When I was young and was caught up in the whole “supplement thing”, thinking that if I didn’t consume 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight that I was going to shrivel up and turn into a skinny, non-muscular piece of nothing, I drank protein shakes until the cows came home.

And as a result, my family hated me for it. Not because I would go through “protein shake rage” or anything like that, but because I STUNK!!!

During my protein shake phase, I used to fart so much (I can say “fart”, right?) that my wife and daughter would leave the room as soon as I walked in because they knew the inevitable was about to happen.

NOT ANY MORE.

First, I don’t do whey protein anymore - I found out that I was intolerant to dairy which was probably causing my massive rear explosions (sorry for the horrible mental picture).

And second, I believe in consuming REAL FOOD. Unlike the powders, potions and bars that I used to eat thinking that it was “muscle building foods”, I now eat fruits & veggies and if I do consume any supplement, I make sure it’s from a reputable company that uses only plant-based foods in their products.

So, check out this video of me and my son Joaquin (pron: “wah-keen”) making my latest, non-dairy, smoothie. You’ve got to try the recipe, IT’S DELICIOUS!

Have a great weekend! I’m off to Barrie, Ontario for AJ’s volleyball tournament.

-Chris

ON October 22nd at 2am, Rozanne, my wife, gave birth to our son … Joaquin Gabriel Lopez.

Needless to say, I’m on cloud 9 right now and our friends and families seem to think that I’ve got a certain “glow” because …

1) The “Lopez” name will get carried on (my brother and I were the last in our line of “Lopez’s”) and

2) I now have a male ally in this estrogen dominant family.

Even though it’s been a little over 2 years since we last had a newborn in this house, I (read: my body) seems to forget how inconsistent and unexpected the scheduling is.

Some nights I get 7 hours of sleep, some nights I get 5, but most often lately, I’ve been getting 2 or 3 hours.

I have, however, been able to maintain a certain amount of energy and haven’t really “hit the wall” just yet … and I don’t expect to.

Sleepless nights, inconsistent scheduling, never having things go as planned come part and parcel with being a busy parent.

Managing your energy and having enough of it to function throughout the day will give you the ability to interact with some competence with your peers at work and your family at home.

Here are 7 things that I’ve been doing since the birth of “Q” (that’s what we’re calling him) to help me maintain my energy levels…

1) Stay on Schedule (even though every ounce of your being is telling you not to) - Regardless of how much sleep I get, I’m still up at 5am. Some days I feel like a truck hit me, but most days it seems that my body recognizes that everything is as it should be. I try to go through the exact same schedule/routine everyday - training, studying, working, eating & meditating at the same time.

If something comes up, like last week when I had to pick one of the girls up from school because she was feeling sick, then I accept it, let everything else go, and once order is restored, I get back on schedule.

This alone has been the biggest difference in me maintaining my sanity over the past 3 weeks.

2) Drink lots of water - I can’t stress this enough. Staying hydrated will keep you alert and will keep your brain functioning efficiently. Water (and sleep) as far as I’m concerned, are nature’s medicine.

If/When I get sick, it’s usually because I’m not getting enough sleep or I’m dehydrated. Making sure you’re drinking enough water is even more important if you drink coffee or tea or anything caffeinated because caffeine is a diuretic.

3) The 20-minute nap - This is the one thing that I do “unscheduled”, but I feel refreshed and rejuvinated immediately after. Dozing off for 20-minutes is like hitting the reset button in the middle of the day.

Sometimes I play my meditation CD while I’m napping and other times I just lay down and doze off while “the boy” is asleep on top of me. Either way, when I wake up, I’m almost as good as new.

4) Avoid sugary foods - I’m not a big junk food eater to begin with, but sometimes when time isn’t on your side and you just feel lazy, it’s so easy to just order a pizza or sneak some of the kids’ Trick or Treat candy.

I’ve had my slips and believe me, I’ve paid for it. The sugar highs are great while they last, but the crashes are brutal. In addition to that, excess sugar increases cortisol levels and inhibits immune response … not a good thing if you’re dealing with not getting a lot of sleep.

5) Caffeine management - You may already know this, but I’m an espresso junkie. I love the stuff. I’ve talked about the benefits of drinking espresso instead of the slow drip sludge that you can get from the local “Dunkin’Bucks” HERE.

What I mean by caffeine management, is strategically planning when to drink your coffee (or green tea) at specific times in the day to help you stay alert, prevent the jitters and still allow you to fall asleep at night.

If you wake up at 6am, then your first dose of caffeine can be taken as late as 9am. That’s about enough time for any caffeine addicted body (like mine) to NOT get any headaches. The main thing to note is that caffeine has a 1/2 life of about 6 hours - that’s the time it takes your body to eliminate 1/2 the amount of caffeine you injested. So if you set a 10pm bedtime for yourself, then you should ideally have your last dose of caffeine by 4pm (I have my last espresso at 3pm for safe measure).

7) Get outside - It’s November here in Toronto, and despite it being a little chilly, the sun is out and the skies are clear.

I dropped the kids off at school this morning, quickly returned home, parked the car and got on my bike to head over to the coffee shop and then to my first client.

Nothing beats riding a bike in this city. No traffic, fresh air and a feeling of freedom. If you want to wake up and get some activity in your life, commute to work using a bike - you’ll save money on gas and parking and will be reducing your carbon footprint at the same time.

So those are the strategies that work for me to keep my energy up while I battle 2hr nights of sleep, 3am diaper changes and going to work with spit-up on my shirt.

What are some of your favorite Energy Management strategies? Please leave a comment and let everyone know.

-Chris

Yes, I know it’s been about 3 weeks since I last posted.

A lot has happened over that time.

1) First, this little man entered our lives.

Introducing Joaquin Gabriel Lopez, aka #5, aka “Q”. Life’s been quite a transition since October 22nd when he was born.

My wife is a Superstar.

She went through 3 hours of drug-free labor - no epidural, no pain killers, no nonsense. The woman is a she-God.

Now with “Q” home, the adjustment’s been pretty smooth …

AJ’s taken the role of 2nd mom and does an amazing job. My only concern is her growing up too fast now.

Joey has taken her role as “leader of the young pack” quite well keeping the younger 2 (Frankie & Mikey) in check. It helps that her methodical personality and organizational skills are a perfect compliment to this role … and yes, she is only 6 years old.

Frankie (aka “Sparkles”) is her usual entertaining self. We’ve got this new thing where I say, “Show me the gun show” and she proceeds to flex her biceps and then kisses each one (a la Paul “Pile-Driver” Orndorf, the WWF wrester from the late 1980s).

For some reason, this kid has freakishly developed biceps and delts!?!

Then there’s Mikey. So cute, so deceivingly cunning.

Of all the Lopez children, she’s the one who is challenging us. Who can blame her? She went from being the baby of the family to being “one of the middle kids” and went from the top of the totem pole to one notch below (I am burried way beneath the ground on our family totem pole by the way).

I must admit though, this one’s got me wrapped around her little finger, probably because she looks just like her mother …

2) I started and am coaching my own volleyball club.

This has been my dream. I’ve gotten a lot out the sport and have been positively affected by my coaches (one in particular) and friends who have played the game. This is my chance to give back.

They say that when you do things with good intentions, only good things can come out of it. I have been BLESSED with a group of kids (and their parents) who are not only enthusiastic about learning the game and getting better at it, but who are also respectful, courteous, appreciative and hard-working.

These kids make it so that I don’t feel bad about having to take time out from spending with my family 2 nights per week to coach them (although AJ’s on the team, so I get some one-on-one time with her). They come prepared to learn, they put up and take down the nets without me having to ask them, they hustle everywhere and among all 26 of them, there isn’t a bad attitude in the bunch.

It is an absolute pleasure coaching these girls. I only hope to do for them what my coaches have done for me.

3) The Minimalism Process

I wrote about minimalism HERE. Minimalism for the Lopez Family 7 went from being a “project” to a “PROCESS”. It started with the kitchen.

Then moved to the basement…

Where I created my home office space…

I’m spending a lot more time working from home these days because Rozanne needs help and because I’d like to get to know my son (that’s got a nice ring to it) a little bit better and reconnect with my girls.

I needed a home office space that was clean, with minimal distraction, a little zen and very motivational. So I picked up a succulent plant that my kids affectionately named “Spike” to give me a connection with nature. I found a 24″ Dell monitor on craigslist for dirt cheap (that I connect to my MacBook) and I put up a Michael Jordan poster from my childhood to provide me some inspiration.

The end result will hopefully be more blog posts, more videos, more interaction with you (my ever patient readers) and more fun.

The bottom line…

I love being a dad.

I love coaching, mentoring and inspiring young athletes.

I love living a healthy life.

And I love reading, writing and talking about all of the above.

Right now, my job doesn’t feel like a job … it feels like living.

Right now, I’m living my passion.

-Chris Lopez, The FitAndBusyDad

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my other blog over at KettlebellWorkouts.com where I just wrote a post about The Death of The Personal Training Industry

Kekich’s Credos are 100 inspirational and motivational affirmations that were turned on to me by one of my friends and business coaches.  Since he sent them to me, I have been reading ONE credo per day for the past couple of years and they’ve made a world of difference in my mindset and attitude towards business and life.

The “success secret” quoted above, by far, has had the most impact.

Getting out of your comfort zone is an integral part in achieving success.

In physics, it’s called overcoming Inertia. A law that states that an object at rest will stay at rest unless an external force is acted upon it.

It’s much easier to sit on the couch and not move than it is to get up and exercise.

It’s much easier to stay at a job you hate with an abusive and unappreciative boss because you get a “steady” paycheck than it is to follow your passion and start-up that new business that you’ve always wanted to.

But think about how that helps us as humans.  Our job is to overcome inertia and evolve. To become better than we are now and to not just settle for mediocre.

From a fitness standpoint, changes to your body will NEVER occur unless you constantly venture out of your comfort zone.  Your body wants to be comfortable and stay the way it is.  And until you apply a different stimulus to it - by lifting more, doing more reps with the same weight, cutting your rest time down, or doing something faster than you previously have - you will see little change (if any at all).

It blows my mind when I see people who make all the effort to drive to the gym, pay a premium for a gym membership and waste their time doing the same routine day in and day out.

To paraphrase, Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is “doing the same thing, over and over again, expecting a different result”. By this definition, most of our society is insane.

If you don’t like the way things are.  If you feel like you’re stagnant in life.  If you feel like you’re in the rat race or trapped on the spinning treadmill with no way to get off, here’s some good news…It’s within your power to do something about it.  It may feel weird and it may feel uncomfortable at first, but that’s just you overcoming inertia.

The Lopez Boys: Rich (my little bro), Chris (me) & Titus (my dad).

Two years ago, my dad experienced a “force” to help him overcome inertia.  He had a heart attack the day before his 60th birthday.  A week later, he had quadruple by-pass surgery.

Having that heart attack was a big wake-up call for him. The threat that he may never see his grandchildren again or be able to travel with my mom, or be able to do all the things he loves - like working with his hands in the garden or tool shed - was enough for him to rehab and get himself back in shape.

Now, he walks everyday, partakes in a resistance training program (designed by his oldest son, that’d be me) and only eats fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and lean protein.

It took a heart attack and a quadruple by-pass for my dad to change his habits. Hopefully it won’t take anything extreme for you to change the habits that YOU KNOW aren’t contributing to you living a healthy and happy life.

Overcome inertia, get out of your comfort zone and live passionately so your kids can witness that and be inspired!

-Chris, a.k.a. The FitAndBusyDad

So, What else is NEW?

I’ve got a new tumblr blog over HERE - http://fitandbusydad.tumblr.com

Just posted a new 10-Minute workouts HERE - http://kettlebellworkouts.com

You and I both know that as parents, NOTHING ever goes as planned, but to just have guideline as to how things should run  usually means the difference between “flying by the seat of my pants” and getting nothing done and actually being productive.

I have a friend who plans his day out to the minute!  And he gets more done than anyone I know.  (Mind you, he’s single with no dependents, other than a dog).  His life isn’t like mine or yours, but nonetheless, his success is shows and a lot of it is due to his meticulous preparation.

Having a general idea of how things should go -ask any productivity expert this- is the path to success.  It’s like having a road map to your destination.

So for transparency and accountability purposes, I’m going to show you what my upcoming week looks like and how I’ve planned it out.

If you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or hit me up on email.

The FitAndBusyDad 7-Day Plan for the Week of September 28th...

I can’t take a chin-up bar either.

I tried taking an ab wheel one time when I went to NYC last year and they confiscated it because it looked too much like a weapon. (I took it apart so the handle was actually an 8-inch metal bar).

So when I travel and don’t have any equipment I rely heavily on bodyweight workouts.

The only problem with bodyweight workouts is that there are only so many push-up and squat variations that you can do. So, even though I consider myself to be very well versed in the “science” of bodyweight training, when things go stale, I turn to my friend Adam Steer for advice. After all, together with his partner Ryan, these guys are known as “The Bodyweight Coaches”.

But like I said, this isn’t a “do 100 push-ups and then do 100 squats” type of workout. They use a system called Circular Strength Training (CST) that incorporates several bodyweight exercises together in a “flow” pattern where you go from one exercise to the other, with no rest, in a logical and progressive “flow”.

It’s one of those things that my words can’t do justice to. You’re better off watching it in action….

Right now, Adam and Ryan are giving away a bunch of their stuff for free (a full bodyweight/equipmentless program called “The 12-Minute Stage Crazy Workout” AND a series of follow-along videos).

You can go HERE to pick them up or click on the link below…

=>The 12-Minute Stage Crazy Workout and Videos

I’m doing these CST workouts now (for the next few weeks) and then finishing my workouts by doing KB Swings or Snatches (just because I like to be different).

Make sure to pick-up the complimentary workout and videos soon because I don’t know how long they’ll leave them up.

=>The 12-Minute Stage Crazy Workout and Videos

Chris

Bora Bora

Do you have a Life List?  A list of all the things you want to accomplish in your life before you “pass on”?  (Also known as a “Bucket List” or “BAHGs - Big-Ass Hairy Goals”, a term coined by one of my earlier business advisors, marketing genius Glen Hunt, who wrote THIS.)

I was inspired to do this list after reading this post by Chris Gillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity.

According to Gillebeau, “A life list is simply a list of long-term personal goals, often expressed as “X things to do before I die.” Life lists are related to, but also different from the Ideal World (how things are in your world now) scenario, the Annual Review (as in monetary or business related goals), and your ongoing list of active projects.”

So, for example, one my major goals is to get out of debt.  And although this may be a HUGE achievement on my end when it does happen, it wouldn’t be included in my life list because of it’s practicality.

The purpose of this list to show myself how wild I can dream or to challenge myself…

1. To do things that will make me feel alive,
2. To do things for the betterment of human kind that I can have direct influence on
3. To do things for those that I love because, well, I love’em.
4. To experience life as a child again.

So based on that criteria, here is a list of things that I’d like to do before I leave this world and enter the next…
Chris Lopez’ Life List

1. Learn how to surf in Maui.

2. Take my wife to Bora-Bora and stay in one of those private huts in the middle of the water.

3. Take my wife and each of my daughters to Paris individually.

4. Build a school in Africa with my family (that’d be Me, Rozanne & our 5 kids…obviously when everyone’s grown up).

5. Take my parents, my brother and my in-laws to Disney World for a week (Purely selfish. I want them around so that they can babysit and Rozanne and I can get on some rides!  J/K.  My parents & my brother have never been!)

6. Go to a soccer game in Spain.

7. Go to the Summer Olympics.

8. Meet Michael Jordan.

9. Get a tatoo.

10. Play beach volleyball at Manhattan Beach, California (the Mecca of beach volleyball).

11. Open an Organic Espresso shop (espresso is another passion of mine).

12. Drive the entire Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1 in California) in a convertable staying at really cool B&Bs and watching the sunset.

13. Train with The Harlem Seals.

14. Do what I love for a living. check!

15. Publish a book on Fatherhood.

16. Spend a month in a Shaolin temple learning from monks (I’ll obviously need more than a month, but I’m thinking practically here).

A Fixie: No gears, no brakes, no nonsense. Simple.

17. Build my own fixie.

18. Watch the EBC at Rucker Park in NYC (I was going to say “Play in the EBC at Rucker Park”, but I’m not stupid).

19. “Semi-retire” for a year (a la Tim Ferriss) to give myself time to do all of the above.

Now, it’s your turn….

So what’s on your life list?  Is there anything that you’d do differently or anything wild and crazy that you’d like to do?  Write it down, focus on it, and it’ll happen.

…and please share some of your Big-Audacious-Hairy-Goals!

The truth is, I have too much stuff, and not enough time.

There are certain things - values - that I hold true to, and in my decision making process on what to get rid of, I look to these values for answers.

Rozanne and I recently came up with our family Mission Statement -

Live simply. Live healthy. Celebrate relationships. Value the Present.  Learn Continuously.

This pretty much sums my value system up (with honesty, responsibility and integrity being obvious values that I’m sure everyone has).

That said, when it comes to living healthy, eating REAL FOOD and getting my workouts in are the most important things to me.

The only problem was that with Baby #5 on the way, trying to run 2 businesses and coach 2 teams, even driving or riding my bike to the gym was using up valuable time.

So even though FitAndBusyDad workouts are short in duration, but high in effectiveness, they still at times required some extra “gym” equipment or something that you wouldn’t normally have at home.

In an effort to living a simpler and more meaningful life, I quit the gym and took up kettlebell training on a full time basis.

Kettlebells originated in Russia and were the training tool of choice for the military & martial artists.  They’ve just recently become a little more popular in the mainstream and look like a canon ball with a handle on it.

Turning to KBs was the BEST training decision I have ever made for myself.

There are 3 Main Reasons for this…

Espresso, Notebook, Pen. Perfect.

There’s a change going on in my life.

I’ve noticed it a couple of years ago, but it’s only really taken a more aggressive course in the past few months.

I’ve written and talked about it before, but never has it taken over me the way it has now.

It’s an OBSESSION.

It is MINIMALISM.

It’s my sudden and intense realization that having too much of anything sucks.

Too much food results in too much fat stored and is one reason why our society is in the unhealthy state that it’s in.

Too much information results in mass confusion and lack of action due to paralysis from over-analysis.

Too much stuff/things/posessions results in individuals finding their definition of self from those posessions thus never really filling or dealing with the void in their lives.

Even having too much money (without the right set of values), although I don’t have that “problem”, can tear families apart and make some people ignorant towards what really matters in life.

So here’s what I’ve done so far to clear out the excess in my life…