A Day In The Life Of An Ex-Pro Boxer
Turned Online Coach For Busy Dads
The title itself is pretty misleading. As a pro boxer, a day in the life was easy to explain:
Up and out running at 5am. Breakfast, rest up, back in the gym later.
Some days the runs would change, some days it was sprints, a 5k..
Sometimes in the gym it was sparring, others it was heavy bag work and pads.
Essentially, it was the ‘same shit, different day.’
It was easy to stick to because there was a fight date on the horizon, and you knew exactly what to do, day in, day out. Even your rest was factored into your days and weeks.
As a business owner, no day is the same and your tasks vary constantly.
Add being a dad of 2 kids under 5?
There is no "day in the life." The only consistency is that the small people are awake and kicking footballs around by 6:30, latest 7am.
But there's one area that's vital for dads to hold down as their own. A time and space that needs to be protected like your life depends on it, because it almost does.
That's the time before the rest of the house wakes up.
You have to be first up. This is your time to train, or get some steps in. Get your head straight and the rest of your day planned.
"Miss the morning and it's not happening."
Eliminate all distractions. Phone goes on charge in another room, get an old school alarm clock, and put it somewhere you have to get up to turn off.
It's 5am and you're up. Coffee, water (probably in that order), and you're out.
Distractions are out, remember, so you either train at home or somewhere CLOSE. Training at home isn't an option for me, and there's an incredible boxing and weights gym nearby, so it makes sense to go there.
40 minutes max. Train hard, with intensity.
Then it's home, coffee, and 3 minutes to spare before my two boys (5 and 1) come bowling out of the bedroom.
Protein shake and eggs for breakfast, while trying to limit how much of my shake the kids steal and convince them to eat their eggs.
Some days are a disaster. Like today. My wife took the car to work with her. She's a teacher at my eldest's school, so they walk in, and I drive my almost-2-year-old to nursery for 9am.
Not today.
I had to walk 10 minutes there and back, uphill, carrying a 15kg toddler. By the time we got to the car, his breakfast had passed through him. Perfect, I didn't have nappies either.
Back to the house to get him changed, then finally to nursery, 30 minutes late.
As they say, shit happens.
I was home by 10am, ready to send weekly game plans to all my coaching clients.
"Ruthless efficiency is the key to my day."
I have until 3:30pm before I leave to collect my youngest from nursery. That means client check-ins are priority number one, and content for the day is already finished, filmed and scheduled last week.
Fail to prepare, and prepare for a chaotic Monday.
Efficiency with work matters, because once the kids and my wife are home, we hit the pool (it's 30 degrees minimum in Mallorca now), then it's dinner, bath, and bed. An endurance event that can happen anywhere between 8 and 10pm.
Hardest tasks done first. Big tasks scheduled ahead of time.
What do I eat? Easy, protein. Doesn't have to be pretty:
Eggs, egg whites, protein shakes. Tuna salad. A protein bar that's already in the house.
Protein is key for recovery, muscle building, and fat loss. Front-load it onto the start of your day and you won't get as hungry, and your focus won't switch from work tasks to dreaming about pastries.
My Nespresso machine is in constant action throughout the day. I buy big packs of 1.5 L sparkling water bottles so I'm always stocked up.
Little things that make a big difference, especially when shit hits the fan. Literally.
Once the kids are down, it can go either way. The plan is my wife puts the little one down, and I get the 5-year-old down. Sometimes I fall asleep in his bed and wake up to my wife talking at me. Worst case, we both fall asleep and meet up around midnight in the living room.
Tonight was a success. We're back in the living room by 8:30. Catching up on conversation, replying to clients, planning the next day, finishing video edits on my phone. All while eating a high-protein yogurt bowl with frozen blueberries and honey, and probably "watching" some terrible reality TV I'll pretend I'm not into, but secretly I'm hooked.
It's worth having a partner to blame that on.
Bed by 11pm, usually right when the little one wakes up, just as I'm falling apart on the sofa.
I'll admit there's not a lot of balance here, but balance rarely leads to achieving much. Some days fall apart more, some go smoother. Regardless, having a routine is about holding your habits together when things aren't perfect.
For me, that's morning movement, protein through the day, planning the next day, and the yogurt bowl at night. Not huge disruptions, just habits that make everything else run smoother.
What times of your day are you protecting as much as possible?
If the answer is none, it'd be wise to start.
When you can start saying "same shit, different day" at certain points of your day, other than when the kids refuse to eat their dinner, you're onto something.