Father Figure

There’s an old joke:

It’s not a dad bod — it’s a father figure.

It’s funny way to excuses a bit of chub. After all, you’re too busy raising kids to spend hours at the gym getting ripped. Sometimes it’s good to remember what really matters, your children are far more important than having six-pack abs.

But as I drift closer to “middle-aged” than “teenaged,” and as my kids grow, I keep wondering: What should I do with my body now?

For years, I’ve worked out just because “it’s good for me.” But without a clear goal, I never knew when I was “fit enough.” I’d love to say that mindset meant I just kept going and it turned me into a mountain of muscle. Alas, that's far from the truth. The reality is that without a target, it’s easy to plateau, my strength gains leveled off, and my willpower to push through the pain ran out.

Why push harder when there’s no finish line? When will I ever be strong enough?

A Reason

Before I can figure out when I’m strong enough, I have to know why I’m training at all. I can't plan a course if I don't know where I'm even going.

As a father, the answer feels obvious. I’m not trying to build muscle to impress strangers or pick up women. The only “chicks” I want to pick up are my own kids, and I mean to literally pick them up.

That’s when I stumbled across the subreddit r/DadReflexes, a collection of clips showing dads doing incredible things to protect their kids. One video stuck with me. It’s an old clip from America’s Funniest Home Videos: two kids are riding down a hill on a toy car when, out of nowhere, a dad sprints past them and snatches a third child out of harm’s way, a split seconds before the car would have hit the oblivious youngster.

It made me wonder: Could I sprint down a hill faster than a runaway toy car if it meant saving my child from injury?

From there, more questions flowed in:

Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it’s playful. But the are guine feats I want to be capable of. Those are things a Father Figure should be able to do.

A Deeper Reason

However I wanted a motivation that wouldn't fade. It needed to be grounded in something eternal. Why protect my family? Why carry them, catch them, lift them, run for them? In the long run, why does it matter? So of course I turned to the Bible. The Bible is a complicated book, and the verses I hold to could be debated. But I don't think I am stretching these verses or taking them out of context.

So, enough with the preamble. Here’s what I’ve written for myself, my personal manifesto of sorts for having, and being, a true Father Figure:

The Father Figure Manifesto

Men,

God has called us to use our bodies for his glory, we are to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) holy and acceptable to God. Keeping your body health is an act of worship. Further, we are called to be fathers to our children (Proverbs 22:6), love and give of our selves for our wives (Ephesians 5:25). Your body must not fail you in your responsibility to your family.

Men ask yourself:

Expanding from Principle to Practical

With this as my basis I developed several questions to provide a deeper perspective:

Strength

Dexterity

Endurance

Agility

Flexibility

Resilience

Conclusion

This isn’t perfect, but it’s useful. I’m sharing it not because it’s exactly what you should use, but because it’s what I use. Maybe it will spark some ideas for you, too. Godspeed, men.

And to any women reading this, you may not have been my target audience, but I hope you find inspiration here all the same.