Why Dads don’t need ‘more time to get healthy, fit and lean

March 7th, 2026

Here’s something that I firmly believe: “You do have the time”.

Here’s something that I also believe: “We do not all have the same 24 hours in a day”.

I believe this because I live it, and I teach it every single day. The big difference between getting your food and exercise consistently good enough is ‘structure’, not ‘time available’… let me explain.

The chances are that if you’re at roughly the same stage of life as me and most of my clients, you have one, if not all of the following: a too-long working day… a commute… ferrying kids all over the place… and just feeling damn tired.

Add to this the guilt of that woefully underused gym membership, the guilt of ‘taking time for yourself’, and a waistline which is slowly but surely expanding… and it seems impossible to create the space in your life to make the necessary changes to make a difference.

“I know what to do… I’m just not doing it yet…”

I hear this all the time. Why is it that at work we don’t think twice about creating systems and routines to get important tasks done, but constantly ‘wing it’ when it comes to putting things in place to help us get healthier?

Think of all the things in at work you do ‘automatically’. One of our first goals has to be to eliminate ‘decision fatigue’ (which is real) when it comes to working out or eating better for your goals. With everything else that you have to think about, if training and good nutrition aren’t planned – they simply ain’t happening. It becomes one more mental task… and you’re probably at your limit for those in your day.

Most dads I speak to still, deep down, believe that they need to work out in a certain way to achieve the results that they are hoping for.

They believe that workouts have got to last an hour (or thereabouts) to be effective. They believe that they need to go to the gym. They believe that these workouts will leave them sore for days, and that this ache is necessary for progress.

Here’s the truth:

• There is such a thing as ‘minimum effective dose’, but that is talking about the intensity of your workout, as opposed to the time spent doing it. This means that if time is against you, the vast majority of your training needs to utilise big, compound movements, using a range of different types of supersets. You’ll also get faster, more satisfying results you use full-body sessions, as opposed to focusing on different body parts, on different days.

• Gyms are supposed to make the process of adding resistance training to your life easier. If however, if the thought of gyms is completely off-putting, or time simply does not allow you to go, then let’s be honest, the existence of the gym is holding you back.

• I can promise you that you can make huge improvements to your strength levels, physique, leanness and longevity at home, with minimal, inexpensive equipment, and a little bit of personal guidance.

• How hard do you need to work out? This is a great question, and annoyingly for most, for me to answer it accurately and honestly I’ll need your responses to another five questions that I’ll ask you… including finding out what you’re capable of at the moment. I’ll tell you for free right now however that if you’re sore for two days after a workout then you have overdone it and you would have been better off going lighter on the Monday, to make Wednesday’s workout something to look forward to.

The right approach to these changes is fundamental from the outset. When I talk about creating systems for success, that also means protecting those small windows in your day for working out, or making decisions about/preparing food priorities in your day.

Without a commitment to this (and ideally some accountability or support), it’s too easy to let a great start wane into old habits time after time. Recognise this? It’s time to approach things differently!

Too many dads beat themselves up for not being able to keep up the momentum of eating and working out better after a good start. “It should be easy”. “I’ll just wait until I’m less busy”.

It’s not easy. You’re never going to be less busy. But it can be simple. And with support, and an approach I’m sure you use in other areas of life all the time, long-lasting change is within your grasp.

I’m nearly 50 this year and the way I approach getting/staying in shape has evolved. Yours probably should too. If you can perform as well as you do at work, and show up as you do for your family, you can certainly achieve your objectives when it comes to getting back in shape.

It does need a change of approach though… it’s not about more ‘time’, ‘effort’ or ‘information’. Figure out the system that works for you. And double-down on that.

Ayo Williams

The Lean Dad Project