Parent Strong
We always hear about generational wealth, but we never hear about the greatest advantage of them all…GENERATIONAL HEALTH. Make sure your kids see you exercising on a regular basis. Include them in your workouts. Make it fun. If you can create positive feelings of nostalgia related to exercise, that will make their entire life better.”
Lead by example is not just a mantra on a t-shirt. It is a lifestyle. A lifestyle I have surely adopted since my first child was born. My own interest/investment in my personal health and wellness accelerated dramatically the day I held her in my arms. Why? Well, who doesn’t want the best for the kids? Children model the behavior they see and we know this definitively. Just the other day my oldest daughter and son were with me at the gym and were going around copying the exercises the athletes I had in the gym doing. I also pressed on the gas of my own health and performance because I want to be in the best shape with the most energy to live life with them as they grow. Secondly, I want to set the precedence for how to live a healthy life not by barking out orders but by simply living a healthy lifestyle and being, what I believe, to be a proper example of how to be healthy, and more importantly why you should want to be healthy (who wouldn’t want more energy, to look better, feel better, and have more confidence?).
Lead by example. No other message is more impactful. Over the years I have had plenty of parents picking my brain with questions like:
How do I get my kid to eat better?
How do I get them to want to do this?
How do I get them to *insert any metric that will improve my son/daughter’s quality of life*?
I’ve always provided answers, but never the truest answer. Because sometimes it hurts. And that answer is: lead by example.
Do you skip breakfast? Or eat sugary, starchy processed garbage for snacks?
Do you get to bed on time or do you stay up scrolling through your phone while binging the latest nonsense show on tv?
Do you prioritize exercise? Sleep? Clean eating?
If we are not living the life we want to impose on our youth…how do we expect them to ever listen?
Moreover, don’t we as parents want to live not only long enough to see our kids grow up and experience the wonders of life but to be HEALTHY throughout the journey of life? Living into old age with chronic disease, weakness, and no energy is no way to age.
I’ve always been one to prioritize health and wellness (although the early college years were a different story), but becoming a parent has undoubtedly leveled up my passion and desire to maximize it.
And I want the same for other parents.
Which is precisely why I am launching Parent Strong.
Parent Strong is a training program for parents to build strength and fitness, improve physical and mental health, combat chronic disease, and allow parents to lead from the front for their children by showing how to enact discipline and effort into your daily life.
We are constantly committing ourselves as parents to do what is absolutely best and necessary for our children. This often means managing the external environment around us and putting the majority of our effort toward the improvement/development of everything/everyone besides ourselves. Often is the case in order to change and impact the world around us for a sustainable good we have to change the person we see in the mirror.
There will always be a reason not to commit yourself to something of this nature…
Excuses:
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I don’t have time”
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I have an old injury I can’t get back to working out”
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Hiring a coach is too expensive”
Truths:
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You absolutely do have time. Won’t ever entertain this excuse.
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Maybe strengthening your body in a progressive, appropriately dosed manner from a professional is just what you need. Exercise is medicine. Inactivity is a disease.
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Maybe…just maybe…stop going out to eat so much? Cancel your 3 different streaming subscriptions? Maybe it’s time to invest in the thing that’s the most important vehicle for your life: your body of which you spend every waking moment living in.
This is a formal call to arms to engage us the parents to lead from the front and demonstrate what it means to employ discipline and the beauty of delayed gratification in our daily lives to take back the health of ourselves, country, and children.
What they are saying...
I contacted Troy Parks to assess my physical condition and capabilities shortly after recovering from rotator cuff surgery. The physical therapist that helped me recover suggested that I talk with Troy about my physical training goals. At 73, I am experiencing both age-related muscle atrophy made worse by a sedentary lifestyle and surgery-related (total hip replacement and rotator cuff repair) muscle loss and atrophy due to long recovery periods. My goal in personal training is to address the muscle atrophy and lifestyle issues that have caused a loss in my functional capacity to perform everyday activities like getting up from the ground unassisted and managing heavy items overhead. Troy explained how the loss of muscle mass, as well as flexibility and range of motion, had conspired to limit my physical capacity to perform everyday activities. He believed that a regular strength training program, combined with flexibility exercises, could help restore and maintain my functional capacity and mobility. He tailored the workouts to my specific functional goals. The focus is on exercises that address the strength, flexibility, and range of motion needed. He provides motivation and encouragement, while assessing results and adjusting the program to maintain progress. I have found Troy to be very personable and easy to work with. I am pleased with the results and confident that I will reach my goals. Troy’s gym in North Lima is well-equipped to support a wide variety of personal training requirements from folks like me to athletes who are training to improve their performance. I would strongly recommend talking with Troy about your personal training needs and goals, as well as about developing a personal training program to help you achieve them.
I've been with this gym since the beginning, and I would not be where I am physically without him. All three of my kids have trained here too. What Troy has created is more than a workout. It is a group that pushes each other, laughs through the hard days, celebrates progress, and keeps showing up together, which has made a real difference in my health and something I genuinely look forward to.