TRAIN like an Athlete, LOOK like an Athlete

Let me clear something up.

I AM NOT A BODYBUILDER.



Never was, don't think I ever will be.

Even growing up in the booming bodybuilding culture of the mid to late 90s, it never interested me.

In fact, I always envisioned having the physique of an athlete - Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Karch Kiraly (volleyball player? pink hat? No?) - these are the guys who I idolized growing up.

But it wasn't so much what they looked like that impressed me, it was WHAT THEY COULD DO. My goal was to be able to jump like Mike, run routes like Jerry and put a ball hard into the sand like Karch (Still doesn't ring a bell?).

Because I grew up that way - training for performance as opposed to aesthetics - that influenced the way I train myself, train my clients and write my programs today. That interest in performance was why I went to school to study Human Kinetics.

It was always about what I could do to make myself or others perform better.

Training was about supporting my active lifestyle NOT a means of giving me one.

Having 6-Pack Abs, a well defined torso and what some referred to as "horse legs" was just a bi-product of training to be a better athlete.

Therefore, I will never write a bodybuilding based program. I don't even think I know how.

The FitAndBusyDad Lifestyle isn't about bodybuliding or getting massive guns and delts the size of bowling balls.

It's about being able to hold your own with the 20-year-olds at a pick-up game.

It's about loading 5 more rocks onto that wheel barrow that you need cart out of the backyard.

It's about still being able to throw your 10-year-old into the air and catch her without breaking your back.

It's about being able to carry your wife over the threshold even after 5, 10 or 25 years.

I build athletes that can perform...

...and if you push a lawn mower

or carry your kids from the car into bed after a late night

or put them on your shoulders while you're going from Merry-Go-Round to roller coaster at Six Flags...

...Then you're an athlete too! And you should be training like an athlete.

As busy dads involved in our kids lives, we have NO CHOICE but to be ATHLETIC. We have to be able to keep up with our kids. We want to be the STRONGEST dad on the block.

So stop doing bicep curls and do chin-ups instead.

Stop doing seated calf raises and do Siff squats.

Stop doing crunches and do some dead lifts.

Because as much as we won't admit it, we want to hear our kid say to his best friend, "My dad can kick your dad's a$$!"

Chris Lopez
-The FitAndBusyDad

P.S. Click HERE to train like an ATHLETE without having to set foot in a gym.

A New York State of Mind

We're due for some quality family time .

The summer's been incredibly busy and the weather in Toronto this weekend was resemblant to that of late October...it was pretty damn cold for August up here.

So we're packing the kids up and driving to NYC. My cousin's getting married this weekend so we're there give him some moral support.

We're taking the kids to FAO Schwartz to play on the BIG piano. Going to swing by American Doll (although if they think that I'm dropping $100 a piece on a doll they've got another thing coming). We'll go to Niketown and do the whole 5th Avenue and Soho thing. Rozanne and I are going to MOMA to check out the prefab exhibit (it's a dream of ours to build a modern prefab home in the country) and I'm trying to convince her to try to get in on a pick-up soccer game at Central Park. Maybe over to Canal Street for some "Hucci" purses or some "Frada" shoes. I think AJ even wants to find out what the big deal is with a Coney Island Hot Dog too.

The hotel where we're staying at doesn't have a very good gym. After speaking to them on the phone I think they have a universal gym and a slant board to do some "abs". So I'm packing my Lifeline Jungle Gym and maybe my 24kg kettlebell. There's a park close by, so if I wake up early enough I'll be able to get my workouts in. I better be able to , they only last 20-minutes.

I don't want to waste time spending an hour and half to 2 hours going to a gym and doing a "traditional" workout. I want to spend time with the family. Plus, Rozanne won't be cool with me taking off for a huge block of time and leaving her with the kids in an unfamiliar city.

There'll be a lot to do what with the wedding and all the site seeing. So my plan is to use my FitAndBusyDad workouts and follow Brad Pilon's EatStopEat lifestyle 2 or 3 days while we're gone. I'll be filming an updated Vacation Program video and a TOP SECRET video that's still in the works (it'll be pretty cool if I can get away with it).

We're all set to have some fun just being a family without the "distractions" of our regular everyday Toronto life. I'm looking forward to it.

CL
The FitAndBusyDad

P.S. Does anyone know where the best (organic) espresso is in NYC?

P.P.S. Remember, you don't need a gym to get LEAN & STRONG. Click HERE to get your best FitAndBusyDad body while you're on the road.