5 Strength Training Hacks to Help Busy Dads Save Time in the Gym
Are you juggling a million things—work, family, and everything in between—and finding it nearly impossible to fit training into your schedule? You’re not alone. For busy dads, carving out time for the gym can feel like an uphill battle.
But here’s the good news: you don’t need hours of training to see results. In this article, I’ll share five science-backed strength training hacks designed specifically for time-strapped dads. These tips will help you save time, maximize your workouts, and still make progress—whether you’re looking to build muscle, get stronger, or just stay fit.
By the end of this post, you’ll know:
Excited to take your training to the next level? Great! Let’s dive in.
1. Take Advantage of the Mini-effective Dose
As a busy dad, I get it—there’s just not enough time to train as much as we’d like. And with that comes the fear of not doing enough to make progress. Imagine spending six months training consistently, only to realize it made no difference!
Sound familiar?
Well, here’s some good news: you don’t need as much training as you think to see results. This first tip will alleviate that fear. I’m going to show you the mini-effective dose for building muscle, improving health, and getting strong. The best part? It takes a lot less time than most people realize.
Minimum Dose for Building Muscle:
How much lifting do you need to build muscle and make strength gains? A surprising amount of research shows that you can make measurable gains in muscle mass with as little as four sets per muscle group per week. Gains increase as you add more sets, but the most time-efficient results come from 5-10 sets per muscle, per week.
For busy dads, this means you can make steady progress with just 2-3 full-body sessions per week, each lasting only 30-40 minutes.
Minimum Dose for Health & Longevity:
What about health and longevity? The benefits of strength training seem to max out at a similar place. A 2019 meta-analysis found that training 1-2 times per week was associated with a 21% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to no exercise. Training more than that didn’t confer additional benefits.
Minimum Dose for Getting Strong:
Strength development also maxes out around 5 sets per week. Anything beyond that is more for muscle mass or advanced athletes. While gaining mass eventually increases your strength potential, to maximize your strength at any given size, 5 sets per week is the sweet spot for time-strapped dads.
The Bottom Line:
It doesn’t take much training to check all the boxes. For most busy dads, 4-6 sets per muscle group per week is enough to make measurable progress. You can easily break this up into 2-3 full-body sessions lasting as little as 30-40 minutes.
Two Crucial Caveats:
First, this isn’t a Hollywood-style 6-month superhero transformation. This is the minimum-effective dose—you’ll make measurable progress, but big visual changes will take time. Think of it as trading time in the gym for sustainability. You won’t need to spend hours each week, but you will need to be consistent over many weeks.
Second, individual results vary. Easy gainers will see more progress from six sets than harder gainers. It's unclear if hard gainers need a higher minimum-effective dose or if their results just accumulate more slowly. If you're a hard gainer, you might experiment with a specialization program to see if higher volumes unlock greater gains.
2. Don’t Catastrophize a Bad Week, Month, or Season
Maybe you were crushing it all last year, but then 2024 came along and delivered a few swift kicks to the nuts. It happens. But it’s not as dire as many fitness influencers would have you believe.
First, it takes very little work to maintain your size and strength. Research shows that as few as 2-3 sets per muscle group per week are enough to maintain your gains. That’s just one 40-minute full-body session per week! Now, if you're in an energy deficit, sleep-deprived, or dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress, this might change things. Similarly, if you’re training for something like an Ironman, you’ll likely need more (you can read my Ironman recommendations [HERE]). But for most circumstances, it doesn’t take much to maintain.
Second, it takes years to lose all your gains. Research backs this up. A study looked at people who lifted weights for just one year around retirement age and then stopped. Even three years later, they were still stronger than when they started! So don’t panic if you’ve missed a week, a month, or even a year of lifting—just show up as often as you can.
Third, muscle memory is real. Even if you lose some progress, you can regain it much faster than it took to build it in the first place. Studies on tapering and detraining show that people bounce back quickly after a break.
For example, one recent study compared two groups: one that trained continuously for 20 weeks and another that trained for 10 weeks, took a 10-week break, and then resumed for another 10 weeks. While the second group lost some muscle and strength during the break, they nearly caught back up once they restarted their training.
Long story short: even if you’ve been away from lifting for a while, get back into it! Your progress will likely skyrocket compared to someone with zero training history.
3. Pick the Right Exercises (aka Why Deadlifts Suck)
Alright, I’m going to pick on deadlifts for a minute. Now, if you love deadlifts, relax—I think they’re badass too. There’s something primal about lifting a massive amount of weight off the floor, and if you’ve got a monster deadlift PR, I tip my hat to you.
But here’s the thing: deadlifts are a terrible choice for most busy dads. They’re the perfect example of what to avoid when selecting exercises. Here’s why.
First, deadlifts take a lot of time to set up and warm up. You’ve got to load the bar with plates and go through multiple warm-up sets to reach your working weight. Compare that to other hamstring exercises like leg curls, and it’s not even close in terms of efficiency.
Second, deadlifts generate a ton of fatigue. While they don’t produce more hamstring growth or strength than other exercises, they do produce far more fatigue. That means you’re using up more of your energy and recovery capacity without extra benefits.
Third, deadlifts don’t train any target muscle as effectively as other exercises. Sure, they hit your quads a bit, but not nearly as well as dedicated quad exercises. And while they work your hamstrings, the range of motion is short compared to leg curls or Romanian deadlifts (RDLs)
The bottom line: There are better exercises that target the same muscles more efficiently, with better results and less fatigue. That’s what you should aim for in your program. Take a good look at all of your exercises and ask yourself: “Could I swap this out for something quicker, less fatiguing, and more effective?”
When you do this right, you’ll find you don’t need as many exercises as you think to get a full-body workout. Focus on compound exercises that work the muscles well while minimizing fatigue.
4. Utilize Full Body Circuit Training
Alright, you’ve got 40 minutes to make magic happen. You want to build muscle, burn fat, and improve endurance. Plus, you’ve heard about the insane longevity benefits of a higher VO2 max. So how do you achieve all that in one session?
The answer: full-body circuit training.
This involves stringing together resistance exercises that work your entire body. You perform one set of each exercise, then circle back to the beginning for set number two. For example, you might start with a set of bench presses, then move to pull-ups, hamstring curls, lunges, and lateral raises. The key is taking little to no rest between sets. After completing one round of the circuit, you go back to the beginning for the next round.
Why Would You Do This?
Research shows that full-body circuit training can:
Reduce fat mass
Increase muscle mass
Improve strength
Boost VO2 max
Enhance aerobic performance
It covers all the fitness goals most dads are after. And most importantly, it saves a ton of time. You can often complete your workout in half the time by dramatically reducing or even eliminating rest periods.
Why It Works:
Let’s say you start your circuit with bench presses. You won’t work your chest again until you’ve completed a set of all the other exercises in the circuit. This means your chest gets a solid 10-15 minutes (or more) of rest between sets—more rest than in a traditional workout. This allows you to give maximum effort on each exercise.
However, there’s one limiting factor: cardio fitness. If you’re huffing and puffing after pull-ups, your hamstring curls might suffer, even though they target different muscles. But over time, your body will adapt, increasing your work capacity and cardio fitness. Eventually, you’ll be able to hit each set hard enough to stimulate both muscle growth and strength gains.
How to Put Circuit Training to Use:
The goal is to create a circuit that trains your entire body. Here’s a sample circuit workout. Each session should take less than 40 minutes, including setup and warm-up:
Where Are the Arm Exercises?
Keep in mind, chin-ups train your biceps, and bench press trains your triceps. So yes, your arms will get worked and grow over time. Would you see more growth with isolation exercises? Of course! But if you’re strapped for time and need to get the most out of your session, this is the way to go. If you have extra time, I’d recommend adding more compound lifts before focusing on arm isolation work.
5. Employ Antagonistic Supersets
You can take your training to the next level by incorporating antagonistic supersets. This involves pairing two exercises that target opposing muscle groups, which can actually boost your performance if the rest interval is kept short—around 60 seconds or less. For example, if you do a set of bench presses and then immediately move to rows, you may find you can do more reps of rows than usual.
Why Does This Matter for Dads?
It means you can save time in the gym while improving your performance. At the very least, antagonistic supersets lead to similar muscle mass gains as traditional lifting, and they allow you to finish your workout in 36% less time than conventional sets.
How Do You Use This?
To take advantage of antagonistic supersets, simply pair exercises that work opposing muscle groups. Perform a set of the first exercise, then immediately move on to the second exercise. After finishing the second exercise, rest for a minute or two. Here are some classic pairings:
Presses paired with pulls:
Push-ups paired with inverted rows
Bench press paired with chin-ups
Squat variations paired with hamstring exercises:
Romanian deadlifts paired with leg extensions
Squats paired with leg curls
Note: It sometimes makes sense to rest 60-90 seconds after particularly tough sets. You don’t want to approach the next exercise completely wrecked.
You can also incorporate antagonistic supersets into your circuit training. If you look back at the circuit training template above, you’ll notice I used this method within each circuit.
Concluding Thoughts
By using these five strategies—whether it’s focusing on the minimum-effective dose, picking the right exercises, or implementing circuit training and supersets—you can save time in the gym and still make serious progress. Busy dads don’t have to sacrifice fitness for family; it’s all about training smarter, not harder.
The best part? You can start using these tips today. Next time you hit the gym, try a full-body circuit or incorporate antagonistic supersets. Even with just 40 minutes, you’ll be making the most of it and seeing results in no time.
Are you a dad struggling to balance fitness and fatherhood?
Subscribe to receive a free copy of my eBook, “12 Science-backed Strategies to Help Dads Unleash Their Energy and Drive” and take your fitness—and energy—to the next level. You’ve got this, and I’m here to help.
