Connecting through exercise: The Fit Dad Lifestyle
The Australian Men’s Health Forum presents the seventh instalment in our series on health initiatives that help men stay connected through exercise.
Leroy Faure, ex-army, online personal trainer, Brisbane-based businessman and founder of The Fit Dad Lifestyle, gets up at 4am every day. He didn’t do so before joining the military in 2005, nor during training and assignments in East Timor and Afghanistan before retiring from service in 2011.
But he certainly did learn the importance of routine and starting off the day hitting some personal targets with an early gym session and walking his dog.
Instead of watching forgettable ‘trending’ movies and TV series on Netflix, Leroy goes to bed at 9pm – approximately one hour after his young children have settled – and gives himself a chunk of time in the morning to work on his goals without the distractions of family life. “No one can take away that workout,” he says.
This has become one of pillars of his work, since 2019, providing online fitness training for dads and helping them overcome one of the key barriers to staying active: Time.
“They do have time, their excuse as to why they can’t do anything is invalid,” says Leroy, who often asks guys to show him their screen time app, tracking the hours spent on Facebook, You Tube and Tik Tok across devices.
As Leroy reminds them, “You do have time, you just don’t have priorities in place.”
He started The Fit Dad Lifestyle so that he could travel with his young family and develop an online personal training platform, documenting how he was keeping fit on the road with a four and two-year-old.
It piqued the interest of dads, looking for ways to be more involved with their kids, so Leroy started a Facebook group, now with 5500 members from around the world.
Next came a podcast, a fitness app and more recently, supplements under the Fit Dads Fuel brand, which has grown exponentially and is set for national distribution.
“We didn’t sell a thing in the first 12-18 months,” he says. “Everything was for free, a labour of love, and we were working on the side to support what we could do. We never knew we would get into the supplement space. We took an opportunity and created something out of nothing.”
His aim is to continue providing free and accessible daily workouts, using the profits of the supplement business to keep everything cost effective.
His key customers are dads aged 30-45 who have kids under 12 and his goal is simply to motivate them to move.
“No fad diets, or crazy regimes. Do what you want to do, eat what you want to eat and be active in a way you can sustain,” he says. “Live an active and healthy lifestyle that is manageable while your kids are growing up and be fit enough that you never have to say no to doing an activity with your kids because of your own physical health.”
Along with time management, he tries to get dads to stop comparing themselves to others. His website and app are filled with 15-minute workouts.
“Not one father can tell us they don’t have time to do that.”
While the website is free to access, those who want to enter his Facebook community are vetted. This is a safe space for members, and many who show up are quite vulnerable. They may have come through divorce or separation and develop friendships through the group. The Fit Dads Lifestyle has become a bedrock of support.
ALSO IN THIS SERIES
Connecting through exercise: The Man Walk
Connecting through exercise: Mongrels Man
Connecting through exercise: Beyond the Barbell
Connecting through exercise: The Hat Trick Program
Connecting through exercise: Exercise and Sports Science Australia
Connecting through exercise: Muscles that Matter Most
Connecting through exercise: The Friday Warriors
Connecting through exercise: Cycling to Wellness