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WUHAN!!! Got You All In Check! | Gym Etiquette During COVID-19

As soon as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified as originating from Wuhan, a city in China, and constantly in news coverage…Busta Rhymes’s 1996 hit came to mind. This was arguably Busta Rhymes in his prime; both music career and physical shape.

If you show up to your fitness center, you are likely to notice a thinning of patrons. I can’t figure out whether this is due to the time change and losing an hour (I’m an early riser), or the mass panic surrounded around COVID-19 pandemic.

Is it COVID-19 or have your New Year’s Resolution gone OFF TRACK!?!?

If you’re not going to the gym out of an abundance of caution, don’t give up on Prioritizing Physical Activity unnecessarily. You Can Take Your Gym Membership and SHOVE IT! AND take your physical activity outdoors! No one will be breathing, coughing or sneezing on you, and if people get too close, YOU CAN RUN AWAY! (or briskly walk) 😊 Some things are just out of your control, and it is important to recognize it. Just as important is how you react to those circumstances that are out of your control.

Wipe down your equipment before you use it and after.
ACTIVE-DAD

In the same token, if you are in somewhat good health, don’t have any underlying conditions (heart disease, diabetes, lung disease), and not elderly (65 years or older), you are not at a high risk of getting seriously sick from COVID-19. But just because you are not likely to get “REALLY” sick, does not mean you won’t get sick. I don’t want to be sick AT ALL regardless of the severity!

Additionally, you can’t be an ACTIVE-DAD, unless you are first a dad. That means you have kids. Protecting them is always one of the highest priorities. You may not get hit hard by a virus, but they are likely to be impacted differently. I have a one-year old toddler. Although he’s a BIG healthy boy, the last thing I want is him to get sick.

Higher than normal stress levels are linked to getting sick. It is hard to be anxious if you physically exhausted from physical activity.
ACTIVE-DAD

The gym can be a place of close proximity with individuals, sharing of equipment, and sometimes fluids!

So, some precautions are warranted.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

Why Did You Give Up?

At what point did you give up? Is there a defining moment in your life that you can look back on and say; this was the moment that I gave up. Or was it a gradual descent? You became a dad and welcomed your child into this world. Your life began to revolve around him. The early morning wake ups. The inconsistent sleep patterns. The stress of constant crying. You began eating when and whatever you could get your hands on, often takeout; because cooking for yourself or expecting your wife to was just out of the question.

Your precious daughter will see how you approach life and be influenced by it.
ACTIVE-DAD

Top 4 Things NOT To Do In The Gym In 2020

It’s that time of year again! You know, that wonderful time of year when you reevaluate your physical fitness and determine you can do better! If you didn’t take my advice from “You Can Take Your Gym Membership and SHOVE IT!“, you likely enrolled in a fitness center. So, you finally get enough motivation to Prioritize Physical Activity. You make time in your busy schedule, go to the gym and BAM!!! Everybody and their momma (or so it may seem) has the same idea. A multitude of the newly motivated bodies decide to Prioritize Physical Activity. In fact, they also decided that the best time to show up, was when you decided to show up.

Don’t fret. You can either weather the storm, find a spot in the corner and focus on using free weights OR you know what they say about the early bird. No matter when you decide to go, it will pay off if you keep gym etiquette in mind. Especially if it is crowded.

There is a distinct difference between tapping into others as sources of motivation versus comparing yourself to them.
ACTIVE-DAD

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!

The San Francisco Bay Trail, with sections of paved trail along the Crown Memorial State Beach
Bike/Walk Friendly with lanes throughout the City
Perfect weather!
Places to go poop along the trail!

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The Great american dream

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How Did You Get Here?

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