At 44 years old, I beat the dad bod to get into the best shape of my life with simple bodyweight workouts. Here are the mistakes I had to avoid to make it work.

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I quit the gym, stopped counting calories and got rid of my dad bod by using mostly bodyweight workouts over the last 12 months.

The scale says I’m down about 15 pounds. 

My measurements and progress pictures show some pretty decent physique results, too.

And over these 12 months, I’ve noticed more than just scale weight success:

• I enjoy my workouts again – I was starting to get bored and frustrated with the usual home workout approach of burpees and bouncing around my living room
• I’m more consistent with my workouts – because I’m not tied down to a gym, I can train anywhere
• And I’ve slowly repaired my relationship with food. No more calorie counting and obsession over macros and rigid dieting.

My living room is where most of my workouts take place, but if I bring my gymnastic rings with me, I can easily hang them from a tree or at a playground and work out in a park.

Not to mention the time constraints of commuting back and forth from a gym. That is no longer a problem for me since I can break up my bodyweight training into micro workouts on a really tight schedule.

My workouts are now just 20-25 minutes.

I’m getting stronger – I don’t even specifically train the 1-arm chin up, but from simply practicing high volume bodyweight movements like the pull-up, chin-up and row, I’ve developed incredible strength.

So I just decided to see if I could make the 1-arm chin up one day, and … boom.

Unfortunately, when most people dive into this type of training, they make some really glaring mistakes. 

But, fear not, because today you’re going to learn what those mistakes are, and I’ll give you the pointers on how to solve them so you can finally get (back) in shape and beat the dad bod, too.

Let’s get into it.

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For years, I felt like a failure

I was in good shape, but could never take it to the next level to get into great shape. 

As a coach, I was really good at helping others build successful habits to lose weight, build strength and gain confidence. While I would mostly practice what I was preaching to my students, it was always so difficult for me to develop the rugged consistency required to truly look the part. 

Calorie counting was a chore. I hated it so I couldn’t stay consistent with it. 

My workouts were long, arduous and just not enjoyable. It made it easier for me to skip them or half-ass them since my motivation and desire to do them was almost non-existent. 

Just like many of the people that follow my content, or have worked with me, I would be “good” for a few days, or weeks. But I’d let one little obstacle or setback throw me off course. I’d lose momentum and then let that snowball into poor habits.

Then I’d get mad at myself for screwing it up. Feel guilty. Punish myself with excessive cardio and low carb approaches and start the cycle all over again. 

About a year ago, I said enough. 

During one of my journal sessions, I wrote to myself, “No one is coming to save me.” It was harsh, but true.

And it was time that I finally started showing up to build the right habits once and for all. 

It was a commitment to myself. I made “me” and my health a priority. 

In my last newsletter, I highlighted the major change I made to dieting that was a major catalyst to my results: No more calorie counting, instead just a lifestyle-friendly approach to portion control.

But nutrition is just part of the puzzle if you want to beat the dad bod. Your training needs to be smarter, too. 

You are tight on time. Stress is high. Simplicity is the key. 

I reworked my entire approach to strength training and embraced a minimalist approach to bodyweight style workouts that I could perform in my Brooklyn apartment living room.

To make this work, I had to avoid three common mistakes that I kept making with my previous training phases.

Problem No 1: You’re not training hard enough

This one can be broken down into two separate but equal camps:

1) More cardio-based approaches using a ton of burpees or lower resistance (pink dumbbells) than actual strength training.

And 2) Too many sloppy reps (ego reps, too). 

First, most home workout programs are really just cardio sessions that don’t do much to improve strength and promote muscle building (aka, hypertrophy).

Think about all of those “burpees with Becky” programs that have you hopping around, doing a ton of core work and grabbing a bunch of silly ass light weights that have you sweating at the end of the day. 

Maybe even sore around your midsection.

But when it comes time to get some hard-earned muscle, it’s just not going to happen without progressive overload.

Secondly, most people tend to assume that the standard push-up is an entry-level, basic, (read: easy) exercise. And they apply a basic effort to that exercise based on how entry-level you assign to it.

In reality, when you actually spend quality time learning how to perfect your form on the push-up, you can see incredible gains. 

Here’s my challenge to you: 

• Crank out a set of perfect push-ups,
• No elbows flaring, 
• full range of motion, 
• without your neck craning. 

You’ll likely notice your perception of this basic movement totally change. And your reps will probably drop in half. But congratulations, you are actually performing a real push-up now. 

Those cardio workouts and sloppy ass reps are not helping you. They’re just allowing you to think you’re doing solid work. 

Problem No. 2: You’re not training frequently enough to stimulate muscle development 

This can come from not being consistent, not having a dedicated personalized routine or just following the old school body part split approach popularized by the bodybuilders. 

Starting today, there will be no more chest day, arm day, etc. 

You don’t have the time, the energy or the steroids to make this effective enough for you to see real results. 

To beat the dad bod, you must make sure that you are losing excess fat. That’s going to come from nailing your nutrition down, which is why I like portion control methods for busy moms and dads.

But you must also build muscle, too. 

Hitting your favorite body parts just once a week is simply not enough to promote sufficient growth.

Especially when you don’t have the steroids to back it up.

Instead, research shows that you will be almost 48-percent more effective at building muscle when you train each muscle group at least twice per week.

I like full body workouts for the busiest people because when the schedule goes to shit, you can still work the entire body each week as long as you get 2-3 sessions in. 

Not awesome, but better than just working on your chest, skipping legs and then doing nothing else for the week because you had to travel for work or because your kid got sick.

And I prefer bodyweight style training to gym workouts. Because with this approach, I can train just about any time, anywhere. No need to commute back and forth. Bodyweight training is accessible to just about anyone. 

Now, before you hit me with the rebuttal of “you can’t build muscle with bodyweight training,” lemme stop ya right there.

This is an absolute myth. 

I’ll challenge you to this: Build up your pull-ups to 20 perfect reps. No kipping. Full control and range of motion. I promise if you can do that, you’ll beat the dad bod and be jacked. 

The outdoor gyms here in New York City full of calisthenics enthusiasts back me up, too.

Problem No. 3: You’re doing way too much “junk” volume

Spending too much time doing unnecessary stuff that leads to a super long training session and then you cannot stick to it. 

This is common with working on far too many functional movements or the fluff that you see from randos on social media.

Anyone with a great physique promoting a ton of functional movement patterns and not much else did not get that physique with just functional training. 

Trust me. 

They did it by maximizing compound movements consistently and doing so for a long time with plenty of progressive overload (like you’ll start doing after reading this).

There is a time and a place for functional movements. 

But, don’t get lost in the sauce of doing a bunch of basic stuff that you don’t need. 

Utilize only the functional movement patterns that will compliment your training and health.

How to actually beat the dad bod and get in great shape with bodyweight-style training

Embracing minimalist fitness with bodyweight/calisthenics training and home workouts will help you beat the dad bod and carve an impressive, athletic physique. 

If you don’t care about looking like a bodybuilder and spending hours in the gym every single day in order to do it, then this is for you.

Simply put: If you’re looking for that lean and athletic look and don’t want to make a choice between spending time with your family, or on your business, then this is for you.

All you need is 30 minutes per day while focusing on the six basic compound movements with a goal of getting stronger over time.

90-percent of your physique will be carved by focusing on these:

1. horizontal push (push-ups or dips)
2. vertical push (pike push-ups or handstand push-up progressions)
3. horizontal pull (rows)
4. vertical pull (pull-ups or chin-ups)
5. quad dominant leg (squats or lunges)
6. hamstring dominant leg (hip thrusts, glute bridges)

Read that list again. I’ve just laid out a basic full body setup that you can utilize right now to beat the dad bod.

Take each movement. Perform 3-4 sets of each close to your failure point. Do this 2-3 times per week. Get ample rest, recovery while eating to match your goals. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

No need for a ton of unnecessary volume or exhaustive MetCons with kipping pull-ups that will lead to injury and burnout.

No need for a gym. All of my workouts are in the living room of my Brooklyn apartment and require just a doorframe pull-up bar with some rings that hang from them.

The big keys you must embrace to make this work:

1. Ignore the dopamine trends and stick with the basics

2. Stick with the basic fundamental movement patterns … and really trust the process to stick with them this time … no more program hopping every two weeks

3. Focus on slow but measurable improvements over a long time (think 12 months instead of 12 weeks)

If you’re having trouble conceptualizing how this looks in action, I actually put together a quick guide to developing your own minimalist workout to beat the dad bod in a previous newsletter. You can check that out by clicking here.

Now it’s your turn to beat the dad bod; if you need help … I’m here for you.

If you’re interested in working with me to get a complete body transformation program that couples minimalist training with a personalized approach to nutrition (no calorie counting here), then you should check out my Lean4Life Coaching Program.

Not ready for all that yet? No worries.

Take what you’ve learned here and slowly apply it over the next month or two and let me know how it works out for you.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “beat the dad bod” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete