Andrew Gilliland
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The Working Dad Workout Program

The Problem

Life gets busy. A full-time job, kids, and everything else that comes with it leaves little room for yourself. But investing in your health pays dividends the older you get, and no one is going to carve out that time for you.

This is a 3-day-a-week program with workouts around an hour each. The goal is simple: build strength and endurance without the program taking over your life. Show up three days a week, do the work, eat right, get your sleep, and you will make progress.

Let’s get into it.

The Philosophy

Most fitness programs are designed for people with unlimited time. Two-a-days, 6-day splits, 90-minute sessions. None of that is realistic when you’re working full-time and raising kids.

This program is built around one idea: consistency beats intensity. Three solid workouts a week, every week, will outperform five brutal workouts a week that you quit after a month. The goal is a program you can actually sustain for years, not one that peaks in six weeks and burns you out.

A few principles that drive it:

Compound movements first. Squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows give you the most return on time invested. They build strength across multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Isolation work is secondary.

Progress is the point. Every workout, the goal is to do a little more than last time. One more set, a little more weight. This is called progressive overload and it’s the only mechanism that actually builds strength. Showing up without pushing forward is just maintenance.

Rest is part of the program. You don’t get stronger during the workout. You get stronger during recovery. Sleep, nutrition, and rest days aren’t optional. That is when the adaptation happens.

The Program

Each workout follows the same structure: a brief warm-up, three supersets, and a cooldown. A superset means performing two exercises back-to-back with no rest between them, then resting 60–90 seconds before repeating. This keeps your heart rate up and cuts down on wasted time between sets.

Rep ranges: 12–15 reps per exercise. Stop 2–5 reps short of failure - you should feel challenged but never like your form is breaking down. If it is, drop the weight. Focused form and controlled reps. We’re not ego lifting here.

Run the three workouts on non-consecutive days. Monday / Wednesday / Friday works well, but any three days with a rest day between each is fine.

Timed exercises: Mountain Climbers, Lying Leg Raises, Planks, Flutter Kicks, and Wall Sits are done for time rather than reps. Aim for 30–45 seconds per set to start. As they get easier, push toward 60 seconds before adding sets.


Workout 1

SupersetExercise 1Exercise 2Sets
ASquatMountain Climber3
BDumbbell Incline PressDumbbell Chest Fly3
CTriceps ExtensionLying Leg Raises4

Workout 2

SupersetExercise 1Exercise 2Sets
ADeadliftPlank3
BLat PulldownDumbbell Row3
CBarbell CurlFlutter Kicks4

Workout 3

SupersetExercise 1Exercise 2Sets
AAlternating Reverse LungeWall Sits3
BOverhead Dumbbell PressDumbbell Front Raise3
CDumbbell Lateral RaiseLying Leg Raises4

The Exercises

Coming soon.

The Diet

Coming soon.

The Results

Coming soon.

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