Dustin Thibodeaux

09/18/2026

Is jump rope good for you at 40?

Here's why I think so.

Every single week I'm doing some kind of movement that has me hopping on the balls of my feet. Jump rope. Double unders. Jumping jacks. Lateral hops. Something that gets me off the ground.

Not because it burns calories. Because it keeps me athletic.

When you hop, you're loading your calves, your Achilles, and your plantar fascia. You're waking up your feet and your toes. Those are the tissues that quietly stop working when a guy sits in a truck all day and walks from the office to the couch. And when your feet and ankles go, everything above them starts to go too. Your balance. Your knees. Your ability to catch yourself when you trip.

Most men over 40 don't lose strength first. They lose their mobility, flexibility and agility.

Watch a 60 year old walk and you can see it. Flat. Heavy. No spring in the step. That didn't happen overnight. That's 20 years of never leaving the ground and being out of shape.

So yes, jump rope is good. I still do double unders because I love them. But the rope isn't the point. The hopping is the point.

Here's how to be smart about it.

Start with one minute. That's it. Just one minute of hopping, whatever style you want. Then build to two. Then three. Jumping non stop for even two or three minutes adds up fast, and your feet and ankles need time to catch up to your ambition. Go in hot with 10 minutes of double unders and you'll be nursing a sore Achilles for a week.

One minute a week beats zero minutes forever.

I want to be able to play pickleball with my kids. I want to move and be capable at 60, 70, 80 and beyond. I want to do what I want, when I want, for as long as I want.

That starts with staying literally on your toes.

Share this message with someone who you know needs to hear this and give ne a Follow if you're not already. 💪

09/16/2026

There are 2 kinds of dads over 40. Which one are you?

Most of the dads I talk to aren't lazy. They're buried. Long days at work, kids' practices, a wife they want to spend time with, and a body that feels 20 years older than it should.

So they fall into the same traps.

They go back to the gym and run the same program they did at 20, then wonder why their shoulders and knees are wrecked.

They lose motivation and think its them, but its really their plan.

They're locked in all week, then throw it all away on Friday because they need some alcohol or indulge in food because they had a hard week. "I'll start Monday."

They tell themselves there's no time, so the workouts never happen.

Or they go straight carnivore, drop a bunch of weight fast, hit a wall, and put it all right back on.

I've been there. I trained like a 20 year old into my 30s and was popping Aleve just to get through a workout. It wasn't until I learned how to train smart and actually understand my food that everything changed.

Here's the truth. It's not that you lack the desire, the drive, or the discipline. You've just never had the right plan or the right knowledge.

You need a plan built for where you are now. A dad over 40 who wants to lose the gut, build real muscle, move without pain, and have the energy to be the husband and dad your family deserves.

Your kids are watching which dad you choose.

If you're ready to be Dad B, comment "PLAN" and I'll send you the exact blueprint 💪

09/15/2026

8 ways to lose the gut after 40. And not one of them happens in the gym.

You can't outwork a fork. I learned that the hard way.

In my 30s I was training hard and still soft. Fat around my stomach. Man b***s. Knees and joints aching all the time. I didn't like the guy looking back at me in the mirror.

And the food? Little Debbies. Chips Ahoy. Cookies. Nutella. I'd barely eat during the day, then hit the pantry hard at night and wash it all down with glasses of milk.

So I'd go strict. Real strict. And it would last until a dinner out or a date night with my wife. One meal and I felt like I'd ruined all my progress. So I'd quit and tell myself I'd start over Monday. Again.

What finally changed things wasn't a harder workout. It was eating enough real food during the day so I wasn't starving at night. Closing the kitchen after dinner. Reading what was actually in my food. And learning that one meal doesn't erase a whole week.

Your workout is 20 minutes of your day. The other 23 hours decide if the gut stays or goes.

Save this. Pick one. Nail it. Then stack the next.

Comment "DADBOD" and I'll send you more ways to drop the gut without living in the gym. 💪

09/11/2026

You don't have a discipline problem.

You have a goal problem.

Let me tell you about a guy I talked to last month.

45 years old. Runs his own company. Coaches his kid's team. Shows up for everybody in his life.

And he told me, quiet, almost embarrassed:

"Coach, I just want to lose this gut."

That's it. That was the whole plan.

No number. No date. No reason bigger than the mirror.

So here's what happens to a man like that.

He goes hard for two weeks. Cuts everything. Trains like he's 22 again.

Then his back tightens up. Work blows up. A kid gets sick.

And he's done.

And he lays in bed that night and calls himself lazy.

He's not lazy.

He never had a target.

There's a verse I keep coming back to.

Proverbs 29:18. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Not the people who are weak. Not the people who don't care.

The people with no vision.

That's the guy who's been trying for four years and is still exactly where he started.

Here's the thing nobody told him.

The reason his body hasn't changed isn't willpower. It's that he never got clear on where he was going.

None of those men were more disciplined than you.

I didn't come up with SMART goals. Business guys have been using it for decades. I just borrowed it because it's the simplest way I've found to get a dad to stop guessing and put something real on paper.

Because 16 weeks from today you're going to be somewhere.

The only question is whether you picked the place.

Comment "GOAL" and I'll send you the exact framework my clients use to get there.

09/08/2026

Tired of feeling like an old man when you get off the sofa?

You don't feel old because of your age. You feel old because you stopped moving your body.

Try these 3 stretches. You can do all of them right on your couch.

1. Seated forward fold
Sit on the edge of the sofa. Feet out wide. Breathe in, exhale, and fold over. Let gravity pull you down. Hold 20 to 30 seconds. Do it 3 or 4 times. Your lower back will feel great.

2. Piriformis stretch
This one gets your hips. Tight hips can cause lower back pain. Warning, this one is hard. Put a pillow under you so your hips sit higher. Ankle on the knee, sit up tall, and push the knee down. Just getting there might be enough.

3. Hamstring stretch
Still on the sofa, pillow under your hips. Breathe in, exhale, and let gravity pull you down. Reach for your toes. Hold 60 seconds.

The key is your breathing. Relax and breathe into it and you will get deeper every time.

Do these and you will feel better. You will get out of pain. You won't be so sore. And you won't move and look like an old man.

I'm 40. I don't plan on moving like an old man anytime soon.

If you want a free 7-day mobility routine, comment "MOBILITY" and I'll send you a routine.

09/07/2026

Most dads don't lose the ability to play with their kids overnight. It happens slowly, one stiff morning at a time.

Three stretches to stay the fun and active dad:

1. Standing forward fold
Bend over, reach down, breathe in through your nose, exhale and let gravity pull you deeper. Hold 60 to 90 seconds. Hits your lower back and hamstrings.

2. Standing quad stretch
Grab your foot, pull back, feel it in the quad and hip. Hold onto something if you need to. Balance is a skill, and at 40, 50, 60 it disappears fast if you never train it. Hold 20 to 30 seconds each side.

3. Deep squat hold
This one will humble you. Sitting in a squat tells you exactly where your mobility is hiding. Ankles, toes, hips. It's the difference between getting off the floor easy and grunting your way up.

Being able to get down and back up is not a gym thing. It's a dad thing.

Start now so you don't end up like this guy.

If you want a free 7-day mobility routine, comment "MOBILITY", and I'll send you a routine.

09/05/2026