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3 Ways For Busy Dads To Make More Time For Exercise
So many dads wish for an extra 2 hours in the day.
Sometimes, I’m in that camp, too.
I asked my email readers last week:
If I could give you any result for your body, what would that look like? And, what is your biggest obstacle to achieving this?
Lots of them said ‘time’ was their biggest obstacle.
Which is always expected, given most of my followers and readers are busy, hard-working dads over 30.
I can’t give you more time.
But, we do have powerful strategies in our coaching programs helping busy dads make more time for
themselves, so they can eat and move better, have more energy and get in great shape.
See…
More time doesn’t just show up.
You have enough time already to make progress from where you’re at right now.
If this is an obstacle for you?
You just have to make better use of it.
And if you’re willing to roll your sleeves up, and make it happen?
These 3 steps will work great for you, too:
1) Get Un-Notified.
Take all notifications off your phone except ringtone.
Emails, texts, WhatsApp, social medias, news alerts, etc.
In fact, if you have any news apps on your phone, delete them altogether.
There’s nothing good to see on there.
And if anything important happens, you’ll hear about it.
All it takes is one notification, and before you know it, you’ve lost 10-20 minutes.
Which is plenty time for 3 hard sets of dumbbell bench press.
Or a whole load of press-ups.
Or undistracted time with your family.
If someone important really needs you, they’ll call.
2) The Weekly Battle-Plan
Take 15 minutes to map out your week.
First, take stock of the week you just had:
– What were the wins? (no matter how small)
– What obstacles did you face?
– What lessons can you take from the week?
Now, Take aim:
Get the calendar/diary out, and look at what’s coming up. Create some targets:
– Family stuff (outings, kids clubs, usual tasks).
– Body:
— How many workouts will you do?
— What days and times will you do them (treat them like a dental appointment, you’re more likely to do them).
— What time will you dedicate to each workout?
— And what does each workout look like?
— What’s the ONE new habit I’m practicing this week (nutrition, sleep, hydration, movement, etc).
Clarity helps you get sh1t done.
Lack of clarity leads to overthinking and never achieving.
– Business/career commitments.
– Obstacles: Given everything that’s coming up this week, what could get in your way of accomplishing these targets?
And how might you remove or reduce the damage of those obstacles?
3) Collaborate
It’s all good having your master-plan.
But so far, no one knows about, except you.
If you live with a family at home?
You’ll drastically increase your adherence, and overall results when you collaborate with your other half.
If your family know when it’s ‘dad’s workout time’?
You’re less likely to get disturbed.
So if you train at home you’ll get more space to concentrate on you.
If you train at the gym, your wife is less likely to find another ‘task needing done’ for your list when you’re heading out the door (hopefully).
Sure, it may take a little getting used to.
But once you’re through the new routine growing pains, it’ll become normal for everyone.
====
Battle-plan done.
Now it’s just about taking action.
I used to do this on Sundays.
But I’m finding Fridays better now, as it gives me the whole weekend to switch off more.
Now, before I sign off, let me leave you with this:
“No plan survives contact with the enemy”
That’s true in the military.
And it’s also true in life.
So, it’s great to have a plan.
It gives you an axis.
Something to aim for.
Sometimes it works out.
But to make progress you have to be willing to adapt and overcome to always changing situations.
Often you’ll need to scale things down.
40 minute workouts become 10 minutes.
4 planned workouts become 2.
And so on and so on.
Prepping and planning matters.
Making time is absolutely essential.
But your attitude determines your levels of consistency.
And consistency (not perfection) makes for great progress.
Get after it.
– Dean
PS – Want more help transforming your energy and body?
Enter your email address into any of the opt-in boxes on this page and I’ll send you my busy dads eat-better guide, a free home workout plan, plus you’ll get more awesome free content like this sent straight to your inbox.
About the Author Dean McMenamin
Dean McMenamin is an Army veteran, father, dog-lover and body transformation coach to every day men all over the UK & Ireland. He's also a big eater of ice-cream.