Protecting a time slot that doesn't take from family time, like early morning, training at home to remove friction, and modeling healthy behavior for your kids are the specific strategies that made fitness sustainable as a busy parent and entrepreneur. None of it required a perfect schedule, just intentional choices.
As a man, taking ownership of protecting time for what matters to you, whether that's the gym, a hobby, or anything else, has to happen deliberately, or it simply won't happen. Andrew Zagotta, a father and entrepreneur, shares the specific choices that made fitness sustainable once life got significantly busier.
How You Frame the Time Slot Matters
There's a real difference between telling your partner "every Saturday at 1pm, I'll be at the gym for three hours, don't bother me," versus "every day at 4am, I wake up and get my workout in, so by the time you're up around 6 or 7, I'm already ahead." The second approach protects family time entirely, rather than carving into it.
Those are two very different scenarios. One pulls from your family time, the other doesn't touch it at all.
Removing Friction by Training at Home
Even with full access to a gym, Andrew prefers training at home in his garage. The ritual of getting ready, choosing gym clothes, driving, being away from the house, adds friction that makes consistency harder. Training at home means walking outside in whatever he's already wearing and getting a session in immediately.
This also keeps him physically present and accessible to his family during time that would otherwise be spent commuting to and from a gym.
Letting Your Kids See You Work Out
Andrew emphasizes that one of the best things a parent can do for their child is let them watch you work out. Normalizing movement and exercise as a regular part of daily life gives kids a strong example to follow, in the same way that normalizing screen time or convenience food every night sets a different kind of example.
Making Fitness Fit Around Family, Not the Other Way Around
Andrew also acknowledges that circumstances genuinely vary, some people have more flexibility due to factors outside their control, like working from home. But the underlying principle holds regardless: put in the effort to make the best of your specific situation, even if progress looks different or slower than someone else's.
- Choosing a time slot that doesn't compete with family time creates far less friction than blocking off hours that pull from it.
- Training at home removes the friction of commuting and getting ready, making consistency easier to maintain.
- Letting your kids watch you exercise helps normalize healthy habits as part of their own upbringing.
- Life circumstances vary, and creative problem-solving matters more than a perfect, ideal schedule.
- This is often just a phase. Difficult stretches with a new baby or a demanding season of work do get easier over time.
Getting in shape as a busy parent isn't about finding more hours in the day, it's about protecting the time you do have in a way that doesn't create conflict, and removing the small frictions that make consistency harder than it needs to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you actually protect time for the gym as a busy parent?
Choose a time slot that doesn't compete with family time, like early morning before everyone wakes up, rather than a time that requires taking time away from your partner or kids. This creates a much easier conversation and less resentment than blocking off family hours.
Is it better to train at home or at a gym as a parent?
Training at home removes friction, no driving, no changing clothes for the gym, no leaving the house, which makes consistency significantly easier. It also keeps you physically present and accessible to your family during the time you'd otherwise spend commuting.
Does watching a parent exercise actually influence a child's habits?
Yes, modeling matters. Normalizing exercise and movement as a regular part of daily life gives children a strong example to follow, similarly to how normalizing screen time or convenience food every night sets a different kind of example.
What if you don't have as much flexibility as other parents to prioritize fitness?
Circumstances genuinely vary, and some people have more flexibility due to factors outside their control. Even with fewer resources or less flexibility, finding creative ways to make progress, even if slower than you'd like, is still possible and still counts.
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