different muscles are being used so it’s worth it to find time for it. For outdoor rides this workout slots 2 plus hours. For indoor rides using a bike trainer and Zwift (including setup and breakout of the equipment) that’s normally an average of 90 minutes.
So now that EVERYTHING has been thought out the key word of any workout routine is ‘routine’. Keep it on schedule, make it a habit, and tell yourself whatever you have to keep doing it. Make yourself accountable in some way or another. Just keep doing it. Now don’t think about it and get started!
