Fun, Fitness and Family

What happens when you combine fun, fitness and family? One outcome is Abraham Bartlett’s newest Grove City business—DadBod Fitness.

Starting the business

In looking for new work early in 2023 and fueled by a love of fitness, exercise and youth coaching, Abraham completed his personal training certificate. As he explored this new fitness industry, he learned one thing for sure—working for someone else wasn’t for him. DadBod Fitness was born as a family business with the support of his wife Megan.

While this was a new world for Abe compared to his previous corporate work life and has held many surprises, some things did carry over from his 9-5 corporate management background.

“I’ve always had a passion for leadership, mentoring and helping others, so in that way there are transferable skills.”

The Name

We can’t not talk about the name—DadBod Fitness, though it can speak for itself as well. Abe sums it up well as he embraces the name, or even ‘title’ of “Dad Bod”.

“I have a dad bod, and always will, so why not embrace it?” he said. “Having a Dad Bod means, you’re active, you’re fit-ish but you’ll also enjoy a slice or two of pizza with your friends, and obviously, you’re a dad.”

The Fitness

With a passion for youth sports and coaching, and 15 years experience with youth coaching, Abe chose to make youth fitness one of the focus areas of DadBod Fitness.

“I’ve seen first-hand how important athletics, and mentoring can be to a child. However, it goes much deeper than that for me,” he said. “Youth sports are vital but youth fitness is even more important. Fitness isn’t just “exercising”, it’s movement and activity.”

Abe aims to put priority back on exercise and movement, and bring that to as many kids as possible so that they can these building blocks for their future. “Healthy, active, positive children become healthy, active, positive adults.”

And though KidsFit by DadBod Fitness is, as the name suggests, geared toward kids 6-13, the parents and adults are more than welcome to jump in too. A KidsFit session includes traditional exercises, but also games, music, and of course fun. The first KidsFit classes were held this summer to great success and attendance.

“There is nothing more encouraging than working out and having fun with your family.”

It’s not just client families engaging in DadBod Fitness, the business itself truly involves the whole family. As Abe told us, his wife works on marketing and bookkeeping tasks, his younger sons attend KidsFit classes and provide the examples of movements, and his adult daughter recently completed her personal training certificate and is diving into the KidsFit scene.

Additionally, DadBod Fitness offers personal training sessions tailored to all ages, activity levels and fitness goals, too. The goal is to continue expanding by offering KidsFit classes year-round, and also establishing additional youth fitness and group sessions.

“There is a definite need for these types of activities in our community and I feel blessed to be able to fill that void.”

This

Suffering a workplace injury can be a very stressful experience. Going from fully functional to incapacitated in the blink of an eye, combined with angst and uncertainty about the future, makes for a very difficult time for an injured worker.

Adding more pressure to an already challenging situation is the complicated workers’ compensation system, which can be confusing to navigate. In the traditional model, many injured on the job were left feeling that their overall well-being was dismissed, while all that mattered was the operational impact. Today, employers and service providers are leaning into an advocacy-based approach, in which each employee is not just an asset but a human being deserving of empathy and assurance. This blog will highlight some of the ways we can provide injured workers with compassionate care focused on their individual needs.

Clinical support

A hallmark of quality care is ensuring that injured workers have access to the medical resources needed to maximize their recovery, optimize their experience, and produce the best outcome. Sometimes that means guiding them to top-performing physicians with experience in occupational medicine or specialty care; other times, it means advising those with minor injuries to pursue first aid or thoughtful self-care instead of unnecessary, unpleasant and costly trips to an emergency room. Clinical consultation and evaluation at the first notice of injury helps to ensure that appropriate care is delivered at the appropriate time. It also gives injured workers peace of mind they’re doing the right thing, will receive the right care, and won’t have to worry about out-of-pocket treatment costs. With nurses rated as America’s most honest and ethical professionals in the Gallup’s survey for more than 20 years, this early engagement can bring added trust to the claim process from the outset.

Case management is another strategy for getting injured workers the care and support they need. Drawing on their clinical training, nurse case managers are ideally positioned to work with treating physicians, employers, claims examiners and others to coordinate proper medical care for injured workers. In case of a severe, complex or catastrophic injury, a field case manager can be on site at the hospital or medical appointment to advocate for the injured worker, help them navigate the health care system, and provide a sympathetic ear. Having a nurse case manager in their corner — whether in person or a phone call away — can make all the difference for an injured worker and their family, who are looking for a personal connection during a very overwhelming time.

Recognizing the need for holistic care following an injury, behavioral health support is a key element of the advocacy model.