How To Build Muscle After Having A Kid

As a parent, juggling family responsibilities, work, and personal time can be a challenge, especially when it comes to focusing on fitness and improving your health. If you’re a skinny person looking to build muscle and get stronger so you can be more ready to physically protect your kids if needed, you’re not alone. If you're overweight and need to shed pounds so you have energy to play with your kids, you're not alone. Many parents want to improve their physique and overall health but may not know where to start. This guide will provide you with essential tips to help you on your journey.

Before diving into a workout routine, it’s crucial to set clear, achievable goals. Are you looking to lose weight, increase your strength, or improve your overall fitness? Having specific goals will help you stay motivated and track your progress. Not all fitness advice will make sense for your goal, so if you have no idea what you want to achieve, it'll be impossible to make progress. Your FIRST step is to know what you want to make happen.

• Fitness Journal: Keeping track of your workouts and nutrition can be incredibly beneficial. Consider this Fitness Journal to help you stay organized and focused on your goals. If you want convenience, you could also use the Notes section on your phone to to log all your workouts, or a regular notebook can work as well. Tracking your progress help identify if you're on the right path to having the physique/health that you want. Don't underestimate the importance to setting a goal and tracking progress.

To build muscle, you need to fuel your body with the right nutrients. If you're a skinny dad, your body requires more calories and protein to support muscle growth. Aim for a calorie surplus diet rich in whole foods, lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. If you're a dad looking to lose bodyfat, your body requires fewer calories and high protein to maintain muscle while loosing weight. Aim for a calorie deficit diet filled with high fiber foods, lean protein, and lots of fruits and veggies.

• Protein Powder: A high-quality protein powder can help you meet your daily protein needs, especially post-workout. For most guys, a good amount of protein to strive for is 1g/pound of bodyweight that you want to be. For example, if you're 140lbs and want to bulk up to 160lbs, try to consume 160g of protein daily. If you're 300lbs and want to be 200lbs, try to consume 200g of protein daily. A whey protein isolate is a easily digestible, high quality protein option to use for shakes and mixing it in with other ingredients to make a quick high protein snack.
• Meal Prep Containers: Staying organized and having meals readily available will help you stay consistent. I suggest meal prepping for 2-3 days in advance, so you don't need to cook everyday. This is how you stay on top of your goals on the days when you're exhausted from work and just want to grab something quick to eat and go to bed. Instead of it being a pizza or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you can just a quickly heat up a prepped meal that supports muscle growth. *Pro-tip: use glass containers to store your meal preps. They last longer than plastic containers, and won't stain as easily.

Incorporating strength training into your routine is essential for building muscle. Focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, farmer carries, overhead presses, pullups, lunges, and rows, which engage multiple muscle groups and promote overall strength.

• Adjustable Dumbbells: Perfect for home workouts, adjustable dumbbells save space and allow you to increase weight as you progress. Consider Snode AD80 Dumbbells for your home gym. These dumbbells are EXTREMELY durable, and drop proof, meaning they won't break if you need to bail out of a tough set of dumbbell bench presses and throw them to the floor.

To make it more convenient to store your dumbbells (as well as making it easier to pick them up and change the weight), I also recommend getting the Snode Cast Iron Stand.

While these dumbbells are very expensive, I suggest looking at the lifetime value of these dumbbells. There are 8 weights set in one dumbbell, with a weight selection: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 lbs. If you were to purchase all of those dumbbell weights separately, it would be more expensive and also take up more real estate in your home gym. You can also quickly add small magnetic 1.25lbs weight plates to the ends of the dumbbells, so that you can increase in 5lbs increments. This will allow you to have 16 different weight options for your workouts, which covers any weight you'd ever need for effective workouts from home!

If you're going to commit to a lifelong journey of being healthy and working out from home multiple times per week, adjustable dumbbells are a no brainer. It's a lot up front, but these dumbbells will last a lifetime.

• Adjustable weight bench: No home gym is complete without a weight bench. Having adjustable angles on your bench will allow you to do dozens of exercises and work your muscles from every angle. A highly rated adjustable bench is from the company Titan. Once you have a heavy duty adjustable bench, you'll never need to buy another one again, so it's worth investing is high quality once - vs needing to upgrade your bench multiple times every couple of years. A lower budget adjustable bench can still work for most people, but make sure you check the weight rating on your bench. If you're strong, but also pretty heavy, you may be putting yourself in a dangerous position if you have a lightweight and cheap bench. 

Muscle growth occurs during recovery, so don’t overlook the importance of rest. Ensure you’re getting enough sleep, lower your stress as much as possible, and consider incorporating recovery tools into your routine.

• Sleep Cycle App: This app allows you to track the quality and duration of your sleep. The best feature is the "wake up window". This lets you set a 30-minute window for your alarm clock. The app will wake you up when you're furthest away from deep sleep within that 30 minutes. This will have you feeling refreshed. Most people set their alarms for the latest time they can before needing to start their day, but if you're in a deep sleep when that happens, you'll feel groggy and not be the best version of yourself. This app stops that from happening.
• Massage Gun: If you're someone that is chronically sore from leg workouts (and that stops you from working legs consistently), investing in a massage gun might be a good idea. A quick 5-minute session before and after a workout will help you feel more loose throughout the day and get blood flow to the areas with muscle damage to help you recover. TheraGun is the brand I like the most.

Building muscle takes time. Losing body fat takes time. BE PATIENT. Stay consistent with your workouts and nutrition, and be patient with your progress. Celebrate small victories along the way to keep your motivation high.

• 14-Day Physique Reset: This free guide will show you how to restructure your training and nutrition to put yourself in position to lose significant body fat.
• Lean Bulk Blueprint: This blueprint is for skinny guys that want to do a lean bulk - gaining a noticeable amount of weight WITHOUT just getting fat. More muscle and more strength is the goal.

As a parent, building muscle, losing body fat, and getting stronger is entirely achievable with the right approach. Set clear goals, focus on nutrition, incorporate strength training, prioritize recovery, and stay consistent. By following these tips and utilizing the recommended products, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your fitness goals.

Remember, every step you take is a step toward a healthier, stronger you. When you're taking care of your health and well being, you're setting a great example for your kids to follow. Happy lifting!