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There is no strength like dad strength. It is quiet, patient, and persistent. Some would say stubborn, dammit. Dad strength rarely makes the highlight reel. It exists in the in-between spaces....The times when nobody—except maybe your kid—is watching.
The Dad Strength Podcast was created to support and encourage the best in dads like you. Authors, entrepreneurs, artists, and experts from all over share their wisdom with us. We discuss 360º health, doing work that matters, and—of course—fatherhood. These conversations are fun, informative, and always emphasize action and understanding.
The Dad Strength Podcast is hosted by Geoff Girvitz. Geoff is a father, fitness expert, and curious fellow. Based in Toronto, he has been featured in Vice, GQ, and multiple exercise publications. He is known for innovation and real-world success in the fitness industry. Now, Geoff is pointing a wide-angle lens at health and parenthood. Workouts and nutrition are just part of the program. He will be looking at relationships, critical thinking, motivation, and discipline. In short, anything you need to earn the mug that says “*World’s Greatest Dad.”*
“I want to be Mr. Rogers for men over 30,” says Geoff. “There is so much noise and confusion out there.” We *all* need a community devoted to the best we have inside of us. The Dad Strength Podcast is here to make the world a better place through our roles as fathers and as men.
Welcome to Dad Strength, helping you earn the mug that says world's greatest dad. My name is Jeff Gervitz. I am your host. I am a dad. And today, I am wondering what the survey says.
Speaker 1:And that survey is the state of educational opportunity in America. Also on today's edition, intermittent fasting versus 3 squares a day, telling it like a story, and a book, a quote, and a dad joke. Let's get into it. Alright. The survey I'm talking about involved 20,000 parents in the USA, and it was recently published.
Speaker 1:I've got the link in the newsletter edition, but let's go rapid fire here with my 3 main takeaways. First of all, extracurricular participation is huge. It correlates strongly with academic achievement, and organized sports are particularly powerful. This makes me wonder where the magic lives in these types of activities. I feel like the obvious answer is something like teamwork or doing hard things together, and that's likely the case.
Speaker 1:But what if there's something else and it's flying under the radar? What is something non obvious that might be a factor here? What that might be is anyone's guess. I just think it's worth keeping the antenna up for stuff like this. 2nd point is access matters.
Speaker 1:Convenience, transportation, cost, even the freedom to take time away from work all go into supporting extracurriculars for your kids. Money makes these things easier. It is a factor, but it is not the only way in. And we can support access through policy, funding, and community driven initiatives. They are all valuable because one other thing the study reveals is that regardless of extracurricular participation, almost every single parent wants their kids involved.
Speaker 1:It's pretty universal. Finally, we have satisfaction with mental health support at school. It is high, but those numbers drop around the 4th grade and then more sharply around the 9th grade. Do these periods mark a clear decrease in support, or is it that kids' needs rise around these same times? Alright.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about intermittent fasting versus 3 squares a day. Does one of those things work better than the others? If you follow a lot of health influencer accounts, the answer may feel like an automatic yes. However, in the words of the Ents, don't be hasty. A recent study did a pretty good job.
Speaker 1:Got the link again here in the newsletter edition of comparing apples to apples when it came to managing intake. So that means normalizing for calories and daily activity. At that point, the meal spacing doesn't seem to matter. So to put it really simply, let's imagine it like this. One guy eats a sandwich for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a sandwich for dinner.
Speaker 1:And another guy skips breakfast, and then he eats a sandwich and a half for lunch, and again for dinner. Is there some miracle of physiology that's going to make this difference dramatic? And the answer is, not really. No. Not that any researchers have been able to show.
Speaker 1:Things like autophagy, that cellular cleanup you may have heard about, or insulin sensitivity, or any other sciency sounding effect don't really seem to matter. At least they're not born out by the evidence. Does that mean that you should give up on intermittent fasting? Which I should point out is actually time restricted eating when we follow maybe a 16 and 8 format, for example, when it's done every day, it's time restricted eating. If that's working for you, keep going.
Speaker 1:Good results often have less to do with physiology and a lot more to do with psychology. And this style of eating is a great fit for many people. And you may just be one of them if it works for your schedule and your style and your preferences. That is awesome. Enjoy, reap the benefits.
Speaker 1:And if not, that's cool too, because you can divide your sandwiches up any way you like. On telling it like a story, humans can only process so much information at once. However, most of us excel at storytelling and pattern recognition, certainly when you compare it to our ability to memorize facts and figures. And that is why far more people can tell you the story of Moneyball than explain the statistical models behind it. Meanwhile, everyone who knows the model, behind it.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, everyone who knows the models also knows the story. On a recent Dad Strength call, we talked about the earlier acts in our lives and how we can use them to set up incredible stories in the second half. What can extend from these things in a logical way? Coming up on our next call, Tuesday at 3 PM, countering our default patterns. If you wanna check things out, you can go to dadstrength.com/calls.
Speaker 1:What I'm reading. Discourses in Selected Writings. We more often hear about Marcus Aurelius or Seneca, but Epictetus' discourses are closer to class notes, and, really, they are. They are notes taken by his student, Arian, or at least as far as historians know. And for this reason, the discourses come closest to what it would have been like to be taught directly by a stoic philosopher.
Speaker 1:And you know what? I think we got a good one. Epictetus was born into slavery. He was banished from Rome in midlife, yet he is not grim. He is not flat.
Speaker 1:If I had to pick a word to describe him, honestly, I would probably pick sassy. He is a sassy man. He was a sassy man. And what I learned from the discourses is that the popular perception of stoicism is sort of teeth clenched, knuckles white, humorless, whatever you think. That's not accurate, and, certainly, Epictetus brought a lot more spirit and humor to it.
Speaker 1:Alright. Let's get into today's quotes. And this is from none other than Pablo Picasso. My mother said to me, if you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the pope.
Speaker 1:Instead, I was a painter and became Picasso. Let's do today's dad joke. Now I know I've had my son, Ian, recently to read these, but I wanted to do today's. Maybe it's one you know. What is a pirate's favorite letter?
Speaker 1:You might think it's the r, but it's always been the c. Alright. We're back next week to talk about the very real perils of Roblox. Until then, if you're not already a subscriber, you can go to newsletter.dadstrength.com. We have an absolutely incredible community of dads who are open, who are honest, who share things from their perspective, who have insight to add, and who might be able to benefit from your presence.
Speaker 1:So definitely check out the calls. Leave us a rating. Subscribe to the community edition. Support dad strength in any way that works for you. Because when you take care of yourself, you are more able to be present for the people in your life.
Speaker 1:Alright. That's it for this edition. Title music by Daniel Ross, additional music by Mike Ford. Take care of yourself, man. We'll see you next time.