Why (and How) I Trained 47 times in My Son’s First 50 Days of Life

My son Nolan was born 50 days ago. I’ve managed work out 48 times in those 7 weeks and 1 day.

I’m not training for a specific event. There’s no race on the calendar.

What I’m training for is being better. When I work out, I have better days. When I move more, I feel better and think more clearly. My whole day is enriched when I prioritize time for myself.

Now that we’ve established why someone would workout so much with a new born and a toddler, let’s look at how I did it.

Two key factors set me up for success. Listening to what my body needed. Knowing it would be running off a less-than-optimal sleep schedule. And making sure my discipline was firing on full steam to get going when I didn’t feel like it. Which was way more frequently than you think.

I had 15 total rest days. Thirty percent! Keep that in mind. I trained in the morning before anyone (and I mean anyone) is awake for 36 of the days. On 12 days, predominantly in the past two weeks, I trained early in the morning, and again for 45-60 minutes in the afternoon at the gym.

For the first few weeks I only ran (easily), did push ups and air squats, or walked with a 20-pound weight vest. I needed it to be simple and quick to the point. The 4th week I added in some more bodyweight movements like pull ups and dips, and started back with light barbells and kettlebells on week 5. I continued ramping up the intensity (effort, load, volume) and the last 5 days have been hard training, back to normal.

Training for the specific purpose of feeling better is underrated. If you told me my body wouldn’t change, my strength would only decline and I’d only get slower for the rest of my life, I’d still get out in the cold garage and train every morning because it makes everything better.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain