Community, clarity and a cooperative chance to get in shape — these are among the reasons one local dad has started an early morning exercise class geared toward fathers.
As a business, First Light Fitness is still in its infancy, but founder Doug Schneider of Wilton would be happy to see the sun shine on this new venture.
“My entire career has been in advertising,” said Schneider, who just moved to Wilton last August with his wife, Stacey, and their two children, Boden, 11, and Cody, 8.
In that role, like many other people, he found himself working from home during the pandemic, where he became sedentary and subsequently out of the shape he wanted, carrying an excess 40 pounds.
Growing up in Greenwich, Schneider was traditionally very athletic and involved in sports there, so he decided it was time to get active again.
“I started to really focus on it because I was home all the time … It became a really big part of my life,” he said.
As his own physical goals were met and exceeded, Schneider began coaching his wife and friends on working out, even joining them in exercise routines that he was motivated to lead.
After moving to Wilton, Schneider, who has been actively coaching his kids in soccer and football since arriving, began meeting other fathers who were interested in improving their condition. Given their work schedules, he realized it might be uniquely beneficial to organize morning workouts before the kids were even awake, just energizing people before their days began.
“I think we’re up to 12 or 13 regular clients now that are just showing up every week,” Schneider said, with the exercise class convening at 5 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Kristine Lilly Field by Wilton High School.
Spencer Robinson of Wilton, who was the first unofficial client in the business, has been friends with Schneider and his family since they moved to town.
“This past May I was joking with Doug that I was getting soft and doughy, and he ended up sending me a text a few days later that he’d love to help me get back in shape if it was something I wanted,” he said.
The two began 5 a.m. workouts at the beginning of the summer.
“What started as two friends working to tighten up our dad bods — well, my dad bod — has now grown into a whole crew of dads making a commitment to be healthier, better versions of ourselves,” Robinson said.
Patrick Carroll of Wilton followed.
“Doug and my other friend Spencer sort of roped me into it, as it was just the two of them at Doug’s house for a while,” he said. “Then when I joined in June we took the show on the road to the high school track. From there, the word spread and more people would join week after week through personal networks.”
Along with letting some other friends know, Schneider began posting on social media, then creating a business name and logo, targeting local dads in their 30s and 40s.
“I think it’s a pretty common story … You put yourself on the back burner in terms of health,” he said.
The workouts are relatively straightforward, Schneider said, consisting of 45 minutes of bodywork, cardiovascular practices and, on occasion, a prop or item to change things up.
“It’s pretty basic stuff,” he said, “but just mixing up the different routines that we do.”
“We’re done, we’re home, we’re showered before the kids even wake up for school,” he said, noting that the best part is the feeling of energy and alertness that the workouts bring the participants at the start of their days.
Mike Zitelli of Wilton said he had been looking for a workout routine he could stick with and was thrilled to find this group.
“The fact that there is an element of embedded accountability … without the feeling of pressure or judgment, is quite the juxtaposition that has motivated me to wake up at 4:30 a.m. three days a week,” he said.
“For someone who continually adopted and abandoned exercise programs for years, it finally feels like I’ve found something that sticks,” Zitelli said.
“For me,” Carroll said, “I feel that the workout is more about the accountability of showing up and the clarity it gives me to start my day … When the alarm goes off at 4:30, I know that that good decision to show up will inevitably make my day more productive.”
Though cold weather is imminent, Schneider said the hope is to try and stick it out as long as possible. Where rain and other obstacles are concerned, he said that a friend has offered occasional use of their dance studio to give the group a place to go in emergencies.
“We are obviously in the infancy stage of this journey,” he said, but he’s excited to find his passion for fitness leading him into a part-time venture that appears to be helping others.
Robinson said Schneider is fiercely dedicated to leading these workouts.
“He’s also a 40-something-year-old dad with kids and a mortgage and weekend sports and a career, so he’s one of us and he knows what we’re dealing with,” he said.
Schneider is sanguine about the future, but open to possibilities of carrying this message to more dads in the community.
“It is a passion project for me and also a networking and community-building project, but who knows … I do love it,” he said on the prospects of moving into it full-time.
“My kids love that I’m doing this, that I’m working out with other dads,” he said. “So it definitely gives me some cool dad points as well.”
Doug is a great motivator and an even better person. Big fan of what he’s doing for Wilton Dad-Bods and even more for just good old fashioned high school style camaraderie. Ten out of five stars. Would recommend.