Helping my father

[Ilk]

Hello sherbros. I need some solid advice on helping my father out.

The negatives. He is 55 overweight as hell, over 110 kg and 163,sm tall. He has some drinking problems and seems like a lot of health issues.

The positives. He is an ex wrestler coming up from the old Bulgarian school and he has been wrestling and oly lifting. Dad is still strong and mobile as fuck.

He just moved living with me and feels motivated by my fitness and lifestyle progress. I want to use that motivation and inspire him for a healthy lifestyle.

The major problem is that he has stagnated so much that even walking seems like a physical exercise to him. However yesterday I gave him few tasks like shopping and loading some gas and he walked 3-4 kms and said he feels great.

So how do I get him involved?
I go 4 times per week in the gym and was thinking to get him with me. But I think he.will be too shy to hit the gym.

I was thinking perhaps give him a couple if weeks outdoor or in house work outs then get him to the gym.

For example a couple of weeks of:
Warm up
Stretching
Bodyweight squats 4-5 sets or 10 reps
Push ups 4-5 sets of 10 reps
Lunges 4-5 sets
We have a 20 kg barbell which we can use for some small DL and Rows. So we can do 4-5 sets of that too.

Anyway give me some suggestions what to do and how to progress with my not so old man.

I also want to get him in shape so he can teach me wrestle

 

[corpse]

hard to give advice with that few info.
working out is fine but he has to change his whole life after what you are telling.
diet and foremost alcohol consumption/psychological issues are the limiting factors.

after all he needs either a goal or the will to change and transform away from his older self.
maybe do before / after pictures or something to make the change more visible and motivating.

i think a pullup bar and rings or a sling trainer are good and versatile home gym investments.

kudos to you, man.
caring for parents is a tough thing.
care for yourself, also

cheers

 

[ThunderL1ps]

That sounds like too much exercise for him if he has weight and health issues (whatever they may be). It is better to be slow and steady. He may be better off training with machines and getting into fitness at a slower pace. It's probably more important for him to feel good than wiped out from a routine his body isn't ready to take on. Those other suggestions can come later if his body and motivation for fitness responds in a positive way. More than anything, getting into a routine and enjoying what he is doing is probably the best place to start.

What is his diet like? Does he want to change anything eating or fitness related?

 

[vladimilaz]

I think making him just walk for a couple of weeks first should do plenty, along with clearing up his diet. His heart is probably not ready for bw squats and stuff like that yet, especially not 4-5 sets, being so overweight. Just make him a little routine which consists of mostly low impact, low intensity cardio for now, and after he loses some weight slowly add in some light exercises with some kind of fairly easy progression. Humans are creatures of habit. Maybe get him some headphones so he can enjoy music or some audio books while taking walks, makes it more interesting.

 

[Ilk]

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone. I am going out for a run on an alley next to our place and dad is coming for a walk this Sunday.

We are going to stretch and do some dynamic warm up. Then I am going to run 3-5 km while he is walking.

Then later I am driving him to my work where we are walking. I work in a golf course so plenty of options for walks.

Regarding diet. We bought a lot of veggies, beans, chicken, beef and turkey. So we are going to try to eat healthy. Not going to regulate his calories for now. Just starting with a healthy food. I bought a lot of very high quality locally and homemade protein bars which are delicious to keep the shugar still going as rewards for his effort post workout.

Unfortunately though my old man has serious alcohol issues. He has been here for 3 nights only and he has been drinking all 3 nights at least 300 ml of alcohol. I tried to confront him but he seems to not understand. So I am going to accept it and show him there is a better way. He needs to want to change himself.

 

[Johnsonville]

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone. I am going out for a run on an alley next to our place and dad is coming for a walk this Sunday.

We are going to stretch and do some dynamic warm up. Then I am going to run 3-5 km while he is walking.

Then later I am driving him to my work where we are walking. I work in a golf course so plenty of options for walks.

Regarding diet. We bought a lot of veggies, beans, chicken, beef and turkey. So we are going to try to eat healthy. Not going to regulate his calories for now. Just starting with a healthy food. I bought a lot of very high quality locally and homemade protein bars which are delicious to keep the shugar still going as rewards for his effort post workout.

Unfortunately though my old man has serious alcohol issues. He has been here for 3 nights only and he has been drinking all 3 nights at least 300 ml of alcohol. I tried to confront him but he seems to not understand. So I am going to accept it and show him there is a better way. He needs to want to change himself.

He's drank 300ml in three nights or 300 in one night? That's not a ton of alcohol honestly if that's total for all three noghts

~DaViD~

 

[Ilk]

Per night mate. 4 th night in a row today.

 

[Ilk]

So I finally have some success. We bought an apartment and have been doing reconstruction work together the past month. My old man realizes how physically unfit he is and he cut the drinking big time. He only drinks a beer or 200 ml vodka post work sometimes. Been great time doing all that together.

 

[FinalConflict2005]

Go on walks or hikes together. Perfect opportunity to talk and share stories and get a good workout.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

If this thread is helping you cope and keep motivated to help him, keep posting the progress, or set-backs, for that matter. There are some pretty smart people here who are willing to help.

Keep it up, bro!

 

[Ilk]

Go on walks or hikes together. Perfect opportunity to talk and share stories and get a good workout.

What we have been doing the past two days is shopping for bathroom. We are going to build the bathroom next of the new apartment. I have been mostly driving him, but parking away from the shops so we can walk and then I make him walk around the shop to show him this and that. And then we carry the materials we have bought. According to my mobile we have done 5000 steps today which is a lot for him.

Later today we went to the apartment and we carried some wooden material left overs to the basement, so that is good physical work for him. I left him some garbage - 6 bags about 30 kg to throw tomorrow, so he will have some activity too. He also seems to have lost weight.