Do It For Them

I recently watched the John Candy documentary I Like Me. As a fan of his work I found it a fascinating documentary, with a deeper dive into his early life and ascent to stardom. The only thing I knew about him, aside from his movies, was that he went to the same high school my father and I, Neil McNeil.

At Neil, John was a legend. Our arts wing was named after him and adorned with a large mural of his face. There were pictures of him throughout the school, as he would visit occasionally and his name was written in pretty much every textbook I had.

As I’ve done with many movies lately, I watched it with my son in my arms as he took a nap. So, when I learned that John and his father both died of heart disease complications, leaving young kids – John had a young boy and girl – it sort of hit me.

My father died at a relatively young age, too, but of cancer. I wasn’t exactly young when he died – I was 24 – but just 5 years later I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Oh, and ten years before my diagnosis, my grandfather died of cancer. Within a decade there were 3 cancer diagnoses within my dad’s side of the family. I’m the only survivor.

Genetics are a bitch, eh? But that was over a decade ago; I caught it early, was lucky to never need treatment or deal with a recurrence.

Now, I’m what you might consider an old dad. I had my son last year at 41, which is 14 years later than my father had me. I don’t feel old though, and that has a lot to do with the career I chose almost 2 decades ago.

Being a personal trainer has kept me feeling young, because gyms are always filled with younger trainers and members for me to keep up with. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not concerned about growing older and being in my fifties with a tween that may want to play pick-up games or race me home from school.

I’ve trained parents my entire career, in fact 90% of my clients at the moment are in their mid-thirties to mid-fifties with kids ranging from newborns to first year university. What I learned early on in my career is that their needs aren’t that much different from their kids who play sports: building a mobile, lean and strong body. However, there’s an overlooked wrinkle forty-year-olds face, which is you lose power faster than strength – which is why plyometrics have become a staple in all of my programs, too.

As I grew older, I gained a better understanding of their needs, but it wasn’t until last year when I had to balance sleepless nights with managing a small business and a fitness routine that I truly began to understand.

When they’re young, you need to be both strong and flexible, because you’ll have to play on the floor and get up while holding them. As they grow up and start to be mobile – like my little guy – you’ll need to have good reflexes and agility to save them from anything not taped down with double sided tape or locked up.

As they grow up and start playing sports that’s when training is put to the test. Playing any pickup sport, you need to be able to run, cut and possibly jump. So having strong, springy and powerful legs may keep your knees and Achilles intact as you try to defend or transition to offense. There’s a big difference in letting your kid win and needing to watch on the sidelines.

I want to help out fellow Xennial parents navigate the fitness and nutrition landscape of internet bullshit and give you honest opinions from a trainer who’s not only in your shoes, but who has spent the better part of his life dedicated to helping people get strong and live healthy and injury-free, so you’re able to keep up with rapidly growing kids.

It’s funny how TV and movie moments affect me a little differently now that I’m a dad.

As I was writing this post and thinking of a title, The Simpsons popped into my head; more specifically, the episode where Homer gave up his dream of working in a bowling alley because Maggie was born. The revealing final scene of where all of Maggie’s pictures are located: posted in front of Homer’s workstation, covering a sign and leaving letters that spell out “do it for her”.

I’ve found myself thinking that phrase a lot lately, to keep myself in line and stay motivated because — when it comes to your health as a parent, you’re not just doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for them, too.