From Couch Potato to Adventurous Dad: A Journey of Transformation
After becoming a dad, have you noticed that your formerly active life of constant sports and outdoor adventures has turned into a lazy existence watching “Trailer Park Boys” for the 100th time? It’s time to face it: you’ve become a couch potato! Don’t worry, though; you’re not alone. Many dads find themselves rooted to the couch out of sheer exhaustion.
Is there any way back from this inactive lifestyle? Absolutely! Many dads fight back against the lure of a lazy life and regain an adventurous and exciting life. You’ll not only get more excitement back into your life but teach your kids how to have fun as well. Do you have what it takes? Absolutely! Any couch potato dad can become an adventurous parent in no time at all.
Why Being a Couch Potato Is Bad
Millions of your fellow dads have become as planted in front of the television as you. That’s kind of a big problem because they (and you!) are opening themselves up to a lot of health problems. Turns out that sitting around and watching TV or playing video games all day is terrible for you. Studies have found that couch potatoes run the risk of:
-
Becoming obese
-
Getting sick more often
-
Suffering memory loss
-
Experiencing back problems
We won’t get into the science behind these studies; you can click on any of the links in this paragraph if you’re interested in learning more. Instead, we just want to point out that coach potatoes are basically ruining their health and potentially shortening their lives. Even worse? You’re setting a terrible example for your children that could plague them for life.
Today’s kids are already spending less time outdoors than you did as a rough-and-tumble boy. By sitting around yourself, you’re modeling lazy, couch potato behavior that they could mimic for the rest of their lives. In fact, the most significant benefit you get from transforming your life is giving your children a more active and healthy lifestyle that will help them live longer.
By now, you’re convinced that you need to make this change for yourself and your kids. However, you can’t just jump into it headfirst and expect great results. Depending on how long you’ve been a couch potato, you need to ease your transition into an adventurous lifestyle to ensure you don’t hurt yourself. Thankfully, we’re here to help!
A 6-Step Guide to Beating the Couch Potato Blues
We brainstormed six simple steps that you and your kids can take to become more active and detach your couch potato roots. This process will challenge you; even a few inactive months can rob your peak physical fitness and make this process challenging. If you’ve never been active or have been inactive for years, it’ll be even tougher. Thankfully, it’s not impossible.
1. Make an Activity Plan for Every Day
Start by sitting down with your kids and creating an activity plan for every day of your first week. Choose fun things that you enjoy doing together, such as going for walks around your neighborhood or biking. Pick easier activities that you know you can handle: it’s important not to strain yourself too much, or you might get injured while trying to improve your health.
Though it might seem hard to believe, it’s possible to exercise too much and experience real health dangers. For instance, you might develop muscle strains and even emotional issues with extreme exercise. Your activities should be challenging, yes, but not so much that you can’t move afterward. Minor soreness is good; complete exhaustion is not.
2. Choose Physically Active Experiences
Next, make sure that your activities are physically challenging and enjoyable. For instance, if your kids live within walking distance of their school, walk there together and back to get a little more activity into your day. You can also bike back and forth instead if you prefer. Just try to stay on your feet for as much of the day as possible and turn your inactive hours into active ones.
For instance, you can try standing up while you watch television or play video games. You can even set a timer every 45 minutes and talk a brisk 15-minute walk for a few hours of the day. The idea here is to integrate things you enjoy doing that keep you on your toes. It’s not that you have to avoid television for good; instead, you need to limit your static moments in front of the TV.
3. Progressively Intensify Your Days
As you increase your activity levels, make sure you gradually intensify your days to improve your overall physical health. A good guideline is to increase your workout intensity by 10% every week. So, if you walk for 30 minutes a day with your kids the first week, increase your time to 33 minutes for the next. This helps boost your fitness without straining your body.
Note that you can increase your fitness at whatever level seems right to you; some people can intensify faster than others, while some might need to go slower. Make sure that you pay attention to your kids, as well. If they’ve been inactive for a long time, they might need to go slower than you. They should be challenged without feeling like you’re running them ragged.
4. Find Fun and Exciting Activities Your Kids Love
Make sure that you spend time brainstorming fun and exciting activities that your kids will enjoy. After all, an adventurous dad brings along his kids to add a little excitement to their life. Just as importantly, integrating them into your adventures helps build their confidence and physical acuity and makes it easier for them to live healthier lives as adults.
Do all of your activities have to include your kids? Not necessarily, but most should. For example, if you plan on going skydiving or doing something potentially dangerous, it might be best to leave the kids behind until they’re a little older. That said, most of your adventures should include your kids to ensure that they grow up living an active lifestyle that they can carry on into adulthood.
5. Try to Stay Active As Much As Possible
As you start getting more physically fit, you might think you can work out just one hour a day and call it good. While that’s understandable, it’s best to stay as active as possible and continue having adventures with your kids. We’re not talking about three hours of high-intensity exercise, naturally. Instead, we mean staying active in less demanding ways.
For instance, you can end your day with a 15-minute walk, do a few jumping jacks before bed, or book a go-karting trip with your kids. Even if you’re sitting down while you cart, you’re out of the house and doing something fun and adventurous. The idea is to stay active; you don’t necessarily need to be pouring sweat to stay active and have fun.
6. Know When to Take a Break
We’ve spent five steps telling you how to get more active, and now we’re saying you need to take a break – what gives? Well, remember in the first step when we said it’s possible to exercise too much? We didn’t even mention mental exhaustion. Simply put, too much activity can be overstimulating and can exhaust you and your children mentally rather than physically.
As a result, it’s good to have a rest day once a week where you stay at home and take it easy. Furthermore, you need to know when to take a break during your physically active days. Are your kids getting tired or lethargic? Don’t push them harder! They need a break, probably just for a few minutes. The manliest thing a dad can do is know when to support his kids properly.
Adventurous Ideas You and Your Kids Will Love!
Are you trying to think of something beyond the ordinary that you can do with your kids? We’re here for you! The following activities are things you’ll love doing together and which aren’t too wild for your kids. As they mature, you can try more advanced activities together. These ideas include:
-
Hiking – Walking in the woods gets your kids outdoors and provides a constantly changing and exciting environment they’ll love.
-
Biking – Learning to bike will help your children get around town more easily and give you plenty of fun exercise as a family.
-
Swimming – On hot days, take your kids to the beach, a local pool, or a lake and go swimming. During the winter, take swimming classes in a pool to stay ready for the summer.
-
Skiing – Teach your kids how to ski safely to give them a fun and exciting skill that they can use later as adults.
-
Visiting Amusement Parks – Go to amusement parks, carnivals, zoos, or aquariums to get a lot of exercise, experience some thrills, and learn some new things about the world.
-
Work on a Farm – Find a nearby farm that lets you and your kids explore the area. Many even let you interact with animals and pick fruit or even milk cows. No farm nearby? How about planting and tending a garden in your own yard?
-
Laser Tag – If you and your kids love competing, try laser tag! This fun activity gets you active and has an adventurous feel to it. Mini-golfing, while not quite as active, is also a lot of fun.
-
Go-Karting – Visiting a go-karting center is a lot of fun and teaches your kids some early driving lessons. Many karting destinations have arcades and other fun options.
Take Your Dad Skills to the Next Level
Are you ready to break through your lazy lifestyle and become the kind of adventurous dad that will make your kids brag? Follow these steps, and you’ll become the “cool dad” you always wanted to be! Just as importantly, you and your kids will be in better shape physically and mentally and will have a better life. That’s a gift only a good father can give.
