There are a lot of reasons to get fit, to lose weight. At least I had a lot of potential reasons. My doctor's side comments about the risks of high blood pressure. The occasional joke from my awkward uncle about “being sure if I want another burger” at the family BBQ.
All these little things add up over time...but never to the point where I was actually ready to do something about it.
A turning point when I finally committed to my health, but it was a lot simpler than all that. It’s the reason I joined trainwell, and the only reason that was good enough to help me stick with it.
Unlike a lot of our friends, my wife and I didn’t get pregnant right away. So 10 months into trying, when that little “+” sign on the test made it officially official. I was HYPED. We were going to have a real, bonafide baby. A miniature version of us.
We did a lot of planning. I went for roughly 1000 midnight “emergency runs” to the store to grab any request my wife had for me. I put the crib together. I opened up a savings account. I was ready for whatever this whole fatherhood thing had to throw at me.
But it wasn’t until my baby boy Tom was actually placed into my arms that I had my “Oh sh*t” moment and it all came together...I was a dad.
I realized I was responsible for this little man, and that I didn’t want to miss a single moment of this whole experience. For me, that meant getting my butt back in shape...fast. I want to be strong enough to hold my baby as he grows.
But I was a new dad. I didn’t have the time for a gym or the money for a personal trainer. We were barely surviving through the 3:00 AM feedings and endless piles of diapers (HOW do they eat and poop so much?!).
Somewhere in this newborn haze, I stumbled across trainwell, and I’m not joking when I tell you the 5 second decision to download their app changed my life.
At home, digital access was the difference between me getting a workout in or not.
I started easy. My trainer, Grace, was chill about it and didn’t create some crazy plan that had me sprinting up stairs two days in.
We worked slowly, building momentum and adding in new goals to hit. The cool thing was, I didn’t have to buy anything extra or set up a home gym. I had a set of small weights, so we used those sometimes. Mostly we ended up moving through some circuit training or doing cardio.
It wasn’t all good. Some days I bailed, and there was a two week stretch when Tom was sick that I literally didn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time. I ended up trying a workout one of those days, tripped, and almost sprained my ankle.
So we skipped a few of those sessions. I felt like garbage about it. But Grace stepped up there too...she didn’t let me feel sorry for myself. She told me to take those sessions off, take care of my kid, and then get back to work. She said missing a few workouts wouldn’t matter in the end.
And you know what? It didn’t. I still kept improving...just at my pace. That’s what ended up being the game-changer for me: these workouts were all on my time. My schedule. With a custom-made plan for me.
Plus, it was accessible. It took 5-10 seconds to load my workout on my Apple watch and Grace would be shouting reps at me from my wrist. It was the combination of accountability and flexibility that I really needed as a new dad.
Six months in, and it’s not that my body is perfect now, but my dad-bod is now on its way to doing what I need it to.
Tom took his first steps last week. I’m not ashamed to admit it...I was sobbing like the grown man that I am. I instinctively ran over, picked him up, and tossed him in the air. My 24 lb baby...tossed him in the air! Over and over again.
It didn’t even occur to me until after that I would never have been able to do that six months ago. And six months from now? You best believe my new workout goals have me sprinting through my house to keep up with my growing little man.
THOSE are the results I was looking for.
The story of trainwell member Terry
