Sean Mcmanus: Leading by Example: How Dad's Health Habits Shape the Whole Family
“The kids, they just soak everything in and it’s a sponge. So they watch dad being intentional with his food, being intentional with his movements, going to the gym, and they start to pick up on those things.” – Sean Mcmanus
Ever wondered if your dad bod is really the best way to show up for your family? In this eye-opening episode, I sit down with Sean McManus, a strength and nutrition coach who’s on a mission to help Christian men reclaim their health and vitality.
Sean shares his journey from farm boy to fitness expert, and we dive deep into why taking care of yourself isn’t selfish – it’s essential for being the best dad you can be.
Sean Mcmanus: The Energy Equation
Discover why sitting all day is zapping your energy and learn simple strategies to boost your vitality. Sean reveals how small, consistent changes can lead to big results in your health and your ability to engage with your kids.
Leading by Example
Uncover the power of modeling healthy habits for your children. Sean shares heartwarming stories of how his own kids are already picking up on his fitness mindset.
The 80/20 Rule of Healthy Eating
Learn how to balance nutritious choices with occasional treats. Sean breaks down a practical approach to eating well without feeling deprived or overwhelmed.
Finding Your ‘Why’ with Sean Mcmanus
Explore the importance of having a strong motivation for getting healthy. Sean explains how connecting your fitness goals to your role as a father can fuel lasting change.
“It is 100% easier to say no in the grocery store than it is to say no at 9 o’clock at night when you’re netflixing on the couch”. – Sean Mcmanus
Quick Wins for Busy Dads
Get practical tips for squeezing in effective workouts, even with a packed schedule. Sean shares how just 15 minutes a day can make a significant difference in your health and energy levels.
Whether you’re struggling to find time for fitness or you’re looking to set a better example for your kids, this conversation will inspire you to prioritize your health. Remember, taking care of yourself isn’t just about you – it’s about showing up as the best version of yourself for your family.
Are you ready to trade in that dad bod for a healthier, more energetic you? Listen now and discover how small changes can lead to big impacts in your life and the lives of your children.
Connect with Sean Mcmanus:
- https://x.com/theseanmcmanus
- https://www.instagram.com/theseanmcmanus
- https://www.tiktok.com/@theseanmcmanus
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Episode 15 of the Dad Hat Shenanigans Podcast: The Unfiltered Truth of Being a Dad
Time Stamps | Sean Mcmanus – Leading by Example: How Dad’s Health Habits Shape the Whole Family
- 00:00:00 – Hilarious Dad Story: The Poop Gun Incident
- 00:05:14 – Introduction to Sean McManus: Fitness Coach for Christian Men
- 00:07:37 – The Importance of Fitness for Dads
- 00:20:59 – Reframing Self-Care as Essential for Fatherhood
- 00:44:53 – Practical Tips for Healthy Eating as a Dad
- 00:54:00 – The Joy of Fatherhood and Final Thoughts
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you, and I appreciate your support!
Listen to the Show
Transcript
Sean Mcmanus | From Couch Potato to Superdad: Building Energy for Family Time
Brent Dowlen: [00:00:00] Sean, every dad has that story that they just puts a smile on their face. What is your favorite dad story?
Sean Mcmanus: Man? So this one happened, uh, let’s see, it was like two weeks ago. So it’s, it’s, it’s pretty new. Um. But I was playing with my oldest, he’s almost five. My wife was putting our youngest to bed. Uh, so him and I were in the living room and we were, I think we were reading, or we were, we were maybe, we had already read and we had, we were doing some tickling and some kind of wrestling.
And, uh, anyway, he had some gas and this was not, this was not, this gas was tough. I mean, this was like grown man gas coming outta my little 4-year-old. Okay. He was bad. So I asked him, I said, I said Jamison. I said, do you need to use the bathroom? And he’s like, no, I’m okay. I was like, are you sure? And he said, yeah, I’m, I’m okay.
I was like, okay. Anyway, we’re, we’re, we keep playing. And I think he was laying on my leg. I was sitting on the couch and I was kind of like bouncing him up and down, you know, he was having a good time and giggling and, [00:01:00] um, anyway, he, uh, he, he passed gas one more time. And it was one of those where when you hear it, you’re kind of like, Ugh, that’s a dangerous one.
Um, so I looked at him when, you know, when this came out. I just looked at him and he looked at me and we kind of locked eyes, and both of us, our eyes got really big because we both kind of knew what just happened. And, uh, he just said, oh. I gotta check my undies. I said, okay, bud. I said, well, check your undies.
So he checks his undies and it’s just, it, you know, it’s an itty bit little spot. It was. I was like, okay, this is good. We’re we’re okay. So it was like, all right buddy, take your underwear off. Go to the bathroom, use the bathroom. So I got it. We got his underwear off. About the time we got his underwear off.
It hit me. I was like, what if something started to come out and we’re not sure yet. Okay. So we take his underwear off. He starts walking down the hallway as he’s walking, um, the culprit for this little spot on his underwear comes out completely. Lands on the floor. Uh, he gets inside, you know, [00:02:00] I’m like, oh God.
So I, I clean that up. We’re all good. I get to the bathroom, I’m like, Hey buddy, how you doing? He’s like, I’m good. And then he looks at me, he looks in my eyes, he goes, dad. I said, yeah, buddy. What’s up? And he goes. I wet farted that thing outta my butt, like a poop gun, and I just lost it. I was like, oh my gosh.
I said, that was incredible. And yes, you did. So my little, you know, my little, my little redneck uh. 4-year-old decided, decided he needed to explain that to everyone. So that’s, that’s the best one. I, that’s the best one I got today so far.
Brent Dowlen: Wow. What a great story, guys. That’s, uh, I think all of his dads have that poop story that we don’t always tell in polite situations.
But man, that one, that one was great that Sean shared with us. Guys, we’re gonna dive into taking care of yourself as a dad because we’ve said on this show, I’ve said on all my shows, dads, the first thing you do is let go of your own health. To be a better dad, which is really not [00:03:00] the best option. In fact, today I’m talking to Sean McManus about why you need to take care of your health, why you need to take care of the way you eat.
Your physical activity, if you wanna be the best dad possible, that starts with you making sure that you’re taking care of yourself, because as he says, you can’t pour out of an empty cup. Now Sean has some great insights for us as a man who coaches other men in helping them take care of their health.
Most of the time after they’ve had kids because they find out they don’t have the energy they want. Sean’s got some great insights for us today and we had a great time in this conversation guys. I really think you’re gonna enjoy it a lot. And Sean’s poop story was just the start. It only gets more fun from there.
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[00:05:00] Welcome to the Dad Hasian podcast, the Unfiltered Truth about being a dad. Real dads real stories, unfiltered, candid conversations on fatherhood. I’m your host, Brent Dallen, and today my guest is Sean McManus. Sean, welcome to the Dad Hat Shenanigans podcast.
Sean Mcmanus: Man, it’s so good to be here. I’m thankful to be here with your audience and I’m excited for the conversation we’re having today.
So I appreciate you having me on.
Brent Dowlen: Oh, I’m, I’m excited after the lead off story, dude, I’m, I’m really psyched about this conversation. It’s gonna be a good day. But, you know, Sean, I’m not into introductions ’cause what do I know, right? I’m, I’m just some idiot in a red hat. Tell us a little bit, who is Sean McMahon is, tell us, tell us about you.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, man. Absolutely. So, um. Grew up on a small farm in the foothills of North Carolina. So, uh, really enjoyed that, you know, grew up and had that, that life, that kind of typical, um, boy life that we all enjoy, you know, outside getting dirty, working hard, uh, all the fun things. Um. I went to college [00:06:00] for agriculture and worked in that field for a little while in, in a corporate capacity.
And uh, now I am coaching Christian men fulltime running McMahon strength and nutrition. Uh, I’ve been married to my beautiful wife for going on eight years now, and we have two handsome, crazy rambunctious boys. It’s a little bit about me.
Brent Dowlen: What part
Sean Mcmanus: of North Carolina are you in? So right now I grew up in Morganton, which is kind of right at the foothills of the mountains right before you get to Asheville.
Music: Okay. Uh,
Sean Mcmanus: and now we are in the Winston-Salem, Greensboro area. So a little bit further east.
Brent Dowlen: Yeah, I, I spent some time in Kings Mountain, uh, for my last Oh, beautiful corporate job. I was down there building a data center. I’d be down there for 25 days at a time for a couple months. Getting a new, new site set up.
Pretty place. Yeah, it beautiful area. I got to drive through all that country. ’cause you know, I was there by myself working for 25 days. So I went to work, I found a nice gym to work out at and then I [00:07:00] had time to kill, so I got to drive around the beautiful area, man, Asheville was just gorgeous. I drove all over that region and it’s just a beautiful country.
It is, man.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, it’s, uh, once you get up in the mountains, it’s, it’s just gorgeous.
Brent Dowlen: Of course I have my wife like sending me all this to do stuff ’cause she’s sitting at home going, looking up everything to see and I’m not much of a tourist. So she’s like, oh, you can go here and you can go here. I’m like, alright.
I could just go to the gym like,
Sean Mcmanus: yeah, right. Keep it simple. We could just keep it simple. Yeah, a hundred percent. I’m with you. Oh
Brent Dowlen: yeah, yeah. No, I was it. For me, it was like, okay, I am, they’re paying for my food, so I’m going to eat really well and work out for. 25 days, not miss a day, two hours a day. It was great.
Yeah. That sounds
Sean Mcmanus: put on some serious size and strength down
Brent Dowlen: there. Sounds,
Sean Mcmanus: yeah, that sounds like a golden opportunity to me.
Brent Dowlen: Right? It’s like, oh yeah, they’re, they’re paying. That was the only bonus of traveling is they gave me like $70 a day for food. [00:08:00] Oh yeah. So I stayed at a nice hotel that had a good breakfast.
The Hampton Inns have a hot breakfast, so I didn’t have to pay for breakfast. Then I just had lunch with the guys at work and man, I go, guy buy like steaks. For dinner.
Sean Mcmanus: That’s what I’m talking
Brent Dowlen: about. Hit the gym a couple hours, go get a nice 20 ounce steak.
Sean Mcmanus: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s, yeah. That’s if you gotta be by yourself, that’s the way to do it.
Brent Dowlen: Right, man. You guys are some of the biggest cops I’ve ever seen down there though. The gym I was working at at had like four, four cops I think that I met while I was working out there who were all like, oh my, like all the old movies, like the seventies and eighties movies, like smoking the band and stuff.
You see the, the state patrolman like fold out of the car. Because it’s Goliath of a, yeah, like it’s like, oh, that’s where they grow. These guys down here in North Carolina, man, first time I ever seen a guy just rep 800 pounds on squats.
Sean Mcmanus: Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Brent Dowlen: Like homeboy was just crushing 800 pound sets.
Sean Mcmanus: It was like, yeah, yeah, that’s, yeah.
Yeah. That’s somebody you might not wanna [00:09:00] be on the wrong side of. Really?
Brent Dowlen: I’m like,
Sean Mcmanus: exactly.
Brent Dowlen: I thought I was a big guy until I worked out here, and then I found out I’m not.
Sean Mcmanus: Maybe I’ll just go to the treadmill. You guys take care of the weights?
Brent Dowlen: Oh no. One of the reasons I like the little gym I found there barely had t treadmills.
I was like, yes, this is my kind of gym’s. There’s, there was a couple dusty ones in the corner’s and you see some that’s really big bodybuilders over there walking after their workout or something. But now dude, it was like just a huge iron gym, which was great. ’cause I, I live in a tiny community, so I was like, yes, there are big people here.
Sean Mcmanus: Yes. That’s awesome. That’s my kind of place.
Brent Dowlen: Right? And I think we’re, we’re talking about fitness today. Yeah.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. A hundred percent
Brent Dowlen: conversation. So, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll jump down that. Well guys, we’re gonna jump into fitness in a second, but first I gotta tell, have the dad hat story. What’s, what’s the dad hat about?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, man. So this one, um, I had to get a little creative. So my kids are four and [00:10:00] almost two, so I haven’t gotten like a hat from them yet. So this one, um, actually, so when I went to college or when I went to orientation, so I went to NC State University, um, and when my dad and I went for orientation. We went to the gift shop, he is like, all right, I’m gonna buy you one thing.
Like this is our first kind of official trip. This is where you’re gonna school. Like, you know, pick up one thing. I was like, alright, cool. So I picked out this app, well like two weeks later we went on our annual family beach trip vacation. And uh, it was right before I left for college. And while we were down there, I happened to meet this girl on the beach who lived in Virginia.
Um, so a completely different state than me. Long story short, we, we connected there, we exchanged phone numbers. We started chatting. We hung out some while we were, because we were both at this because we go camping. Um, so we were both in this campground together. So we hung out throughout the week some, and, uh, got to know each other and really connected well.
And so I [00:11:00] just got in this hat and I actually gave this hat to her when we left, like when we left the campground. I’m like, I dunno if I’ll ever see this girl again. Um, turns out. Obviously I got the hat back. Um, that girl is now my wife. We dated for five years. Uh, long distance. We were both in different places at, she lived in Virginia.
I lived in North Carolina. Um, and then after she graduated college, we got married. So pretty, pretty cool story that goes with this one
Brent Dowlen: man, that that hat’s gonna, the foundation of you guys for years, you’re gonna be able to share that with your kids. That’s cool.
Sean Mcmanus: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So when I, when I, I was like, man, I gotta have a hat with a story.
I was like, Hmm, that’s a good one. Couldn’t, couldn’t have, couldn’t have, couldn’t have had the kids without my wife, so. Right. I figured that was a good way to, good way to go into it.
Brent Dowlen: Tell the kids, Hey, this, this, this hat is the beginning of you. This is the beginning story
Sean Mcmanus: Exactly. Story right
Brent Dowlen: here.
Sean Mcmanus: Exactly.
Before the dating, before we really gotta know each other. All that stuff. So yeah. This one’s, this one’s been around for a while.
Brent Dowlen: Mm. [00:12:00] We, we just got back from vacation. My wife enjoyed actually telling that story because we met. We met officially like we had met in passing overlapping events. We lived in different areas, but we met officially.
I went, was visiting my brother who went to church, the same church he did. I went on their senior high retreat with them to the ocean and we met there at the ocean where we were taking the girls camping. And so that’s wild. My wife gotta tell ’em that story while we were out camping this year was, Hey, y’all story started right here.
That’s so cool. One of the things we did, we, uh. Served at a gospel mission there in, in the closest town, uh, cooking a meal. My, she got stuck helping me on the grill, and so that’s really where the conversation started. So we drove by it on the way home yesterday and she’s like, that’s where your story starts right there.
That’s it. So, wow. The beginning of mom and dad.
Sean Mcmanus: So that’s what we, we talk about too. ’cause we’re actually going, um, we leave on [00:13:00] Wednesday this week to go, uh, we’re camping at the same place where we met, so where it we’re headed back there, um, this week. But it’s just cool. I love how. God works in mysterious ways, man.
Right. Like he, he knew that we were, we were destined to be with each other. And, ’cause I would’ve never met this girl any other way. Like, there’s no way, you know, we just happened to be on family vacation at the same time, at the same place, in the same campground. Mm-hmm. And, and actually right next to each other on the beach.
So it’s wild man.
Brent Dowlen: I, I actually really, I feel bad, right? ’cause some people. Go their whole lives trying to find the one. And yeah, I, I know so many people in my life personally that is like, you know, through their faith, they met their spouse, uh, both people of faith and, and God just crossed the road at the right moment for them.
Uh. I was like, [00:14:00] you know, I, I don’t even feel like I, I, I didn’t, wasn’t looking for my wife when I met her. I wasn’t looking to date. I was, I was on a trip visiting my family. Yes,
Sean Mcmanus: man. Same, exactly the same scenario I had. Uh, I literally told myself, in my mind, I was like, I am not looking for anything right now.
Nothing I don’t like, I’m just not interested at this moment. It was like, Hmm. Okay. Guess what? Yeah. You
Brent Dowlen: get ready to start college. You don’t want, you just Yeah, exactly. Unwinding before you go to school.
Sean Mcmanus: Exactly. Hang out with a fan before I leave for college. Yep. That was the, that was the idea.
Brent Dowlen: Oh, man.
That’s, that really is like the start of some of the best stories. And you said eight years now?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. So we’ll be, we’ve been married, we’ve been married for eight years in September, and then we’ve been together for, it’ll be 13 years in September.
Brent Dowlen: There, there is certain milestones you get outta those first five years and you’re like, Hey, we might actually be able to pull this off, you know?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, man. Absolutely. Wife. Absolutely.
Brent Dowlen: My wife, [00:15:00] my wife and I celebrated 24 years this year. Uh, wow. Incredible dude. Congratulations. And we still, every day is like, we might just make the same work.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. It’s uh, it’s funny, man, like it, even when we were dating, there really wasn’t a. Because I, I know that some couples, because we, we were long distance for so long.
Mm-hmm. And a lot of people, you know, talk about, well that just can’t work. And man, it, I think it really helped strengthen us because, you know, we had to rely on communication because we would go, you know, oftentimes, most of the times it was two weeks, uh, before we saw each other. And then as we were together for longer, um.
It started to be like, yeah, week, a week here and there. Um, but yeah, we had to, we had to learn how to trust each other and we had to learn how to communicate, uh, very early on in order to even have a chance. So I definitely think it strengthened us.
Brent Dowlen: There is so much value in that. That’s, that was a, my wife lived in Washington state when we met.
I lived in Hawaii, in Missouri. [00:16:00] Wow. Our whole relationship was long distance.
Music: Yeah.
Brent Dowlen: When I proposed to her, I had spent a total of less than. 10 days of our life in the same place. Wow. That’s amazing, man. That’s incredible. So like I, I had to fly here. I was stationed in Florida at the time. I had to fly her down to Florida to propose to her.
Wow. And her parents still weren’t letting her go anywhere. So my parents had to drive to Florida. I pay for their trip so she could come to Florida to see me. ’cause her parents weren’t gonna let her come see me otherwise. Yeah. Because she was 18 at the time. Yeah. Um, and so, yeah, but before we actually, like before I moved, I got out and moved up to Washington.
Eventually. We hadn’t spent more than two and a half weeks of our lives in the same zip code even. Wow. Wow. That’s amazing. But it was, it was phone calls and letters and, you know, communication before.
Sean Mcmanus: Absolutely. And that was before, you know, that was before. Uh. I feel like I’m dating myself a little bit.[00:17:00]
That was before FaceTime, um, you know, all of that stuff. So it was like you said, you know, we had to, we, we went old school letters. Uh, so we really enjoyed that and we actually, you know, we kept most of them and we were going through some stuff a few weeks ago and, and found a bunch of ’em. So that was a cool little trip down memory lane.
Um, but yeah, lots of phone calls, letters, uh, Skype. We had Skype, then we did some Skype dates. I dunno if you remember Skype at all, but, yeah.
Brent Dowlen: Oh, you wanna date yourself? Dude, I’m, I’m much older than you are. We, we had long distance calls. I, I spent most of my paycheck on long distance calls. Cell phones beat weren’t in common like it was, we got married in, uh, 20 or in 2001, so, nice.
Like our relationship was prior to that. So, yeah, like I had a cell phone at one point. Before that, but yeah, like cell phones weren’t common people, we just long distance calls back and forth, like, nice. That was half my paycheck calling her. [00:18:00] So
Sean Mcmanus: my man was committed. I love it.
Brent Dowlen: So now Sean, you, you wanna talk about fitness as a dad and leading fitness and I think that’s an incredible conversation that we need to have as fathers.
So let’s go down that road. I’ll, I’ll let you kind of take the lead. What do you wanna talk about?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, man. So a biggest thing that comes with, there’s, there’s several different pieces and there’s multiple avenues we can go down with this. The one that comes to mind for me in particular at the stage that I’m in, especially if you’re a younger dad, and especially if you have boys, um, boys have a lot of energy and boys like to roughhouse, boys like to run, boys like to play.
And um, a lot of the clients that I have, you know, the, the conversations that we have before we start working together is they tell me that they don’t have any energy. Um, you know, they go to, they, they go to work, they do their job, you know, they’re nine to five with their business, you know, if they’re an [00:19:00] entrepreneur or whatever, it’s, and they come home and they’re just exhausted and they don’t have energy and they end up, you know, just hanging out, sitting on the couch or, or whatever, which is, which is okay sometimes.
Um, but, you know, if, if your kid’s childhood just consists. You, him seeing you on the couch all the time and you not actively playing with him. Uh, it’s just not, it just doesn’t create those memories and you don’t get that connection that you have if you actually intentionally spend time together. Um, so the first thing that I would like to even, you know, explore a little bit in this realm, it’s just the energy that you have from keeping your body in good shape and fueling it with good food.
Brent Dowlen: I, it’s funny right? It’s, uh. Ironic situation, the more you sit, the more lethargic you are, the more lethargic you become and the more tired you are. Right? Everybody’s like, oh, I, I, you know, if I do that, I’m just gonna be so tired. [00:20:00] Actually, it works very different than that, right? Um, I, I spent years as an IT guy, so I was, I was at a computer and still even doing this, um, I probably spend 10 or 12 hours a day in front of a computer.
Right. It just kills me. Uh, I, I absolutely hate it. I’m, I’m a very physical person, but you’ve got to find that movement’s health. Like I, I do it because I move, because I broke myself so badly. I’ve had some pretty severe injuries, and so if I don’t keep moving, just like you get more of the larger, if you stop moving, you, if I don’t keep moving, like I get to where I can’t move.
Sean Mcmanus: Right.
Brent Dowlen: So what do you, what do you talk to about your, your clients with your busy dads? Like, because that’s, that’s the biggest, that’s the first thing we drop as men to make time. We let ourselves go. Yep. So what does those conversations look like?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, [00:21:00] so the first thing is just the reframing of that, um, you know, as, as dads, but also as men in general.
We, our, our job is to. Is to serve, serve. And you know, if we’re, if we’re biblically speaking, our job is to lead well, we serve best by leading well. Um, so when we talk about the service aspect of it, a lot of the times we get that mixed up. We’re like, well, I just have to serve these people. I have to sacrifice for these people, which is true to an extent, but we take it too far into the realm of.
I have to sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice for these people, and then that we end up sacrificing ourselves in the, in the, in the process of that. And the problem with that is, okay, you’ve served, you’ve served all day, you’ve served your job, you’ve, you’ve searched your business or your employer, and now you come home and it’s time for you to lead and to serve your family, [00:22:00] but you don’t have anything left.
So these people that mean the most to you. Are getting the scraps and the leftovers, because the way most of our schedules work is we have to go to work first, and then the time that we have with our kids is in the evening. You know that kind of five to eight or five to nine before bedtime, and. We don’t have any energy left because we’ve just been serving and serving and giving and giving and giving.
So the way that I like to reframe it with my guys is like, look, I know that you feel like if you go to the gym or if you take 30 minutes or an hour to work out you, you’re framing that in your mind is taking that time away from your family. When in reality what you’re doing is you’re filling your cup back up some, so that way you actually have something to give your family when you get home.
So the majority of the guys that I talk to and that I work with, and even myself at some times, it’s, [00:23:00] I want to give everything for these people. These people are the people that I care about most in the world when it comes to my wife and my kids. But if I’m not doing something to fill myself back up, I don’t have any of me to give.
So I’m trying to pour from an empty cup. So we have to reframe it as, okay, I’ve got to fill my cup back up some. That way when I actually give to them, I actually have something to give instead of just scraping the bottom of the barrel and trying to give them what’s left. Does that make sense?
Brent Dowlen: Yeah, absolutely.
I, I frequently ask on my other show, we talked off camera about my other show some, and, uh, I frequently, like the start of that journey for me was, what does the best version of myself look like? Right? Because in my heart, my wife and children. Myself, but you know, we, we tend to think of our wife and kids first.
My wife and children deserve the best version of me, right? And so you have to start digging. What does that actually look like? [00:24:00] It’s the best version of me. The guy who comes in and couch potatoes the rest of the night, or the guy who can run and play with my kids and play tag with ’em, run down the beach with ’em or whatever, right?
That’s really my, my original journey into showing up as the best version of myself started with don’t, my wife and kids deserve the best version of me. Right? And what does that look like for me? And that was a huge wake up call because I’ve been sitting in it for years, doing it work and let my health go down.
And I come from a military background. Um. Super, super fit. And just watching that when I went from construction to the IT industry to watching myself just get fatter and lazier, it’s like, uh, this, this has gotta stop. Like, I, I can’t, I can’t be good for them if I’m not, if I’m showing up [00:25:00] like this. Right.
And I even termed it in the thought of my marriage is like, does, I don’t want to see myself naked. Why would my wife wanna see me naked? Right.
Sean Mcmanus: Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re, uh, you’re speaking my language. Um, but yeah, I mean, it’s, it, it, it comes down to, like you said, what, what version of you do you wanna give them?
Because in our words, and, and I think this is true for the majority of guys, especially the majority of dads, like they wanna be the best version of them for their kids. But it’s just gotten twisted somewhere in our, in our minds and in our society where. You think the best version of you means not taking care of you, which is not the case.
Um, you know, we, we, we say that we want to be there for our families. We say that we wanna be there for our kids, but we’re doing the things that are gonna shorten our lifespan in the long term. In the process of saying, no, I, I wanna be here. So instead of me going to the gym for an hour [00:26:00] or working out for an hour, 30 minutes or whatever, it’s, I’m gonna go spend that time with my kids.
Well, you’re inadvertently possibly shortening your lifespan because you’re not taking care of your physical self or this physical body that God has given you, but you’re, you’re doing it and saying that you’re doing it because you wanna spend more time with your family. So we have to reframe that in our minds.
I think that’s the first step for a lot of guys.
Brent Dowlen: I had a weight loss coach I interviewed one time, and he said, the most potent question I have for guys is you’d rather you, you say you’d die for your kids, but you won’t live for ’em. Right. And, and reframing that idea of taking care of your health, what you eat, being active, being healthy, being fit is about living for your kids.
Do you love them enough to do that? Mm-hmm. Dying’s easy. Living’s, living’s, rough.
Sean Mcmanus: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. You’re [00:27:00] a hundred percent right there. And it, it does come down to that because. You know what we, we kind of have that you as men, we have that eight old of like, oh, you know, I’m the protector and you are, you should be.
Um, but the, the, the odds of you having to quote unquote take a bullet for your family are pretty slim. Uh, you know, the, the odds of you having to take care of yourself and wanting and being able to play with your grandkids. Are much higher. So we need to be focused on the making sure that we can be there in the long term and making sure that we’re physically able to do those things and to take care of ourselves and, um, take care of our kids.
There’s another guy that, uh, you know, I’ve, I’ve had conversations with, he’s also in the fitness space and he talks about, the way he puts it is, um, you know, you, you say that you want to take care of your family. You better make sure that you’re not gonna become a liability for them in your old age. As best we can.
Oh yeah. There, there’s certain things we can’t control there, but [00:28:00] whatever is in our control, we should be controlling.
Brent Dowlen: It’s,
it’s not taught in our society these days how much stagnation are, what are you wanna call being lethargic. How much sitting we do, right? We work sitting down, we drive, sitting down, we’re at desk, right? How much is not taught, how negatively impacting that is on our body? And I don’t think a lot of guys, right?
I mean, there are some guys who are listening to this who are construction workers and they’re out there, you know, crushing every day, 10, 12 hour days in hard, hard jobs. I worked those for years. It’s funny ’cause when I was doing those, I actually had more energy to go to the gym afterwards. Even though I spent 12 hours, [00:29:00] I could go to the gym for two hours and still have lots left over.
I started working a computer desk and like that energy to go to the gym after eight or 10 hour day was just dying. And I, I don’t think. A lot of the guys who work in front of those screens all day are at a desk somewhere, some all day understand just how negative an impact that’s having on their health.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you wholeheartedly. And I’ve, I’ve been in that situation as well. I, I also worked construction and then when I was in the agriculture field as well, um, you know, lots of energy. ’cause I was moving all day long and you know, like you, I do. So all of my coaching is online. So a lot of the, a lot of my time now is, is spent in front of a computer more than it ever has my entire life.
So, um, I’m right there with you, man. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s sucking it, it is energy sucking to sit here. Um, [00:30:00] and we, we have to force ourselves to get up and move because, you know, the, the, the eight old. A age old, get my word straight here. Age old adage of a body in motion stays in motion, and a body at rest stays at rest, which is what you were talking about just a little while ago.
Brent Dowlen: So how do you get your clients from that point of realization to actually start moving and going? Mm.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. So the bottom line with all of this and the thing that gets guys to change, there has to be a strong why behind it. So that’s, that’s kind of the, one of the first steps that I go through with my clients when we get on a call or when we talk is, is just working through like, Hey, what’s your, what’s your reason behind this?
What’s the reason for staying in shape? Um, or what’s the reason for getting in shape? Because once we have a strong why, once we kind of have that, um. Revelation of what that why is [00:31:00] oftentimes that leads to some conviction and then that conviction leads to the discipline to actually get up and move. Um, but it, it has to start with a why.
Why do you stay in shape? Why do you want to be in shape? Why do you wanna lose weight? Why do you want to have more energy? And a lot of that goes back to, because I wanna be there for my kids because. I want to set the standard of health and fitness for my kids because I want to set the standard of health and fitness for my wife, for my family, um, because I want to be around for my grandkids when they come.
I want to be able to get in the floor and play with them. Um, a lot of that, uh, it all stems from your why, so we have to find the why. That’s, that’s what I tell guys first.
Brent Dowlen: Most of us aren’t taught to think that far ahead. Right. We’re not necessarily your, your kids are very young still. Most guys with kids in that age group, they’re not thinking about their grandkids yet.
Right. They’re just still trying to figure out the dad thing. And guys, you got your hands full with that. I know. But [00:32:00] you know, let’s think a little farther forward. Right? My mom just went on vacation with us. She’s 73 years old. She was out walking on the beach and playing with her granddaughters and you know, right there with us, right.
I know other people who are in their seventies and they don’t function at all. But she went camping with us, slept on an air mattress. Wasn’t, was not the greatest thing for her, but you know, she, she hung tough and went camping with us and played on the beach with my daughters and helped build sand castles.
And, you know, it’s, it’s a choice to be able to live and thrive are a choice to not. I don’t think we know we’re making that choice sometimes.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. Yeah. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. Um, we do get so caught up in the day to day sometimes that it’s hard to think that far in advance and, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m with you a hundred percent. This is [00:33:00] like the here and now.
Music: Uh,
Sean Mcmanus: you know, the young kiddos and, and the dads out there that have young kids or, or even, you know, older kids like.
There’s a lot going on, man. All the time. You know, we we’re still potty training, we still got diapers. We still got, I don’t wanna go to sleep at night. Um, my youngest last night was up until one 30. I don’t know what he had going on. Uh, it really got me started slowly this morning, but it is what it is.
We’ll make it through. Uh, but yeah, I think it’s just, you know, thinking about that, thinking about. What kind of legacy do you wanna leave as a dad, you know, as a man, as you know with your family and with your kids. Do you want to, do you wanna still do that stuff in 30 or 40 or 50 years? Uh, do you have that desire or you know, do you want to just have to sit back and watch?
Because the choices that you make today are gonna affect that. Now
Brent Dowlen: we gotta break in here ’cause we’re getting a little serious. And what, you got a dad joke for us?
Sean Mcmanus: Oh, I do. Yes I do. Um. [00:34:00] I used to hate facial hair, but then it grew on me.
Brent Dowlen: I need one of those sound effects machine buttons I can push on my show.
Sean Mcmanus: You do man. You do. It would take us to another level
Brent Dowlen: Men mental note. Add that post-production guys. That’s right. That’s right. I’m talking to myself. Brent, add that one post-production. We’ll get back to that. I don’t, I don’t have post-production teams.
I have me. I love it. So I wanted you, you touched on something about, you know, leading your spouse as well. So I was reading the other day some statistics ’cause I’m a nerd and I like to read statistics. And it was that your wife’s health routine actually has, if you were to weigh it in a percentage, 60% of the weight of your children’s.
Take on health will come from your spouse, will come from your wife. The fathers [00:35:00] will have less of an impact on their children’s future health choices. So to me, I read that is that means we gotta make it count like, like our 40% or whatever’s left. We gotta make that count. But that also involves, we’ve got to.
Encourage our spouses because it’s really easy for moms, uh, especially right after a baby or whatever, to struggle with getting active again, feeling themselves again, right. That postpartum time period can be really rough. And so I like that you were talking about, you know, helping lead your wife as well in that.
Is this something you go through with guys? Do you encourage them to get their spouses involved with it or.
Sean Mcmanus: So the first, the first thing that we focus on is ourselves. Um, that’s, that’s where all of this stems from. So, you know, we talk about leadership. Leadership starts with [00:36:00] self-leadership. So you can’t lead other people well until you learn how to lead yourself well.
So that’s why we always start with, like, the guys that are working with. It’s like, look, this is about you. It’s gonna bleed over into your family inadvertently. Like that’s, that’s a, that’s a side effect, that’s a benefit eventually, maybe not right at first, but that’s okay. But we have to make this about you.
So that’s where we start. We start with, with building those habits of self-leadership. And then as they do that consistently, as they continue to move forward, that’s when they start to have more, um. Weight and more emphasis on being able to, you know, maybe guide their wife through this or maybe guide their kids through this.
Um, I’m thinking of a thinking of some of my clients because I think actually all of my clients are dads. Almost, almost all of my clients are dads. Um, but I’ve had a couple of, couple of guys tell me a couple of stories and their kids usually, usually like eight or nine year olds are asking ’em like, dad, [00:37:00] why are you doing this?
Dad will explain it and then they’ll come back and they’re like, oh, dad, you know, the next time they’re like, oh dad, you’re doing this because, because of this, because you’re trying to be healthy, because you’re trying to be stronger because you’re trying to be fit. Like they start to pick it up and it’s so quick, man.
Like they, they, the kids, they just soak everything in and it’s a sponge. So they watch dad being intentional with his food. Being intentional with his movements going to the gym, and they start to pick up on those things. Um, so we always start with the self. We’re focused on the guys that I’m working with.
I’m like, we’re focused on you. This is, this is about you. The added benefit of this most of the time is as you continue to grow in your consistently consistency, then your wife starts to come along. Your kids start to come along. They pay attention, they see it. I’ve had a lot of guys that I’ve worked with.
They started working out and then. You know, we’re, by the time we get towards the end of our time working together, their wife is working out with them, or their wife has come on board with [00:38:00] helping them with meals. And then we talk about the statistics that you just talked about. Like we didn’t really go into it going, Hey honey, I’m gonna do this.
You have to do this too, because it doesn’t work that way. They see you, they see your example, and then they start to follow that example versus the, the kids. Are going to do what you do versus do what you say, they’re gonna follow that lead and follow that example.
Brent Dowlen: I, so I, I don’t know what disciplines and fitness you particularly love.
Uh, I love strongman, like, like the Arnold Strongman competition. That’s my, that’s my Super Bowl. I love it. I literally block that off that weekend of the year. I block it off on my work calendar. I don’t work that weekend. I stream it. That’s awesome. On Rogue Rogue’s YouTube channel. ’cause Rogue Fitness is their primary sponsor and so they stream all the events.
So that whole weekend I put YouTube up on my big screen [00:39:00] TV and I stream the Rogue Imitational Arnold Strongman event, uh, and watch. I love it. And I’ve been doing it for years. Like I, I love watching that. My kids watch it with me now too, right? I’ve got them to where they watched it. I’ve been following Brian Shaw for years all through his career.
Mm-hmm. And his wife has one of the greatest Instagrams ever though. Carrie recorded one day, the boys, they had like this big play truck, right? One of those you could sit in, and the youngest one was sitting in it and the oldest one had a strap around him and was dragging the truck behind him. And Kerry panned out and Brian was outside dragging the truck.
Music: That’s amazing.
Brent Dowlen: And it was this amazing example of the kids are watching what dad’s doing, right? I was like, yes, I wanna be that dad. That’s, I love it, right? Yes. Uh, this just a, a, I laugh so hard at the same time. [00:40:00] It was so cool to watch was like, they’re watching what dad does, man. Like this is, this is big.
Your kids see everything you do.
Sean Mcmanus: Yes, that’s so true that, uh, we were talking about dad stories, that, that reminded me of another one. I’d love to share it. Yeah. If we got just a minute. Yeah. So we were at, I took my oldest to the pediatrician. This was, I don’t know, a few months ago. Um, and she was asking him about what he eats.
I don’t even remember how, but he, like, he did this completely unprompted and she’s like, you know, we’re talking about food or whatever. And she’s like, what do you like to eat? He goes. I eat a lot of meat for my gains and I was like, let’s go. No promptings from dad, none of that. He was just like, I eat a lot of meat for my gains.
I was like, okay. My man.
Brent Dowlen: That’s funny. My, my daughter is old enough. She hasn’t always tracked everything I’ve done, but she was old enough. I was going through, uh. [00:41:00] Phase where it, it, it was a winter. I, I don’t really, I, I’ve only ever done a bulk, bulk once, ’cause I, I don’t actually think that’s healthy. Uh, I used to be a certified personal trainer.
I let that certification go, but um, I’ve only ever bulked once just to try it. But I, I clean bulk. I didn’t dirty bulk.
Sean Mcmanus: Nice. Yeah.
Brent Dowlen: And so people don’t understand eating enough calories to really build, have no idea how much food you’re eating when you eat clean calories. Amen. Right. And, and my, my daughter’s, I, I sat her down and watched, uh, one of Brian Shaw’s videos.
He had a Navy Seal officer come like, he’s one of his sponsors. The guy has a business now or something, and they, like, he tried to eat and train with Brian one day, just one day. Brian was doing like 10,000 calories a day as his, his normal rate when he starts getting ready for competition is like 15, but by the, by the third meal, the Navy Seal guy was just sick.[00:42:00]
He was just sitting at a table unable to eat anything or function. And, uh, I, I never went over, I, I got up to about 5,000 calories a day and I just remember my daughter’s like. Yeah, just, just in awe. I, I had a waitress one time at probably a height of my size. Um, I ordered like, uh, at Texas Roadhouse, one of their, their biggest steak, and then I ordered an eight ounce steak on the side along with the sweet potato and asparagus.
And like, I, she’s like, I couldn’t eat that in a week. And she put her hand on my shoulder and this sweet little waitress, she couldn’t weigh 120 pounds soaking wet. She’s like, you lift, don’t you? I said, yes, ma’am, I do. I just got have a two hour session in the gym. She’s like, what’d you do today? I said, I pulled [00:43:00] 500 pounds.
She went, okay, that makes more sense now. I love it. Like she was just, I mean, you could almost see the horror as. She walked away to come fill my water glass. And eight ounce steak was already gone. Like, yep, yep. And my kids were like, how do you eat that much, dad? Uh, when, when you eat clean, it’s kicking down, you know, one pound steaks for every meal or more.
Sean Mcmanus: It’s a lot, man. It’s a lot. That’s what I, uh, that’s what I tell a lot of my clients is, you know, putting on size often is a lot harder than taking it off. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Brent Dowlen: Gentlemen, if your relationships aren’t where you want them to be, I want you to know I got you. Relationships take a lot of work and can fall on the back burner pretty easily as your empire building in your life.
Men often suffer from damage to their relationships while they’re trying to provide. You’re climbing that corporate ladder [00:44:00] trying to get raises and grow, and sometimes we lose touch with the most important people in our lives. Along the way, they become casualties of our attempt to get more income.
’cause that’s really what we’re trying to do usually. Well, I help men with the skills, tips, and techniques to rebuild thriving relationships with the people they love the most. Even if you’ve struggled with being the husband or the father, you wanna be in the past. Reach out, schedule your free discovery.
call@purposedrivenmen.com to learn the skills you need to connect deeply with the people that matter most, that you’re doing all this for. Anyway, let’s get back to the show. How do you get men to eat healthy? ’cause that is not our forte as, as men in general. I hate to third generalizations, but eating healthy is not our forte as men in general, and I, I feel safe saying that as a blanket statement.
So how do you get men to start eating better? Yeah.
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah. So the, the easiest way to do it, and this is after we get started, um, [00:45:00] once they adjust to the way that they feel after they’ve had a couple of weeks of putting in good fuel, uh, once, once you kind of get over that initial, oh, this is, this doesn’t taste as good as fried chicken and Snickers bars.
Once you get over that, your body feels and works so much better. That it’s like, okay, at this point it’s hard to go back. Um, but getting there oftentimes just takes small changes. So we, you know, talk about, let’s, let’s just say we’re gonna take a guy from eating total garbage to eating clean. You know, let’s say we will just do breakfast for, for example, let’s say he’s eating a bowl of, I don’t know.
There’s so many crazy sugary cereals now. Let’s just say Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We’ll go with the, we’ll go with the OG original
Brent Dowlen: Poison. Yeah.
Sean Mcmanus: Um, yeah. Oh, it’s so good though, man. Gosh, it’s so good. Right? Okay. Alright. Gotta, I’m gonna have to go buy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Um, so let’s say we need to take him from [00:46:00] eating that to eating something healthier.
So we’ll start with making a small change. It’s like, okay man, we’re gonna stop the Cinnamon Toast Crunch and we’re gonna shift over to. The little Quaker oatmeal packets. Okay? Still too much sugar, still too many carbs, and not enough protein, but it’s better than Cinnamon Toast Crunch. So we’re gonna do that for a week or two weeks.
Once that becomes normal, then we’re gonna shift again. It’s like, okay, now we’re gonna go to maybe a plain oatmeal and you can sweeten it with honey or fruit or things of that nature. So we, we just take it in small steps at a time, because the problem that a lot of people have, especially when they shift, they’re like, okay, I wanna eat healthier, is they go from eating fast food three times a day to eating boiled chicken and kale three times a day.
And that’s just horrible because, you know, they, they just take whatever, whatever advice that they’ve heard or, um, whatever, you know, they look at and [00:47:00] they’re like, oh, this, this is healthy. And they just go a complete 360 from one to the other. And that’s just not sustainable. Like it took you a long time to get to the point to where your body is actually sort of, kind of, kind of functioning off of the garbage food.
So trying to shift that to a hundred percent healthy. Especially if you don’t really know what the healthy, like what healthy is or how to track it or anything like that, you just go, I’ve seen people eat lettuce. I’ve seen people eat plain chicken breasts. That’s what I’m gonna do. It’s just not sustainable.
So they do that for a week or two weeks and they’re like, I can’t do this the rest of my life. And so they revert back to the garbage. So it’s all about just taking small steps, small consistent steps, or doing a lifestyle change instead of doing a complete. I have to change my life a hundred percent.
Right Now we have to build it sustainable, which means we have to build it into habits, which means we have to take small steps at a time.
Brent Dowlen: Guys, boiled chicken and kale are never good. [00:48:00] Yeah. Doesn’t matter how healthy you get, it is never, ever four. I I grew up following the golden Age bodybuilders, like I wanted to be those guys.
Right? And I, I see them eating like chicken and brown rice. Broccoli. Good God, no. Like I, I’ve tried the diet and you will, like, you wanna lose weight. You, you can definitely do it, but that’s ’cause you don’t want to eat it.
Music: Mm-hmm.
Brent Dowlen: If that’s your only option, you’re like, I’m not really that hungry.
Sean Mcmanus: No. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can talk yourself outta eating in a hurry if thats the only option. The repulsiveness
Brent Dowlen: of those, that meal is actually the secret, guys. It’s not that it’s that good for you. It’s, it’s so repulsive. It’s easy not to eat gross. Unless you were just gross. S gross. Yeah,
Sean Mcmanus: it’s
Brent Dowlen: just gross. That, that fried chicken and Snickers and chase out with Dr.
Pepper. You got my number? I’m there. It’s, I, I’ve gone on and off diets. I’ve tried every diet known to man. I think, um. It doesn’t matter how long I eat clean man. The smell of [00:49:00] fried chicken, it’s like kryptonite. Yeah. And it’s
Sean Mcmanus: man, it’s just, and, and you know this, but it’s, it’s just about sustainability.
Music: Mm-hmm.
Sean Mcmanus: Like I still eat pizza probably once a week, maybe a little less right now. ’cause I’m actually going through a cut at the moment. But, um. It’s just, it’s, it’s all about perspective. Mm-hmm. It’s one of the, one of the rules that we talk about in this space is the 80 20 rule, and it’s not perfect. Um, so, you know, don’t, don’t take this as gospel truth, but if you eat well and you eat what you’re supposed to, 80% of the time, 20% of the time, you can eat what you want without guilt.
So you can kind of take that and, and put it into some guidelines. Like this isn’t about, you know, being strong and being fit and being in shape is not about not eating what you want ever again, it’s just about being intentional with your food the majority of the [00:50:00] time. So that way, you know, when your wife bakes a pie or she bake a cake, you can have some and you can tell her thank you and you can enjoy it.
And it’s delicious.
Brent Dowlen: My children are the baking age. My, my youngest daughter likes to bake. It’s killing me.
Sean Mcmanus: Godspeed. Godspeed, my friend,
Brent Dowlen: all, all the, all the progress. Daddy, I made this daddy. Try this, try
Sean Mcmanus: this.
Brent Dowlen: And I, and I, how, how
Sean Mcmanus: are you gonna say now Bright?
Brent Dowlen: Exactly when that little one’s, but I made it.
And you’re like, oh,
Sean Mcmanus: okay. Yep.
Brent Dowlen: That’s delicious. Okay. Okay. Oh, you made four dozen cookies. Oh, okay. I, I’m really good. That’s free, right? Everybody’s got that line. I’m good at. If I, if I’m trying to stay healthier, if I don’t bring it into my house, I’m not tempted to buy it. Same, right. As long as I don’t,
Music: yeah.
Brent Dowlen: If it’s in the house, I’m like, Ooh, I know there’s ice cream in there,
Sean Mcmanus: right? Yeah. I’m with you. I’m with you. And that’s a hack. That’s a hack for all you dads out there. It is a hundred [00:51:00] percent easier to say no in the grocery store than it is to say no at nine o’clock at night when you’re Netflix and on the couch.
Brent Dowlen: Right. And, and guys, let’s, let’s make it real clear. There is a big difference between how you eat for, to build big muscle or to just be healthy and fit, right? You don’t have to go to an extreme of chicken, broccoli and rice unless you are trying to build clean muscle and maybe compete. And, you know, it’s, it’s a.
That’s not a human diet. That’s right. There’s a huge difference between, yeah, I look like a calendar model and I’m healthy and functional. Oh,
Sean Mcmanus: yes, a hundred percent. And that’s what I think, that’s where a lot of guys even get, even get, I wouldn’t, wouldn’t say scared, but discouraged is, you know, their, their idea of health and fitness comes from.
The Mr. Olympia or, you know, the, the, [00:52:00] the calendar model or the Instagram influencer or you know, name your name, your fitness person. And, um, that’s, that’s taking it to the extreme guys. That’s, that’s people that are making a living doing it, and you do not have to do what they do. Yeah. In order to be healthy and in order to be in shape and be strong for your kids by any means, uh, it’s, it’s a lot easier than you think the Chris is.
It just takes some intentionality.
Brent Dowlen: The Chrises of the world, the Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, you know, the Chrises of the world have dieticians and cooks and trainers because they get paid to look that way. Mm-hmm. And if you talk to, listen to any of ’em on a talk show, they’ll tell you about the horrors of being on point on their diet for that shot.
Mm-hmm. For that three minutes of shirtless time in that movie. The torture they put themselves through. I listened to Alexander Skarsgard talk about, uh, [00:53:00] shooting for Tarzan several years ago when he did the Tarzan movie. And he is, he is got a very lean right. He’s not very bulky. It’s very lean, practical, and he is like, yep.
I was eating 6,000 grams of food or 6,000 calories a day, and he said the protein, the protein’s never meat. It was never ending. Like every time I stopped shooting, somebody handed me more meat to stick in my mouth. He’s like, and it was so horrible, and we finished shooting and I immediately went and ordered a large pizza, he said, and a couple weeks later, they called me back for reshoots.
Because we, and I just broke down in tears at the thought of having to lean out again real quick. Uh, yeah, it’s, that’s a wholly different, these guys have personal assistance helping them with all of that. Yeah. It is not practical. And they don’t
Sean Mcmanus: look like that year round. No, they do not look like that year round.
Brent Dowlen: Sean, what’s the best part about being a dad? [00:54:00]
Sean Mcmanus: Man, that list is never ending. Um, the one that comes to mind for me is hearing the little feet when I come in the door when I get home from work. And I, I work from home a lot now, so now it’s when I walk outta my office, uh, hear the little feet come down the hallway and the dad, da, dad, dad, dad, uh, man, they just wanna be with you.
Like dads, they just wanna be with you. They just want your attention. They just want your love and, and, um, I have to remind myself of that a lot ’cause uh, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m running a business and I’ve got a lot of big hopes and dreams and, um, you know, I want to give those kids, I wanna, I wanna shepherd them well and, and I want to, I want them to have a awesome childhood and there’s a lot of things that I want to do with them, but they just want your presence.
They just want your attention. And, um, just being able to. Being able to pick ’em up and give ’em a big hug and a kiss and, and [00:55:00] hearing those little feet running down the hallway to meet me. I, I think that’s, that’s, that’s pretty, pretty high up there on my list.
Brent Dowlen: Sean, where’s the best place for people to connect with you if they’re listening to this and they’re like, man, I, I could use some help.
Where, where’s the best place to connect with you?
Sean Mcmanus: Yeah, man. So, um, I try to stay pretty active on all social media platforms. I would say right now, probably Facebook, um, I, I check Messenger pretty often, but Instagram, Instagram as well. Um, I was pretty active on X for a while. I, I kind of got tired of XI, I got off X for a little bit.
Uh, but yeah, any, any of the, probably Instagram or Facebook are the best, the best two right now.
Brent Dowlen: Hey guys, I know this, this sounds intimidating ’cause there’s a lot on your plate, right? We’re, we’re all trying to kingdom build. We’re trying to build for legacy and give our kids the life we didn’t have, which I, I’m more of a Bruce Lee fan on that of.
Teach your kids the things you didn’t know, not give them the things you didn’t have. Um, I think is a better take [00:56:00] on that. But I know you guys are putting in, like, if you’re listening to this show, you are putting in effort because you wanna be a good dad and it can seem daunting to try and take care of your health because that is, that’s ev I’ve never met a man that wasn’t their go-to answer is, oh God, I need more time to spoon with the kids.
I need more time to do. And I stopped going to the gym and I stopped going for walks, and I just kinda shovel what in my mouth? I swear the dad bod, the dad bod, you know, where it came from is from all of us dads eating the leftovers on our kids’ plates because we can’t stand to throw away the money. I I, I was so good on my diet for so long until we’d go out to eat and my kids wouldn’t eat half their plate.
It’s like, I’m just gonna stop ordering food when I go to restaurants and just eat whatever they don’t eat at this point. Because you paid for it. You can’t stand and throw it away. So you’re like, I’m not really hungry, but you, I swear that’s where that concept came from. So I know there are a lot [00:57:00] of guys going, but, but it’s possible and it’s important.
It’s so important. Go check out what Sean’s got going on, man, and and dig deeper with him. This is so important for you to set this example. For your kids, not just for them, but for you as well. Uh, it will protect your marriage, it will help your kids, and it’ll help you show up better every day. Sean, what is the most important takeaway you want people to hear today?
If they heard nothing else, what do you wanna leave ’em with?
Sean Mcmanus: Man, I’m, uh, I’m glad you asked ’cause I had actually had something going through my mind while we were talking there. Um, guys, this I, I know. We’re all, we all, we all feel like we’re short on time. Couple things there is, I’ll make this super quick.
Number one, check your screen time. See how much time you’re spending on social media. See how much time you’re sitting in front of the tv. Set up boundaries there, and I guarantee you’ll find more time. That’s number one. The second thing is if you have guys, I, I can give you a body weight [00:58:00] workout that will have you sucking wind in 15 minutes a day.
Like if you can take 10 to 15 to 30 minutes every day. Or five days a week or six days a week, do something. It does not have to be perfect. Start where you are and just start moving. That would be the last thing I’d leave guys with
Brent Dowlen: guys. Invest in your health. It’s, it will make a huge game changer in your life as a parent.
Thanks for joining us today on the Dad Hat Shenanigans Podcast podcast, uh, for Sean and myself. We appreciate you hanging out with us and just joining the conversation. We’re just a community of dads navigating life challenges together here and until next time, laugh, learn and live the dad [00:59:00] life.
About Sean Mcmanus
Sean McManus is the founder of McManus Strength and Nutrition, empowering Christian men to reclaim strength, purpose, and leadership through faith, fitness, and discipline. After leaving behind a corporate career driven by success, Sean experienced burnout and dissatisfaction, prompting a transformative journey of faith and personal renewal.
Today, Sean coaches high-performing Christian men to overcome mediocrity and burnout, helping them build strong bodies, disciplined minds, and spiritual confidence. His approach combines biblical wisdom with practical strategies in strength training, nutrition, mindset, and leadership.
A dedicated husband and father, Sean lives out his teachings, prioritizing family and outdoor adventures when he’s not coaching or training.
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