Fit Dad Game Dad

This month, Brett is feeling a bit more "grandma with a walker" than middle-aged dad, having completely abandoned daily logging after a brief, demoralizing encounter with the aggressive world of high protein goals and GLP-1s. Meanwhile, Josh is out here thriving, hitting an impressive 23 days of exercise and nearly 50 hours of gaming, while simultaneously tackling sleep apnea diagnoses and everything-bagel open-world video games like Crimson Desert.

Expect the usual delightful chaos as the guys cover everything from Brett's upcoming, highly questionable trip to Detroit for college football to Josh's latest deep-dive into sci-fi reading, a brand new round of their trivia mini-game, and why they are finally laying one of their long-standing podcast segments to rest.

Grab your favorite high-protein snack, tune in, and see how these two dads keep pushing forward!

In an episode for the history books, our beloved, highly punctual, and undeniably heroic co-host Josh Stapleton patiently waits a full 61 minutes while Brett Bodden stumbles into the studio loaded with questionable summer excuses and broken spreadsheets. While Brett was busy getting lost in basic database management and panicking over school enrollment, Josh was operating at peak efficiency—managing major family milestones, conquering his water goals, and holding down the fort like the absolute legend he is.

Once Brett finally decided to show up, the guys dive into Josh’s triumphant return to fitness momentum. While medical warnings couldn't move the needle, the raw, unfiltered desire to shred a Puerto Rico zipline has reignited Josh's unstoppable treadmill era. Meanwhile, Brett attempts to flex his highest workout minutes since February (mostly spent resting between sets, let’s be honest) and recounts his grand pilgrimage to Indiana just to catch The Odyssey in glorious 70mm IMAX.

On the gaming front, Josh proves why he's the ultimate MVP by clearing classic and revived hits—gushing over Star Fox on Switch 2, conquering Wolfenstein II (once he finally figured out how to open the map menu), and getting totally absorbed in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced. Meanwhile, Brett channels his inner Josh by jumping between a chaotic list of nine different games—getting stuck in the shrine grind of Tears of the Kingdom, suffering through Undertale at his daughter's request, and surprisingly falling in love with Stray.

Between trips to New York, Seattle, and an upcoming trek to Philadelphia, Brett reveals his most obscure travel plan yet: a flight to Indianapolis just to watch Christopher Nolan's next movie in one of the country's few remaining 70mm IMAX theaters (and maybe grab a NASCAR race and a state map sticker while he's at it). Because why watch a movie down the street when you can fly for free on standby as a Delta employee to ensure nobody's forehead gets cropped out on a standard screen? Classic Brett.

Meanwhile, Josh is actually staying grounded, surviving the single-dad life while his wife is at girls' camp and prepping for his son Andrew’s massive mission farewell. The guys talk about the chaos of trying to feed up to 200 people with Italian beef sandwiches, and they dive into the high-stakes world of neighborhood lawn care. While Brett is out here committing environmental sins by watering his grass twice a day to attract homebuyers, Josh has been accidentally conserving water simply because he forgot to update his sprinkler timer.

Plus, with the nation's massive Semiquincentennial on the horizon, the guys play a special patriotic-tavern-gambling mini-game to celebrate the 250th birthday of America!

Finally, it’s time for the mid-year points check-in. The fitness numbers are at an absolute all-time low for both dads. Brett is currently bragging about a 17-point lead, but Josh gets candid about the wall of exhaustion he’s been hitting and his journey to find the root cause.

Can Josh close the gap once he gets his energy back, or will Brett's massive water bills and IMAX obsessions keep him ahead? Tune in to find out!

Connect with us:Are you one of our mythical 20 listeners? Prove it! Send us an email at [email protected] so we can give you a shout-out on the next episode (shout-out to Josh’s friend Tim for doubling our confirmed listener count!).

First things first: Brett owes the audience a massive apology for dropping this month's episode on the 10th instead of the 1st! His computer completely broke down and had to be sent off to the Geniuses at Apple Care, which caused a major delay in getting the show posted. But hey—the 1st and the 10th are only different by a single digit, so mathematically speaking, it’s pretty much the same thing, right?

Once the audio actually gets moving, Josh starts the episode with enough wild, 90s WWF energy to wake the dead—only to immediately admit his fuel tank hit absolute "E" the second the introduction ended. While a fatigued Josh spends the rest of the episode trying to be the sensible voice of reason through a gauntlet of family graduations and a brutal grass allergy (he literally has a row with the lawn), Brett brings his own brand of chaotic, over-the-top dad energy. Between dealing with broken sprinkler pipes—which really put a damper on his weekend—and icing his back after treating an elementary school kickball game like the Seventh Game of the World Series, Brett is somehow sitting on top of the world.

The monthly stats are in, and a massive scoreboard flip-flop has the guys rethinking their summer strategy. Hear how Brett used a high-stakes Switch 2 bribe to completely hijack Sam’s gaming habits (Zelda fans, there's a Ganon-ball sized twist here), and why Josh has wisely swapped his controller for a book. Plus, they dive into why expensive Italian restaurants can never compete with the glorious carb-load of Olive Garden. Don't worry, they are completely im-pasta-ble to reason with when it comes to breadsticks.

Stay tuned for the end of the show where Josh tries to close the scoreboard gap by casually claiming he cured cancer and saved an orphanage this month. Showing his true, goofy leadership style, Principal Brett actually agrees to negotiate the points—proving that while Josh can't buy a break, he can definitely get a pity point out of his co-host.

Eat well, get fit, and game on!

This month’s episode of Fit Dad, Game Dad starts innocently enough and immediately goes off the rails when Josh’s intro music detonates inside his brand‑new AirPods. That moment sets off a delicate chain reaction involving a medical shot, excessive bleeding, sacrificed pants, washed‑and‑deceased headphones, and an impulsive leap from Android back into the Apple ecosystem—where Josh now lives in a confusing world of blue bubbles and Googling how to mute a phone.

Meanwhile, Brett reveals a life‑altering decision of his own, complete with selling a house, moving toward the mountains, waking up at 5:30 a.m. on purpose, and quietly accepting that he may be temporarily homeless. Along the way, the dads somehow track fitness stats, calories, and gaming hours so precisely that nearly everything is decided by a single point, while also spending alarming amounts of money on art, tech, ties, podcast software, and things they absolutely did not plan to buy.

There’s a mini‑game where no one guesses correctly, money still changes hands, and Rock‑Paper‑Scissors seals the emotional damage. There are gaming tangents, parenting moments, and just enough self‑reflection to pretend this episode has a point.

It’s chaotic, heartfelt, and exactly what happens when two middle‑aged dads hit record and let the conversation go where it’s clearly going to go anyway.

This month on Fit Dad Game Dad, Josh calmly carries the emotional weight of employment uncertainty, wins most of the fitness categories, eats responsibly, and somehow still finds time to game like a disciplined, well-adjusted adult. Meanwhile, Brett buys a handgun, immediately concludes that decades of couch gaming have secretly made him an elite marksman, and spends the rest of the episode confidently explaining how he has finally unlocked the secret to work‑life balance—an achievement that places him somewhere between Buddha and a man who read half of one self‑help book, nodded aggressively, and announced, “I get it now.”

The dads then battle in the mini‑game “Off the Shelf,” where they dust off physical game cases, squint at unreadably small text, and attempt to identify games based solely on dramatic marketing copy from a bygone era. It’s part trivia, part memory test, and part proof that no one has read the back of a game box since 2006—except Brett, who brought reading glasses and misplaced confidence.

The episode closes with Josh, ever the benevolent and emotionally regulated adult, awarding Brett a handful of pity points—not because Brett earned them, but because sometimes a man just finishes a long month, works very hard, and deserves a small sticker for effort. 

This month on Fit Dad, Game Dad: Josh goes full “Subject Not Found,” Brett becomes “Ginger Jesus,” and somehow we end up discussing spreadsheets… the musical.

Josh survives influenza chaos, picks up Spanish for his missionary-bound son, and still becomes the Elden Lord on two hours of sleep. Brett freezes himself at Groundhog Day, falls in love with the turn-based game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and eats enough ice cream to qualify for a loyalty program.

There’s gaming glory, fitness shame, Spanglish prayers, meme drama, and our first-ever redacted game‑guessing mini‑game.

Two dads. One tired. One overly inspired.

Brett surprises his wife (and Josh) with a Groundhog Day trip to Pennsylvania, while Josh explains why seven hours at a cheer competition nearly broke him. Brett demolishes January fitness thanks to forced labor at Delta, Josh absolutely crushes couch gaming with an unhealthy amount of Elden Ring, and both dads reflect on January burnout, introverts vs. extroverts, and the impossible task of doing everything. Also discussed: Death Stranding cutscenes, anxiety‑inducing Mario music, and whether Elden Ring is just “hard‑mode Zelda.”

December saw the dads make up a lot of ground with their new daily point competition. Brett forgets to talk about gaming, but Josh saves the episode in the end. The dads conclude their third season by declaring a winner. Brett won season one, and Josh won season two. Listen to see who will take the lead and find out if the ultimate prize comes down to a game of rock, paper, scissors, or skillful negotiation of bonus points!

We're back after a break! Brett tries to make the argument that we have worked on our podcast every month because we recorded our last episode in September, released it in October. Then we recorded this episode on the last day in November and released it on the first day of December. Josh said Brett is full of it! For the rest of the episode the dads discuss what has been keeping them busy in their families and at work. They discuss their fitness and gaming highlights - including plenty about Donkey Kong Bonanza. They end the show with a preview of a new head-to-head competition where the dads can earn points daily depending on who has the best fitness, food and gaming stats for the day.