'Dad bods'

With a certain career point, you have to make time for exercise - like anything else. If that means running at 6:30 am, you do it.

 

I can usually fit in a 3- to 5-mile walk at least four days a week - with my kid in tow. And I play basketball for a few hours most weekends - again, with my kid in tow.

I'm not getting shredded because of it, but it certainly keeps me from falling off the obesity cliff.

 

And I've found out that having a dog helps, too. You think I'd otherwise go for nightly 45-60 min walks around the neighborhood? Nope.

 

Lucky guy. I need to be out of the shower by 6.

 

I have to get up pretty early to get a workout in every day - like before 4 a.m., in the gym by 4:30, after shaking off the grogginess. That's the only way I can pull it off. We bought a treadmill with our wedding money almost 10 years ago, and I bought some weights a couple years ago and a bench, though I hardly use them these days. Just not a lot of time for both weights and cardio in my schedule.

(To answer the obvious: Yes, I post here. But that's basically during what amount to what used to be cigarette breaks at work. I'm at my desk 10-12 hours every day, on the train for an hour-plus, driving another 40 minutes. Then, family time. My day doesn't have extended slack.)

Despite all that, I'm still finding it really tough to keep my body in shape since kid No. 2 arrived and my desk job started. I think I've gaind about 15 pounds. First step is probably cutting out the beer or bourbon while manning the grill or watching the ball game.

 

I'd be interested to know how many of those shredded bros (Ryan Gosling included) come by it naturally, and how many got that way by shotgunning HGH.

 

Oh, some people are born with it. And most people can look pretty good, given the time to devote to it. And the money.

 

I am one of the fortunate ones on time for working out. I'll be driving kids to school at 7:20 in the morning and be surrounded on the road by all these people who had to get up, listen to awful FM morning radio, make coffee and be in suits.

I'll be in basketball shorts, a hoodie and sandals, driving, as I still have 6 hours until I usually go into work.

This is a hijack, but I have NO idea how people work 8-5 or 9-6 everyday. None at all. I tried it for three days after college, hated it, returned to journalism. Worked nights for 19 of the 20 years I've been in this. It's my "normal".

That being said, there is no excuse for me not to be in shape. Eight years ago, when the kids were much younger, I remembered this ONE day where both kids were on a field trip in preschool that went past the normal time. I had two hours where I didn't usually have toddlers. I remember going to the gym and burning an ungodly amount of calories that day.

 

I did work mornings for a year (2 am to 12:30 pm) -- gained 19 pounds in that one year and I was running a lot but apparently eating more. Fight the fight.

 

That's exactly how my wife gets her exercise, too.

 

OK, I read that guys piece, and I think it's pretty flawed.

First of all, he says he sported the good physique in his 20s, and the worse one in his 30s. Well, no wonder he was more successful with the latter. I bet he would be even more successful, in his 30s, with the good physique. For various reasons, I imagine that men are simply better at playing the game in their 30s, and more attractive to women, for reasons that have nothing to do with their physical condition. For one thing, the field is considerably larger, since younger women tend to go for older men. Of course, having found my love at 24 and married at 28, I don't have a ton of field experience. I had a dad bod when we got together. I still don't know how I did it. I actually knew her for several years by that point, which I'm sure helped.

As far as his study, he says that women from wealthier countries were "less likely to prefer the manly faces than those from countries with lower GDPs." That doesn't tell us much. They may still prefer the manly faces overall, and probably do. Just not as much as the women from the other countries.

 

I'm 6'2, 280, in good shape with broad shoulders but soft in the chest and pudgy in the gut. No matter how much cardio I do 7 days a week, I also love to eat ice cream and cheese.

My downfall is male butterface ... one of those tubs of butter that's been chopped at and marauded because it has been in an icy fridge too long.

But I'm a monster in the low post so I have that going for me.