Now that I am a father, I find that the only time I am able to get in the gym is at the same time as my clients. I’m grateful to have a flexible situation to train and coach at all, but I also recognize that I can’t devote my full attention to either pursuit. Combined with the stress (and sleep depravation) of parenthood — I know that I wont be able to push as hard as I once did.
I’d like to hear people’s experience with recalibrating training volume and intensity after becoming parents.
Hi there!
I would just say it’s okay to taper expectations a bit, especially if this is your first child.
Like you said having a newborn can be exhausting. But just be patient and understand that you and your partner are also learning how to parent at the same.
I look back and we made alot of newbie mistakes which in turn made it harder for us to sleep etc..
This is all common and it does get better over time. Also each child is different so who knows maybe your sleep won’t be too bad.
As far as lifting when I had newborns honestly I just made the most of the good days when I could train and on rough days I either lowered my expectation or flat out canceled the workout.
Now that I understand rpe better I feel like it would be useful to employ it during this stage especially.
Best advice I would give though is just enjoy it and make the most of it together because they are only small for so long.