Maintaining fitness as a newly time-poor father of a newborn

What the title says. I’m hoping for two sessions a week, one of harder bouldering/board climbing for strength, one of easier timed boulder circuits for endurance (no autobelays at my gym and climbing with a partner may be too time-consuming for now). I’m mainly a trad climber but see this as potentially an opportunity to focus a bit more on strength for a while (and also suspect that bouldering outdoors may be easier to fit in than multipitch epics for a while). I’m tempted to mount a hangboard for repeaters at home, but it seems like that’s mostly for “power-endurance” (or whatever you want to call it) which is both more taxing to train in terms of energy and apparently fades more quickly. Anyone have thoughts or experience to share?

I’m 41 in case that’s relevant. Also hope to fit in two short antagonist/leg strength sessions at home each week. 

Anything that you can train at home: do so! You will be spending a lot of time at home between naps, especially in the first few months to about half a year. Don’t go to the gym to train with weights, try and do as much of that stuff at home as possible. Go to the gym to do boulders or to climb.

Don’t forget about cardio. I hate running so when my girlfriend and I started trying I bought a gravel bike. I love it.

Don’t underestimate how time consuming being a new parent can be. Be happy with any and all climbing you can sneak in. In my case it took over a year to get back to my pre-kid volume of climbing. Also: you’ll be wanting to spend more time with your kids and family, and the urge to go on climbing epics may become less all-consuming. That’s only natural.

Diet. Losing weight requires zero time, you just eat less food than you did before. Not sure where your fitness is at, but carrying extra lbs makes everything harder. Hard to imagine a better time investment to performance improvement ratio. If you have weight to lose that is.

And for those saying it doesnt matter... yes, there was that study where they found that bmi and climbing performance don't correlate, but everyone in the dataset was underweight to low-normal bmi. It's true that bmi doesn't matter as long as bmi is low ;)

Alex C wrote:

I’m tempted to mount a hangboard for repeaters at home, but it seems like that’s mostly for “power-endurance” (or whatever you want to call it) which is both more taxing to train in terms of energy and apparently fades more quickly. Anyone have thoughts or experience to share?

You can use the hang board for heavy hangs, rather than repeaters. Max hangs are a great way to build strength and power and very time efficient.

I’m about three years further along the parenting journey than you.   Here are some things that I’ve learned impact my climbing more than classic climbing fitness, and which you can work on at home.

First, I had no idea how hard parenting is on your shoulders.  All that holding, tossing, lifting, and carrying a squirming weight that just gets heavier and heavier does a number on the rotator cuffs and if one blows then you’re not climbing anything for a long time.  So do all the scapular control and rotator cuff exercises that you can.  Scapular push ups and pull ups, Ts, Ys, face pulls, internal and external rotations.  They can all be done at home while the kid sleeps or plays if you buy a couple exercise bands or some rings/trx.

Second, for us trad climbers the ability to handle long and steep approaches can be as important as the ability to climb.  So get a backpack baby carrier and go hiking!  Do it a lot and do it an easy pace, and sometimes put your rope and rack on your back too.  

Third, you might be consumed with fear.  Having a baby magically convinced me that 3’ gym bolt spacing is heinously run out, and that when climbing 5.7 granite with bomber placements it’s best to build 6-piece anchors just to be safe.  So brush up on whatever fear management techniques you’ve developed, and maybe learn a few more.  

Welcome to the parent club!  

 Congrats on parenthood! Hard but very rewarding !

Focusing on very local bouldering is great, that's what I did a few years ago when my kids were small and I love bouldering now. 

Bouldering with your kid in tow is pretty realistic as well (with good selection of the venue).I haven't had  good experiences trying to bring small kids to the cliff.  

 To Aarons point about parenting injuries above - I totally agree. I've had two injuries from the repetitive strain of picking up, holding, and generally wrangling kids. Nothing major, but kind of annoying. Definitely keep that in mind when playing the inevitable game of throwing them up in the air overhead. Sleep deprivation is real and makes you way more susceptible to small injuries. 

 In terms of the fear thing Aaron mentioned - I got that a bit as well. Maybe try to do committing things regularly and you'll maintain your "keep calm and execute" skills. Good low hanging fruit here is trying to climb easier boulders without pads (for me that gives a pretty similar experience to trad climbing, especially on problems that I might have to go up and down a few times to climb safely without falling). Going for a highball every now and again also keeps these skills up. 

Not much to add beyond the above, but I'd add these notes:

Tindeq and a pull block is really portable and easy for finger work. 

Don't stress getting off schedule, as it will just happen as kids get sick and life gets complex. 

Doubling down on diet - cutting out most beer and junk did way more to keep me in a good place than anything else.

Good luck! 

Good advice so far! I have 4 year old and a 4 month old. I’m back in the sleep deprived trenches at the moment and not sending anything, but last summer/fall was the best season of my life at 38. I red pointed two 12ds and 13a (all new grades for me) and one of the 12ds was second go.

Here’s what worked:

- My wife gave me the green light to rage while she was pregnant the 2nd time. We’re both teachers, so last summer I climbed outside 3x per week. (Usually only half days, but this still isn’t feasible for most new dads including myself at the moment.) 

- I started running and eating more protein and dropped from 186 lbs to 173. As Eric said, losing weight is incredibly time efficient and this 100% contributed to my success.

- I had to reimagine how I work out. No more leisurely 3 hr gym sessions after work. I started doing tiny two-a-days. For example, 10 min of core in the morning while the toddler watches tv and max hangs after bed. I would suggest that you get a hang board and some free weights. I never had a super disciplined, consistent training program, but I kept the mindset of “just keep doing shit.” Whatever I can fit in. Pull-ups. Pinch blocks with weight. Single, childless people may have the luxury of being regimented. I kept the mindset that any exercise is a success.

In terms of trad climbing, I’ve mostly moved away from it. Trad used to be my bread and butter, but it’s the least time efficient form of climbing. As others have said, my risk tolerance has also changed. I’ve done one big scary loose route as a dad, and I’m not doing that again.

My wife climbs too, so we boulder a lot. We climb low balls so one person climbs without a spot while the other plays with the kid. Now that I have a second kid, the game has changed again. I’m learning to LRS stick clip my way up a route so we can take turns doing TRS laps. I’m on my way to top rope nirvana … 

Good luck! 

Sleep is the crux. A total roll of the dice on how long you're in the trenches with that one (our guy put us through the ringer). 

Boosting the at-home garage tools were critical for me: bar and rack, hangboard, plyo box, air-bike, campus board, slam ball. 

I'm your age but had our boy at 37. The good news: since him entering the world I've broken grades in trad, sport, and big wall. Having an amazing wife is kinda step one... but not only can you maintain as a parent, you can crush. 

After year 5 of sleep deprivation your ready to climb walls in a push and the R rated pitch’s 

I’m tempted to mount a hangboard for repeaters at home, but it seems like that’s mostly for “power-endurance” (or whatever you want to call it) which is both more taxing to train in terms of energy and apparently fades more quickly. 

For sure recommend mounting a hangboard at home. Plus a weightlifting setup. If you have space at home for a proper barbell and rack setup, that is ideal. But if you're space limited, a couple dumbbells and/or kettlebells stashed in the corner can still give you a lot of options.

Repeaters are absolutely worthwhile as a way to build finger strength, and there is a deep history of them being used this way successfully. The idea that they are mostly for power-endurance is nonsense. Max hangs have their place too. Try both methods and see what you prefer. The most important thing is to get a hangboard installed at home and use it consistently. The details are less consequential - just find a program you like and can stick with. Do that for a few months, then reassess. 

Big picture: the weekly program you described is sensible. One day of hard bouldering, one day of easier high-volume bouldering, and 1-2 days per week of at-home hangs and lifts.

Suggestion: keep a journal of what you do each week, and start your "week" on Saturday. So if you manage to climb outside on the weekend, you can count that in as part of your weekly training and adjust the rest of your week accordingly. So if you bouldered hard on the weekend, that's your hard bouldering day, and next time you're in the gym do your volume day. Or the opposite if you did a volume day outside.

Highly recommend shifting your outdoor climbing focus to bouldering for a while. It is way more convenient, and a few years focusing on bouldering will pay big dividends to your long-term climbing progression. The convenience of bouldering is especially true since you are in the Bay Area. Going trad climbing from the Bay is a long drive and lots of logistics. But the local Bay Area bouldering is surprisingly good, convenient, and varied. Some of the Bay Area bouldering spots would also be pretty friendly as a "take the whole family for a day outside" outing in the future.

I found having a kid led me to be more regimented in my climbing, not less. I had to get my schedule in order or I wouldn't get to work out at all.

That meant trading those leisurely gym visits to 1 hour crunch blocks, and getting efficient. No more chatting it up for ages while tying in or pulling the rope.

That said, within a year your little one will sleep through the night. Then you'll join the other dads with the 8-whenever gym visits.

Thanks all! Baby came Monday night so currently it’s just survival mode here, but these are great tips once things settle down a bit.

Congrats! Enjoy, it’s such a special time. 

J L wrote:

I found having a kid led me to be more regimented in my climbing, not less. I had to get my schedule in order or I wouldn't get to work out at all.

That meant trading those leisurely gym visits to 1 hour crunch blocks, and getting efficient. No more chatting it up for ages while tying in or pulling the rope.

That said, within a year your little one will sleep through the night. Then you'll join the other dads with the 8-whenever gym visits.

I agree with having to be more efficient, but I don’t equate that to being regimented. When I think regimented, I think something like “Tuesdays I do limit bouldering and Thursdays I do pyramids.” My life feels too chaotic for that much detail. I have to be flexible but efficient and do whatever I can whenever I can. We might be saying the same thing. I don’t know. I haven’t slept through the night in four months, and I have to pee insanely bad but I can’t get up because the baby’s asleep on me :/ 

Congrats OP! 

Right, not regimented in that manner, but just having to think a little more about your weekly plans instead of thinking "hm maybe I'll go to the gym now, maybe not."

Especially when your partner has their own hobbies it's important to figure out exactly which evenings are for which day, etc.

I hear things get even more fun when you have to drive your kids around to their extracurriculars instead of doing your own thing.

Congrats and enjoy! The days are long but the years are short, so don't forget to take lots of pictures.

Congratulations!  I was stay at home dad for my daughter (now 13).  I have a basement wall and outdoor bouldering nearby, so it worked out well for me.  I could stash my pads at the boulders and snowshoe out in the winter with her on my back.  All went well until she got old enough to get out of her bouncy chair and I looked down from the crux of my project to see her with her hands up “spotting” me lol.

Serendipity to stumble across this excellent post -- I'm up with the Minigote right now, who just turned four months old today. Congratulations, Alex!

As a former trad-only snob, I have to now say that bouldering is pretty amazing. At the strident insistence of other climber-parents in my training group, I built a Mini Moonboard and have made an intangible return on my investment. The more home training implements you can build or buy, the better.

I have a good gym two blocks from my house, but I've only been there once since the baby was born.

Home training allowed me to recalibrate my concept of a workout. I've washed a lot of bottles and diapers during the five-minute breaks between limit boulder problem attempts. One time I got 45 v-units over the course of a whole morning while cooking for my in-laws.

Once I'm "Mini-warm," I can maintain that state by climbing a problem or doing a set of hangs every ten minutes (longer intervals require re-warmups). In other words, my half-life of project-ready fingers is ten minutes.

So yes, mount the hangboard, crack blocks, rings, partial campus board -- absolutely anything you can get away with in the domicile. I'm a big fan of max hangs but, as stated elsewhere, just pick something and do it consistently.

Unlevel edge + Tindeq with a portable ground anchor (sturdy yardstick) -- very worthwhile and versatile. Leave it in the room you spend most time in. Plus any type of one-hand grip trainer -- leave them around and accessible for when you're infan-pacitated on the couch.

Beware "nanny's elbow," and bicep tendinitis if you climb steep/board or do bicep curls. I had to limit my weight lifting because of holding the baby, believe it or not.

Community helps. Nobody understands chrono-paucity like a fellow parent. I got invited to a climber-parent Discord server and that has been a wealth of information, camaraderie, encouragement and accountability.

Lastly, re: survival mode, take heart ... it gets better. Tonight notwithstanding, Minigote sleeps through the night 90% of the time now. I loved the first month of "cute potato" stage. Cherish it!

Don’t forget the core! Kids make a great 20-40 weight, so as Fritz said avoid that kind of weight lifting and maybe work on accessory muscle groups like deltoids/ triceps. I found working on the glutes beneficial for the constant lifting/ carrying or children and protecting that lower back

iv found repeaters pretty great to simulate the try hard crux. 

I don’t like running but train for the approach by carrying the kido uphill. Maybe worse than running but a good view at the top.

Congratulations and there’s a reason they call it dad strength 

F r i t z wrote:  

Beware "nanny's elbow," and bicep tendinitis if you climb steep/board or do bicep curls. I had to limit my weight lifting because of holding the baby, believe it or not  

This is my favorite MP thread in years! Infanpacitated is a perfect word.

The “nanny elbow” point is important. My first baby agitated my wrist and then a weird move on a sport route knocked me out for a few months. With the second baby I ordered this. Cheaper versions exist but the Tush Baby has excellent pocket placement and I get to make lots of “as seen in Vogue” jokes.