Category Archives: Going Strong

Going Strong: A Babywearing, Reel Mowing Workout during Naptime

07/28/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

One of the best things a parent can do with their baby is wear them as soon as possible after they are born. Dads especially need this to help make up for our non-childbearing bodies. Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m not complaining!!

I can finally wear her on my back in the Onya!! Time to mow!!

Besides the numerous benefits babywearing touts when it comes to bonding, it’s also a great way to engage in weight bearing exercise. Once your baby is old enough and has good neck control, you can take your babywearing experience up a notch. Like, for instance, using a reel mower to mow the lawn and wear your baby.

I’ve posted about using the Fiskars reel mower while babywearing in the past, and wanted to give an update now that I can wear Avery on my back. This is way more comfortable than wearing her in the front, and enables me to move a little faster than before.

I recorded this about a month ago, but forgot to post until now. Since we’re getting over a long weekend with a very cranky, teething baby, I lack the ability to write a lot for Monday. So, in place of a wordy post, I give you a video of how to make the most of your time and get a good workout while mowing the lawn and have your baby napping.

By the way, I have no clue how she actually sleeps as I run back and forth across the lawn, but then sit and scream in a peaceful, dark room with a comfy crib. #BabiesAreThe8thWorldWonder

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP5Wmum0O7c&w=560&h=315]

If you are lucky enough to have your baby actually napping in their nursery, then you can enjoy mowing the lawn HIIT style!

Being active with kids of all ages is extremely important to their overall health and wellness. When we lead by example, our children want to do as we do (usually), and even when they’re only months old, they are absorbing everything. The same applies to making healthy food choices and avoiding fast food that contributes nothing nutritious.

I know I’ve said it all before and will continue saying it often because the health of our families should always be top priority. Every trip I make to the grocery store, I see so many parents filling their carts with packaged junk that either their kids begged for or that is just a convenient option.

Sorry for the rant, I need to dedicate a full post to my thoughts on this, but it would be long! Maybe a series?

Do you have any creative ways to exercise while accomplishing other tasks?

What are your thoughts on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and leading by example?

Goals, Going Strong, Life, Parenting

Our Baby Won the Overall 5k!

06/09/2014 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

Yep, Avery and I won the entire 5k! Technically, since she was in front of me as we crossed the finish line in our first race together last Saturday, June 7th, she was the winner.

This picture confirms I was just the weird shirtless guy behind his speedy, first place princess. And check out the gap; no one in sight. After seeing the race results posted, we had a very comfortable lead of around 5 minutes!

Honestly, though, it was a very small race and I don’t think anyone else took it very seriously. My thoughts were confirmed after the race director and photographer yelled my name and asked me to run back across the finish line so they could get a picture. Yep, not kidding. Glad my lovely wife was there to take pictures!

Our day started before sunrise, but we were still very late to get on the road. The race said it started at 7:30am and we left our house at around, ohhhh, 7am. Did I mention it was about 22 miles from our home? Yeah, go us.

Going Mom, diligently drove us to the location we input on our GPS, but only one problem, the race wasn’t there! Thankfully, my mom just had the same thing happen to her and her boyfriend Paul, and they found the actual race location.

It wasn’t too much extra driving, but since the surrounding area has a history of being the bad part of town, we weren’t trying to take the full tour. The park where the race was held used to be run down and only a popular place for the homeless to hang out. But recently, it was cleaned up and is now an inviting family-friendly park with trails. The surrounding area is still less than stellar and not a place we’d go to ~~often~~ ever again.

Back to the story, we made it to the race with a few minutes to spare thanks to a faulty microphone delaying the pre-race warm-up. My mom picked up my bib which I hurriedly pinned on my shorts and situated Avery in our B.O.B. stroller.

She had her game face on and was ready to roll! Traditionally, I made quick use of the port-a-potty since I always have to use it right before a race starts, then we got in line waiting for the signal to start.

Another key indicator of the size of this race was the start was sounded off by someone saying “Ready…..go” in a low tone and without a microphone. For any decent sized race, it would’ve been hard to hear, but for this one, we heard just fine.

I’m not one to push myself up to the front of the line in races, so I just tried to find a good spot in the middle where the stroller would fit. After we crossed the start line, I began weaving around the other runners/walkers and within 2 minutes we were only behind one person.

I kept sight of the other runner, but once we hit a slight incline, he started pulling away. Meanwhile, behind me, there was emptiness, so Avery and I only had to focus on the one guy in front.

Surprisingly, when we made it to the turn around point, he stopped and just waved us on saying to turn around and just go back the way we came. Ha, he was part of the event acting as the race leader, not a participant! At that point it was just a competition with myself to see how fast Avery and I could run a 5k.

I’m happy with the sub-20 minute time as I was just hoping to get under 22 minutes. Immediately after finishing, I set out to complete my last set of 30 burpees before turning 30.

As Avery and I were basking in the glory of triumph (or maybe that was just the sun), Kelley captured our victorious moment.

As you can tell, Avery was overly ecstatic about the whole ordeal…..

Everyone at the event was warm and inviting and it was obvious the majority of the folks were all from the same church. Their church put the race together and the proceeds went towards the fight against family obesity.

This is what motivated me to sign up for the run, and I am happy we did since I obviously have strong feelings towards living a healthy life! I love being able to show our girl how to live a happy, healthy lifestyle!

We made sure to hang around for our 1st place overall medal, and thought I’d get a second medal for my age group too. By the way, another sign that a race is small is when their age group awards go from 0-6, 7-12, 13-17, and then 18-64. But, when they made it to the 18-64 awards, I was never mentioned.

Not that it was a huge deal, but I would like to get a medal if I am supposed to. Greedy? Maybe, but it’s only because I earned it fair and square. Anyway, we accepted our single medal and left to have coffee and breakfast. As we were driving with my mom and Paul in front of us, I looked at my bib and quickly realized why my name was never called for the 18-64 awards….

Notice the age of “0” and Gender of “F”? When I filled out the online registration form, there was another form for children 6 and under. I didn’t understand why since they are free, but I filled out Avery’s information just to be safe. Well, somehow they lost her name and my real information, and kept my name and her information.

I’d say that takes the father-daughter race up a notch, and someone, somewhere, might be thinking “Holy crap, that’s a fast 0 year old!!”

Such an eventful day at was only 10 in the morning! We spent the remainder of the day with my mom and Paul to celebrate my birthday since we wouldn’t see them the next day on my actual birthday.

After leaving the race, we headed to a restaurant called Brewed that serves excellent coffee from local roasters who source their beans through Fair Trade. We enjoyed ourselves there before heading out to sight see a little and then go to a local craft brewery, Martin House Brewery.

Yeah, we’re starting Avery early with the beer scene, but I don’t think she was too aware of what was going on anyway.

The entire day was great and spent in good company, but I’ll tell you about it in another post. For now, this 30 year old dad is tired and needs to rest his aging body.

Ever catch a typo or information error on something about you when it’s too late?

Do you enjoy craft beer?

Any local breweries near where you live?

Going Strong

Going Strong: Get Fit with this Full Body Babywearing Workout

05/25/2014 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

I’ve been waiting for this day for a while a now; the day I could wear Avery on my back with our Onya! Now that she’s 6 months and over 15 pounds, she’s good to go!

Now that wearing her on my back is an option, this opens up new ways to get in a workout while keeping your baby close (really close). Trying to workout while your baby is sleeping can be difficult, and it’s tough if they wake up crying as you’re in the middle of sweating it out. Do you keep going and hope they fall back asleep or end your hard work and get them right away? Not an easy answer…..like most questions regarding babies!

So, I prefer to have Avery with me when working out as much as possible. She sees her daddy being active, and hopefully will want to do the same when she can move around. Plus, it just makes for good bonding! I’m pretty sure Avery has seen me do enough burpees now that she can’t wait to do them herself. Isn’t that right, Avery?

Well, maybe.

Anyway, having your baby on your back enables to you change the loading parameters on your core and legs, allows you to get on the ground for push-ups. With that, two of the best, most functional moves you can do are squats and push-ups.

Nothing fancy schmancy here, just two simple moves that work your entire body. Like I’ve mentioned before, babywearing workouts offer built in progression. As your baby grows, so will your strength. I put together a video demonstration just to show you the moves and hopefully you find it helpful.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_U2NCaUH7w?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

As mentioned in the video, if you want to make this more challenging than 3 rounds, you can just add rounds or make it into a timed “AMRAP” (as many rounds as possible) session. This, of course, is assuming you have a comfortable and happy baby. Also, I don’t advise doing this right after your baby eats, and I’m sure you know why.

Here’s the AMRAP routine that you can print out if you’d like.

And for an even greater challenge, add another 5 or 10 minutes of continuous work and/or hold dumbbells while doing squats.

Always make sure you are warmed up before starting and above all, have fun getting fit with the help of your growing baby!

Check out my past Going Strong posts for more baby bearing fitness ideas:

This post is part of a new fitness link-up party co-hosted by the great guy behind Disillusioned Dad. Check it out and show some support by linking your post related to diet, health, exercise, and/or well being.