Category: Commitment

Ask An Active-Dad: Everyday Dad Edition with Bernardy Darguin (Peloton Showroom Manager)

Since 2013, my wife and I have lived in four different states. From Florida, to Arizona, to California, to presently Maryland. That may sound a little excessive to some, but it’s not without reason. Nevertheless, our tendency to move around has unexpectedly honed one very important skill, the ability to connect with good people. Of course, my wife oversees the family’s Communication Department, because if it were up to me, we would only know work colleagues (she would be bored with us talking “Shop”) and people from the local real estate investor meetups (again, boring to her). It’s a big deal to me when dads connect.

I think the key for us is being open to getting out there and just moving!

Bernardy Darguin

As a family of four, 99% of all social gatherings must involve kids and/or be kid friendly. So when my wife mentioned someone invited our family over for a get-together, I was ready and willing. I was happy to meet Bernardy and his family of six (four kids, him and his wife) and enjoyed spending time with them. Not to mentioned they opened up their home! Bernardy not only has a good handle on Prioritizing Physical Activity, he is well vested in it. As the Showroom Manager of the Peloton Bethesda Row Retail Store, he lives, breathes and eats Prioritizing Physical Activity. Now that all gyms and fitness centers are closed, don’t you wish you had a Peloton?!?!

Check out his story!

Continue reading “Ask An Active-Dad: Everyday Dad Edition with Bernardy Darguin (Peloton Showroom Manager)”

World Obesity Day

The “Official” World Obesity Day may have passed, but that does not mean we have move beyond the Clear and Present Danger of health of our time. Sure, there are sensational, sporadic events just about every other year. This condition remains a GINORMOUS problem. It is dull, yet insidious, and persistent. Because of this, it doesn’t get the attention it rightly deserves. People are quick to poke fun at it or poke fun at the people with this condition, but are unwilling to emphasize the underlying factors. Whether you like to hear it or not, obesity is preventable and treatable. We can, we must, take action now to break ourselves of our deadly routines.  

Eat, eat, eat. Sit, sit, sit. Day, after day, after day…OBESITY!

ACTIVE-DAD

The Great american dream

You have strived to achieve the “Great American Dream”. This dream has been distorted into extended periods of sitting around and eating. You get up in the morning, eat cereal — which may be delicious—that is high in sugar. You chase that down with coffee that contains even more sugar. You get into your spacious Ford F-150, sit and drive to work. You get stuck sitting in traffic.

Continue reading “World Obesity Day”

It’s Time To Move Beyond Comfort! Focus on T.O.P.C.

We get caught in a certain level of comfort. It’s not uncommon for the masses. We find a place where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. We have friends and family that have accepted us as we are, and those associations are comfortable. They don’t think we are overweight, because the look no different. Besides, 37.9% of men over the age of 20 are obese. So healthy weight is NEVER a topic of discussion.

Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we’re comfortable.

Fred Smith

You do not like what you see in the mirror. Even worse you convinced yourself that you don’t care. But, you do. Deep down you really do care. You want to be better for yourself. You want to be better for your wife. You want to be better for your son. You don’t feel comfortable in your skin anymore and you are afraid that your kids are picking up on your lack of confidence. If this keeps up, he may grow up with the impression that on the Hierarchy of Needs (thanks to Abraham Maslow), Esteem is not really that important. At last, he had no examples of it from you growing up.

You might not have put much thought into it, but the moment your son was born he instinctively sought to fulfill his needs. Be it breathing air, water and food through milk, shelter from the environment, or sleep; everyday of your newborn son’s life revolved around all these Physiological Needs. Ask your mom, and she will tell you that you did the same. As your Physiological Needs were continuously met and you matured, your needs also matured. Your needs developed into the need of Safety. The need of security, resources, employment, safety of your family and of your HEALTH. As you worked to satisfy those needs, somewhere along the way, some of these needs were substituted. Somewhere along the way the need for the Safety of your Health was swapped out for the need for COMFORT.

Continue reading “It’s Time To Move Beyond Comfort! Focus on T.O.P.C.”

Ask An Active-Dad: Everyday Dad Edition with Steve Galvez

Connecting with Dads is one of the main values embedded in Active-Dad. A main proponent of the platform is showcasing Every Day Dads Prioritizing Physical Activity. Distractions and excuses are behind EVERY single corner, but until you learn to not only say “Health is Wealth”, but follow through, put Physical Activity into your daily routine and LIVE IT; all you did was just utter a catchy phrase without merit.

We have plenty of time in the day to make time for what is important to us.

Steve Galvez

As the saying goes, “RockStars Know RockStars”. Equally so, High Performers Gravitate Toward High Performers. When I first interacted with this individual, he was actually interviewing me for a position. Are you fortunate enough to know a person who is just easy to be around, genuinely likeable and can depend on as a person and as a professional? Well, he is that guy. So, when the GREAT NEWS broke that he and his wife were bringing a child into this world, I was overjoyed to welcome him to the club! He has been winning in life, pre-kid. I know he will continue his winning streak, post-kid. Take note, because here is how he is doing it.

I am excited to introduce Steve Galvez for this feature of Ask An Active-Dad: Every Day Dad Edition. I asked Steve about his experience as an Every Day Active Dad.

Continue reading “Ask An Active-Dad: Everyday Dad Edition with Steve Galvez”

3 Reasons Why You Should Join The Weekend Warrior Circle

Our work week is already jammed packed with activities. You wake up, get yourself ready for work, get your kids ready for school, get ready, drop the kids off at school, barely make it to work on time, turn around and pick up the kids, figure out the dinner situation, get the kids ready for bed, get yourself ready for bed…lather, rinse repeat the next day. SHEESH!

Continue reading “3 Reasons Why You Should Join The Weekend Warrior Circle”

You Know Why You Gave Up, And So Does Everyone Else!

How Did You Get Here?

You look up, and BAM! You are not the same man you were 10 years ago.

Two kids later, you look up and realize you haven’t found a way to PRIORITZE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY daily. You look up and you are carrying way more pounds than any other point in your life. You somehow went from a size 32 in the waist, to a 40. You would have thought you were the one who carried those babies for nine months—no, that was NOT you. You look around, your family, your co-workers, your friends, social media…they ALL look like YOU. Your group of friends told you to “Just embrace it man, it’s normal.”. They all appear to be in the same situation. They all look like they are heavier than they have ever been. That makes it normal, right?

Just because you may be seeing more people in your day-to-day life, living unhealthy lifestyles, does not mean it is normal.

ACTIVE-DAD

But it isn’t just you and those around you. Thirty-seven-point nine percent (37.9%) of men over the age of 20 are obese. Do you know what age group of men are the fattest? Men aged 40 to 59 are 40.8% tubby tubbies!

Continue reading “You Know Why You Gave Up, And So Does Everyone Else!”

Why You Should SHUT UP About Leadership, If You Fail To Lead Yourself!

Have you ever gotten advice (often unsolicited) from someone who you knew with 100% certainty, they didn’t heed their own advice? I hear about it ALL the time. I have heard the complaints from colleagues and acquaintances of how a healthcare professional — particularly overweight or obese — proceeded to recommend that they lose weight to avoid health issues. They tell me how they thought to themselves (or maybe you even say it), “Excuse me, but shouldn’t you be practicing what you preach?” While this is sound advice and the healthcare professional was doing their job, their “body of work” spoke for itself. There are other elements that we consciously be considered.

A leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk.

John Boehner
Continue reading “Why You Should SHUT UP About Leadership, If You Fail To Lead Yourself!”

You Can Take Your Gym Membership and SHOVE IT!

Two and a half months into my first gym membership, the gym decided to close, for good! I moved from Alameda, California, to the east coast and left behind all the things I have grown comfortable with.

What were those things? Oh, let me count the ways!

  1. The San Francisco Bay Trail, with sections of paved trail along the Crown Memorial State Beach
  2. Bike/Walk Friendly with lanes throughout the City  
  3. Perfect weather!
  4. Places to go poop along the trail!
Continue reading “You Can Take Your Gym Membership and SHOVE IT!”

Is It Easier To Quit Smoking Than It Is To Lose Weight?

Before you go overboard and overeat with second and third helpings these next few days, think like a smoker! Or better yet, think like a smoker who is trying or has tried to quit their deadly habit. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the U.S., responsible for about 1 in every 5 deaths. Just about any smoker will tell you, it is much easier to quit smoking if you never start. Likewise, it is much easier to lose the weight that you never gained, than it is to fight back to the pre-Holiday body.

Continue reading “Is It Easier To Quit Smoking Than It Is To Lose Weight?”

The Physical Activity Snowball Effect

Have you ever seen a cartoon snowball? You know, the type that starts at the top of a snow packed mountain as a little ball, and as it rolls down the mountain the snow begins to accumulate. Eventually the snowball grows into a huge boulder and rolls over some character trying to escape it. Yes, I love cartoons, even now.

Dave Ramsey has made famous the Debt Snowball concept. I present to you the Physical Activity (or Fitness) Snowball EFFECT! How original right? 😊 Well, for those of you not familiar with the Debt version of the snowball, just pretend the Physical Activity Snowball concept is entirely new AND original and allow me to explain. On second thought, because I believe in your success in all aspects of life, including financial responsibility, go check it out for yourself…Debt Snowball.

How do you eat an ELEPHANT?

One bite at a time (at least that’s what they tell me). Some of us heard this time and time again. The concept and approach remain to be true when solving most big problems. One of North America’s biggest epidemics started as two small problems; 1) the consumption of unhealthy food options, and 2) the lack of physical activity.

Continue reading “The Physical Activity Snowball Effect”