By Adam MacDougall, News.com.au
As a breakfast radio host on the Nova FM Fitzy and Wippa show, Michael Wipfli’s schedule doesn’t leave much time for exercise. But Wippa and his wife Lisa say keeping up with their two boys more than makes up for any missed gym sessions.
He might not be the first name you think of when it comes to health and fitness in Australia but it seems nobody has told Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli.
“I’ve been waiting by the phone, to be honest,” he says.
“When you’ve got a fitness column and your business is health, I’m just the most obvious choice.”
As a breakfast radio host on Nova FM, one half of the hugely popular Fitzy and Wippa show, his schedule is often incredibly jam-packed, barely stopping between his 4am alarm clock and falling back into bed after 10pm.
A routine that busy doesn’t leave a lot of time for exercise.
Happily, though, there are two people in his life that more than make up for any missed gym sessions; his little boys, Ted and Jack, aged three and two.
“It’s just physically hard. Kids want to be carried up the stairs or lifted in and out of a bath,” he says.
“I think we actually tried to count once just how many times we picked them up over a week, we lost count after 10,000 … It’s physically demanding, it really is.
“But I also do some home training, I roll out the mats and get the weights out. And I have a personal training session once a week, but that’s about it.
BABY STEPS TO A GOOD DIET
Healthy diets play an important role in the Wipfli household. Wippa’s wife Lisa is a co-owner of Nourishing Bubs — a booming health-food brand aimed at busy parents.
“It was founded by a paediatric dietitian and nutritionist and it’s a baby-food business that takes vegetable purees that are snap-frozen into little portions that are perfect for an infant starting solids,” Lisa says.
“It takes the pressure of parents. And it’s always individual vegetables so you can detect allergies, which is big thing when you’re starting out, and it’s not laced with fruit. Babies don’t need to be encouraged to have sweet things.”
That approach to healthy, pure foods is one that is still put into practice at the dinner table every night, where, despite the busy schedules, the family makes sure they make time to sit and eat together each evening.
“Our kids have a really healthy relationship with food because we started them eating so well. They know what ‘sometimes food’ are, and we talk about food a lot,” Lisa says.
“It’s about balance. I don’t want to deprive the kids altogether although we held off sugar until they were about two, but we’re very lucky because they’re good eaters. They’ll eat chilli con carne and even san choy bow.”
And it’s here that Wippa can’t help but chime in: “They can’t say it, though. We’ve found Chinese hamburgers is easier to say.
“Dinner is at 5.30pm and two of us are in nappies — it’s like we’re living in a nursing home.”
FAST FIVE
1. Favourite healthy food?
“Can I say Japanese food?” Wippa asks. “That’s a healthy lifestyle!”
2. Favourite treat food?
“MIke’s would be pizza, McDonald’s, chocolate,” says Lisa.
3. What’s your favourite drink?
“For me it’s probably a beer or a Japanese scotch,” says Wippa. “A big shoutout to the team at Yamazaki.”
4. Favourite motivational music?
“Anything upbeat. I don’t have songs on iTunes, I just listen to the Nova app — is that really sad?” asks Lisa.
5. Favourite tip for anyone struggling to get started with exercise?
“If you want to make your life harder as you get older, don’t do anything now,” says Wippa.
“The half-hour of fitness you do today might save you a half-hour of illness when you get older. That’s why I do something every two weeks …”
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