Distance Running/Long Cardio Doesn't Help with Dad Bod?

If you never get a dad bod in the first place, it won't be a problem.

I’d say that’s more the case for cycling than running.

Older runners still tend to be pretty skinny.

Diet is key. Most of the 35+ year olds I know with dad bod eat a lot and eat like sh*t (lots of fast food, desserts, snacks, beer). Couple that with stress, no exercise, and declining testosterone/metabolism, and you get dad bod.

The older 2 runners in our group are their late 50s and are still quite lean. But they eat clean, they eat the proper amount of calories, and they avoid heavy drinking.

It's inevitable due to declining metabolism, testosterone and overall muscle loss.

I don’t know anyone with a dad bod running at least 40+mpw year round

I'm pretty sure that Bob Kennedy did well over that in his prime.

I honestly don’t understand how people aren’t at least sorta shredded. 30-40 min of easy jogging 5 days per week, weights a couple days, long run of 60 min on Saturday. don’t eat like a 17 year old..

I wouldn't say inevitable but these are indeed the factors which certainly contribute to that. So weightlifting is a great idea as it combats these factors. The shape of your body may still change a little but you'll look better than 95% of men your age and the high value women will take notice. It's not hard to outperform male competition as you get older. Most are too lazy and preoccupied to prioritize looking their best. 

Caloric deficit

Dad bod is more about bad diet than lack of exercise. No amount of miles outrun a bad diet as you age.

Because what you suggest takes 5-7 hours/week and requires self-control? But you're right, it really is easy to look half-decent. Another thing to add BTW would be to cut down or just avoid drinking alcohol, in my experience it's possibly the single worst thing for weight control and looking puffy.

It's all diet. Running helps to be in a calorie deficit, but only if you don't go off the rails with your diet. You're also going to see a lot of "skinny fat" older runners - barely any muscle and a dad bod layer of fat. It's sort of difficult to get out of the skinny fat body. You either have to bulk for a while and then cut weight, or cut (get really skinny), and then bulk a little.

With respect to older dudes, the chicks are more into the coin than the bod, and except for the few super performers, there is an inverse relationship between coin and bod.

15-30 minutes calisthenics a day -- even w every other day = death of "dad bod" (which is disgusting).

See those pull up and dip bars in the park or usable bars in your kid's playground? Use them!! Plus push ups and boom, done.

Eating decently helps too, of course.

Eat more train more with a 10% calorie deficit.

Older guys need to do more strength work, consume more protein, and stop drinking copious amounts of beer. Cut alcohol completely if you can. If not, then switch to straight spirits. Fat guys are the ones that still fuel like college kids - loads of beer and cheap carbs. That diet doesn't work when you have reduced mileage and your T levels are dropping with age.

The reason so many distance runners look skinny fat is because they don't do any types of strength work to make their muscles bigger, in fact many actively avoid it.

So you can be a low BF % but if you don't have defined muscles underneath, you're going to still have an undefined look

It's a misconception that distance running makes you skinny fat. In fact, distance running is a great way to lose excess body fat. It's losing the fat without growing the underlying muscles that give the skinny fat look

This 100%. I've seen 3:20 marathon runners who don't want to do any strength training because they think that huge muscles will slow them down LOL. These guys look flabby and weak despite putting in lots of 50-60 mile weeks. Yet they eat like sh*t and drink tons of beer which somehow isn't what's causing them to slow down.

Better to run 40MPW and maybe a 3:35 marathon, spend the extra time strength training, and look strong IMO. How much good is that 3:20 doing for them anyways? SMH

1) Stop all the crappy carbs and alcohol and get more animal-based quality protein (no soy or seed oils) and saturated fat. Tanked thyroid and testosterone and sky high cortisol/insulin resistance = skinny fat dadbod.

2) Yes do upper body work, but if you get 1) right you don't need to be gym rat.

3) The older you get the more time you should spend training like a 400/800 guy.

4) Our role model should be:

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