I Finally Got Back Into a Workout Routine After Becoming a Dad — Here’s the Plan That Worked for Me

I Finally Got Back Into a Workout Routine After Becoming a Dad — Here’s the Plan That Worked for Me
By Andrew Gutman, NASM-CPT | Published May 09, 2025, 1:38 PM EDT — for CouponsPlanner

It wasn’t until my first child was born in October 2024 that I truly understood how precious—and scarce—time can be. Before the big day, my routine was packed: writing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, cooking, reading, relaxing, and leisurely walks with my heavily pregnant wife. I even completed a tough 28-day workout program that left me in the best shape of my life (you can read about it here).

Then everything changed overnight. Suddenly, I was stuck on the couch, a tiny, drooling, farting little human sprawled across my chest while I binged the entire X-Men series. Every. Single. Day. I survived on whatever visitors left in the fridge, slept in fragmented two-hour stretches, and exercised only here and there. Trying to carve out “me-time” felt selfish and logistically impossible, but the absence of it slowly wore down my physical and mental health.

COURTESY GUTMAN

It wasn’t until months later—once my son started sleeping for stretches longer than two hours at night—that I finally felt like I could breathe again. That’s when I knew it was time to recommit to a workout routine. I picked Men’s Health’s Dad Bod Arm Shred program because it promised to be time-efficient, and, honestly, who doesn’t love chasing bigger arms as a straightforward, motivating gym goal?

This workout proved that you can get a highly effective session done in a surprisingly short amount of time. The plan was also genuinely fun, which made staying consistent feel effortless. Whether you follow it for eight, 12, or even 16 weeks, I’d recommend this program to anyone—not just dads—who’s looking for a fresh, rewarding fitness challenge.

Here’s what following the Dad Bod Arm Shred plan was like for me:

This four-week program was created by Men’s Health contributor, certified strength coach, and fellow dad Andrew Heffernan, CSCS. Knowing a parent designed it gave me peace of mind—I didn’t want to dive into something that would push me too hard, cause burnout, and make me quit. Heffernan’s firsthand experience reassured me that wouldn’t happen.

Here’s a quick overview of the plan:

• Four workouts per week, each lasting 30 to 45 minutes.

• You’ll need some basic equipment: an adjustable weight bench, a few sets of dumbbells (or adjustable dumbbells), a resistance band, an air bike, a pull-up bar, and a kettlebell.

• Two dedicated arm days focusing on biceps, triceps, and shoulders—one day for strength, the other for muscle growth.

• Two other workouts target your other major muscle groups.

• The PDF includes a chart to track reps and weights, featuring progressive overload to gradually increase reps or weight each week.

• It also has detailed illustrations for every exercise, which helped me nail the form—like realizing bodyweight skullcrushers can be done on a bench, not just with a barbell in a power rack.

Overall, the plan is clear, manageable, and well-suited to busy parents trying to make the most of limited workout time.

To get the full workout PDF, you simply need to sign up for a Men’s Health MVP Premium membership. This membership not only gives you access to the Dad Bod Arm Shred plan but also includes plenty of other dad-friendly programs like Shred Your Dad Bod and Dad Bod Shred—perfect if you’re looking to explore more fitness routines tailored for busy parents.

Each Workout Took About 30 Minutes

Twice a week, I’d strap my son into his bouncer, hand him his dumbbell-shaped rattles, and he’d watch me train. For the other workouts, I’d hand him off to my wife and head to my local big-box gym.

What I loved most about this program was how accessible and time-efficient it was. If I hustled, I could finish each workout in about 30 minutes. Plus, for three of the four workouts, all I needed was a pair of adjustable dumbbells and an adjustable weight bench—making it easy to train at home. (On day four, you’ll need access to an air bike, a kettlebell, and a pull-up bar.)

The gym has always been my social and emotional outlet—a place to interact and blow off steam. Babies fill you with love, but those early newborn months brought a constant stream of anxiety for me. I worried about every odd breath my son took (babies make a lot of weird sounds), about my wife waking every couple of hours to feed the baby, and about how little time we had for ourselves. Leaving home, even for an hour, sometimes felt like a betrayal of the people who needed me most. The gym made me feel good, but as I sped through curls and squats, I found myself worrying about how long I’d been away. Thankfully, this program was designed with my limited time in mind.

I Trained My Arms Harder Than Ever

This program challenged my previous approach to arm training and made me confront an uncomfortable truth: I’ve never truly trained my arms hard before. Now, as a dad with only a few hours a week for the gym, I was stimulating my arms more than ever—while spending less time working out. Realizing that sometimes less is more (if you train hard) made the four-week commitment totally worth it.

The trio of relatively small muscles in your arms—the biceps, triceps, and deltoids—are notoriously tough to grow. That’s certainly been my experience. But after the first workout, my biceps felt exceptionally sore, which rarely happens, and that soreness returned after every session. I’m not a personal trainer or strength coach, but I suspect this soreness came from two things: volume and intensity.

It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but generally, more volume leads to more growth—provided you’re not just stacking up a bunch of “junk” sets. Over the course of this program, I completed around 50 direct sets for my biceps and 52 for my triceps, not counting the extra volume from chin-ups, rows, pushups, and presses.

I was able to fit in all this volume thanks to supersets—a popular intensity technique where you perform two exercises back-to-back with no rest in between. For dads who can’t afford to spend over an hour in the gym, supersets are a game-changer, letting you pack more work into less time. Plus, you can use them for pretty much any muscle group.

After years of training, I’ve learned to recognize when I’m really pushing myself or coasting. Usually, I leave a few reps “in the tank” for my arms, focusing on that mind-muscle connection. But this time, I switched things up by going heavy on every set. For example, if an incline curl called for 15 reps, I’d grab dumbbells I could only curl for 10 reps—and once I hit failure, I’d rest about 10 seconds before finishing the set. I approached my arm training with the same intensity I usually save for heavy rows or deadlifts. It was tough, but I plan to keep that level of effort in all my future arm workouts.

I Still Kept My Strength

If I had any doubts going in, it was whether I could maintain my strength with just four workouts a week—each lasting about 30 minutes—and two of those focused mainly on arms. To my surprise and relief, I was able to keep my strength intact.

The Full-Body Big Lifts day packs serious work into a short session with just two supersets. One pairs rear-foot-elevated split squats with dumbbell rows, while the other combines dumbbell bench presses and Romanian deadlifts. The catch? Each set demands lifting as much weight as you can handle, making the workouts brutal but efficient.

I found myself rowing a 100-pound dumbbell, doing Romanian deadlifts with 105-pound weights, pressing 65 pounds on the incline bench, and holding 60-pound dumbbells for split squats. Since the program is designed with an arm-focus, you won’t be hitting your chest, back, and legs with high volume—but when you do train these muscles, it’s with serious intensity.

I won’t lie: I rarely looked forward to this DOMS-inducing workout mashup. But it was a powerful reminder that effective training doesn’t have to be long or complicated—it just has to be done right.

 

 

 

Published: 01 Jun 2025