05 Jun “You can’t hear me if you’re underwater, Tom”
June 5th, 2026
I could not swim until I was 27 years old.
Learning to swim as an adult is a long, humbling, slightly ridiculous process that takes roughly five times longer than it would have done if you had simply learned as a child. This is not a fact that reflects well on me, but it is a fact.
Which is probably why it gives me enormous pleasure to take my daughter Amari swimming every Sunday morning as part of our weekly routine. She is genuinely good now. She loves it and is getting better every single week.
It’s not the only reason I enjoy it though. I find it fascinating because what I see in that pool is a perfect little mirror of what I see in my coaching work every single day.
There are a couple of boys who were in Amari’s group who are now two full class levels behind where she is. Not because they do not show up. They show up every week without fail, just like she does. Not because they are not capable… they are perfectly capable.
They just don’t listen to the teacher. “You can’t hear me if you’re underwater, Tom!”… became a comedy-catchphrase the swim teacher would bellow every week.
When the instructions are being given, their heads are frequently underwater. When the rest of the class pushes off for breaststroke, they push off doing front crawl, then look back confused at why everyone else is doing something different. And when they want guidance, they do not ask the teacher. They hang off the side of the pool and shout across to their dads, wanting a second opinion.
For the record, I make a point of saying absolutely nothing at poolside, apart from the occasional nod and clap. No instruction. No technique tips. No calling across the pool. There is one voice Amari needs to listen to in that water, and it is not mine.
She (and some others) are now approximately six months ahead of those boys. Not because she is a natural swimmer. She just listens to the teacher, follows the instructions, doesn’t keep looking for shortcuts, and trusts the process.
Thanks for reading so far. You’ll have guessed by now that my point isn’t those kids in the pool. It’s the fact that this class is a microcosm of the efforts of sooooo many grown-ups and their attempts to get healthier, stronger, fitter and leaner.
Too many intelligent, successful grown-up adults are being distracted by stuff like ‘when’s best to work out in the day’, collagen supplements, which types of crunches to do, meal-timing, exact fasting protocols, in-meal macronutrient separation, super-specific calorie targets, demonisation of fruit, which milk you have in your coffee, cheat-days, fasted cardio… the list is endless.
ALL noise. ALL distractions from making that concerted, focused, supported effort to get the basics in your life working for you so that so can confidently ignore the latest ‘coat of paint on a rotten foundation’.
Noise is often the problem. The constant second-guessing. The parallel input from multiple sources telling you slightly different things in slightly different ways. This noise is why so many people plateau, or go backwards, or give up entirely.
In the Lean Dad Project, I give clear, specific, practical instruction, with the support that guarantees that fresh habits stick. You know exactly what to do next. You know why it works. And I give you the tools to filter out the social media noise, the conflicting advice, and the well-meaning friends who are just making things harder.
Keep your head above water when the instructions are being given, and ignore everything apart from that one voice. You’ll get to where you are going a lot faster.
Stop taking advice from the side of the pool. Click here to check out my masterclass and see if it’s the answer that you’re looking for.
Ayo Williams
The Lean Dad Project