Look, I am not a fitness expert nor one of those influencers telling you that you need to live in the gym. Physical exercise simply has so many benefits that, in my opinion, you are doing yourself a disservice by completely ignoring it.

And I do not mean you should become one of those muscle mountains or run marathons every weekend. Far from it. I think in this sense there needs to be balance as well. But to be fair not doing any workout is on the extreme side as well just on the other pole. 

We could talk about the health side but I am not a doctor, the mental side but I am not a therapist. But I am a father and I know that side pretty well. So let’s start with the why. 

First of all best case scenario you love your family and would like to protect them. How would you be able to do that if you have not had any proper exercise in the past 5 years? And it’s not really about shadow boxing against some fictional attackers. It helps if you can throw a punch but more about would you be able to carry your son on your shoulders for hours in a very crowded place? If your daughter slips on a ledge would you be able to catch her and hold her and bring her up? Whether they can explain it or not, children naturally look to their parents for safety.

Now of course you also want to be healthy enough to spend as many years with my family as I possibly can. And to go further let’s be honest. All kids are freaking never stopping little energy bombs. They exhaust you no matter what. But I want enough energy to play with them instead of watching from a bench because I am exhausted after five minutes. I wanna be able to go on hikes together and do exciting things with them. 

And the kids see everything. They understand you are making sacrifices and if your children grow up watching you make time for your health, they are much more likely to understand that taking care of yourself is simply part of life. Not because they have been told to but because you lead by example. You show them this is important for me and that will turn into a life lesson. 

I already talked about the importance of your mood around your family in my previous article The importance of emotional control and workout leads straight back here as well. I am much more energized if I started my day with a workout. I am in a better mood, more patient, less stressed. And the whole family can feel these better vibes. And I genuinely believe my family benefits from that version of me much more than the one who stayed on the sofa scrolling through his phone after another stressful day.

But as a father you already have endless responsibilities and work to be done. You are tired and your family needs your presence. How will you find the time? You just need to bring this up on your priority list. There is always time. My only solution was to get up at 5 am and get it all done before the family wakes up. My days start much better, I am performing much better in every aspect of my life and start the morning with a ready to go attitude and a smile on my face that the kids just love. You understand your rhythm but lets be real if you really prioritized this much higher in your life I guarantee you can always find time for it. 

And yes, beginnings are hard. Initially you will have no idea what to do, where and how. Learn, be open and try something new. Who knows you might end up with a hobby, a new social crowd and in addition you will feel much better about yourself. 

Again you do not need the be the heaviest lifter in the country, follow a super strict diet or injure yourself with 6x a week workouts. 

If you can consistently find time two or three times a week, you are already doing something that will benefit both you and your family. Perfection has never been the goal. Consistency is.

Because one day you will be asked to go hiking, biking, playing football, carry your grandchildren. And these are all moments worth preparing for. 

So I am truly telling you to get in shape because the people who depend on you deserve the healthiest, strongest and most capable version of you that you can realistically become. 

And so do you.

‘It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.’
— Socrates