Reclaim your time and take back control of your life

The Buff Dads Club is a health and fitness group for busy fathers who feel like they have no time on their hands and always put themselves last.

We provide the framework to get you into better shape, as well as the accountability to make sure you stay there.

• Stupid-simple eating plan that works with any dietary preferences (from vegan to carnivore, and everything in between, you're covered).

• Workout how you want to workout. No prescriptions here, only principles for you to make your own.

• Get more sh*t done in your life as you level up your day-to-day as a Dad thorugh our unique Side Quests.

• Healthy competition and collaborative support baked right in through our unique points-based leaderboard system.

• Gamieified fitness makes creating a better, stronger, healthier you, fun.

Never Count Calories

The Buff Dads Club brings you the simplest eating plan you've ever known. It's so versatile it will work with any type of dietary need, from keto to paleo, vegan to carnivore, and everything else in between. And you can forget counting calories, too!

Workout the Way You Want

Don't like weight lifting? Hate long runs? Don't do them! Something is better than nothing, and the best plan is the one you stick to. Exercise how you feel best and in a way that's right for your body, your interests, and your hectic schedule.

Complete Daily Side Quests

Set yourself personal challenges and finally get them done. Whether it's learning a new skill, getting a long-standing task out the way, quitting a bad habit or doing more for your family or community, the Buff Dads Club will keep you on track.

Track your Performance

Score points for successfully implementing good habits, and track your performance over time on the Buff Dads Club leaderboards. Monitor real world body changes, too, with regular weigh ins so you can see the results of your efforts.

Leverage your Psychology

The Club brings a unique blend of competition and support, tapping into specific aspects of male psychology. We'll celebrate with you when things go well and pick you up again when they don't. We're all on the same journey, here.

Benefit from Accountability

Accountability is the missing piece of the puzzle. With our own private social platform, weekly Summits, discussion groups and gamification, you'll have everything you need to make sure that, this time, it really sticks.

Earn points and log your score on the Leaderboard

Earn points for performance - based on your adherance to the Eating Plan, Workout Plan, Side Quests and Weigh In - and log your score on our leaderboards. You'll also be logging your real world results - how much fat you've lost and / or muscle you've gained - and comparing yourself to your previous results.

Collect badges and secure Club Status

Collect badges for completing Club challenges, and climb the ranks with Club Status for helping others and actively adding value to the group. Challenges are always stretching, but never dull. You'll be pushed out of uour comfort zone, building out your profile as you go. Can you collect them all?

Make commitments and benefit from accountability

You'll commit to Weekly Promises, of your choosing, and publicly declare them to the other members of the Club. Benefit from the accountability of others as they challenge you, week in, week out, on whether you did what you said you would do. Weekly live-streamed Summits complete the accountability we offer.

Rich is a former strongman competitor, having regularly taken part in contests around the UK. While strongmen aren't known for their lean physiques, Rich did have very high levels of strength and muscular endurance (lifting a car 21 times in one minute while his competitor managed just 5!)

However, once his children came along, he found it increasingly difficult to stay on top of his training. The stress resulted in ever greater temptation to overeat and he noticed body fat creeping on as a result. The stresses of fatherhood were taking their toll.

He knew something had to change. He missed feeling strong and in control, and as he'd noticed bad habits edging their way into his life, he desired an overhaul. A lifestyle shift. He was curious and open minded. In his own words, while he didn't know it at the time, he needed the Buff Dads Club. But there's more to the story.

Rich suffered three agonising injuries, each as a result of pushing himself beyond his limits in training. He required a knee reconstruction, he tore both of his triceps and he sustained a lower back injury.

The combination proved devastating. Rich ballooned up to 111kg. Unable to train, and recovering from serious injuries, while managing the ups and downs of being a new parent, it seemed that there was no way to avoid getting increasingly fat.

With substantial struggle while dealing with his recovery, he managed to get his weight down to around 95kg, then discovered the early iterations of the Buff Dads Club. He signed up. I'll let him tell you in his own words why he made that decision.

Rich joined the early iterations of the Buff Dads Club way back in 2019. His weight at the time was 95.5kg, with a waist measuring 101cm. His body fat sat at around 25.7%. By his estimation, he had work to do.

Rich is a very competitive guy. He immediately embraced the points-scoring and set out to definitively change his lifestyle. The desire to score points kept him focused and dedicated. He turned his attention to bodyweight strength training and short, HIIT-based workouts (each of these was only 16 minutes long!)

He also tweaked his diet, following the incredibly simple and flexible BDC Eating Plan, and wouldn't allow himself a cheat day either (personal choice - cheat day works for well for some as a psychological release, and less well for others, as it represents temptation and slipping back into old ways).

After his first six months as a member, Rich's weight stood at 88.7kg with a waist measurement of 86.5cm. His body fat was 14.9%, a drop of 10.8%! He'd managed to lose 11.4kg of fat as well as gain 4.6kg of lean tissue!

But he wasn't done yet. He upped the ante, doubling down on the intensity of his strength training. At this point, the Eating Plan was second nature to him, and he no longer craved any of the temptations of the past. By now, he also rarely drank alcohol, and didn't miss it.

Rich pursued his Side Quests, adopting and integrating a range of positive changes into his life, including cold showers and daily morning hydration.

Putting on a t-shirt upside down

Taking a one-minute ice bath

Following two more seasons, Rich had transformed himself, physically and mentally. The man of the past was unrecognisable.

His life was just as busy, if not even busier. He'd started a new business, that was going from strength to strength. He still had two children, and the demands of family life that this entails.

But his results? Rich finished his final season of those early days of the Buff Dads Club weighing in at 86.8kg, with a waist measurement of 83cm, and a body fat percentage of 12.9%

He'd lost a monstrous 13.4kg of fat - more than half of the fat on his body! - and trimmed a massive 18cm from his waist.

He still follows the BDC Eating Plan

It's second nature now, but his food doesn't control him. He'll still indulge every now and then, with some drinks or the odd smash burger, but he's never looking back.

He still does regular strength training

He's pivoted his workouts towards weight lifting now, and set up a home gym, but HIIT and bodyweight still feature, with some occasional outdoor mud runs.

And now he loves ice baths - and takes them daily!

Despite the first one being "the worst thing he's ever done in his life", Rich has grown to love ice baths, and even bought one for his garden, which he gets in every day!

What is the

Buff Dads Club?

The BDC is a place for fathers, particularly those of young children, to get into better shape and, crucially, stay in better shape, despite the relentless challenge of parenthood.

When we become Dads, the demands on our time are like nothing we ever thought possible, and require a levelling up that we could not previously have imagined.

Accountability, support, brotherhood and camaraderie, as well as healthy competition, make sure we hit our goals and then, once we've done so, maintain them.

Meet your host

My name's James, a proud Dad to two girls and a boy. I started the Buff Dads Club after I became a Dad for the first time, back in 2019, with friends and family, after I realised just how quickly I'd let myself go, and just how easy it was to do so.

I'd spent years sifting through the huge volumes of information out there on diet and exercise, and found that many things were either too restrictive, too prescriptive, or just too time consuming to adhere to.

I discovered that there are a small minority of things that truly move the needle. The rest is noise. And I want to share that with more Dads who may be in exactly the same boat.

I don't sit apart from the Club. I am in it. I participate. I do the same things as the other members, week in, week out. I eat my own dog food. I am both coach and member, shoulder to shoulder with everyone else.

The challenges we face as Dads are universal, and I'm no exception.

Eat well and workout according to your plan

Eat meals compliant with the BDC eating plan and map out your workouts for the week. Then go about your life, ticking things off as you go day by day.

Record your points and measure yourself

Keep track of your points throughout the week - using either an app or good old fashioned pen and paper - and measure your weight and waist regularly.

Submit your score each week and track progress

Enter your points for each week to see how you fare on our leaderboard, and plug in your weight and waist measurements to monitor your progress.

The BDC was born

After the first ever season of the Buff Dads Club, run with just a small group of my friends, and some of my brothers, we realised two things. First, we all got great results. Second, we had a tonne of fun getting them. We all loved the accountability, the competitive spirit and the sense of camaraderie that resulted from the Club's unique nature.

So I refined the structure, tweaked the scoring, and tested the rules and challenges and engagement methods, until I was sure it was ready for bigger groups, and capable of delivering the same high-quality experience at scale, without losing the integrity of the original, the essence of what made it so special.

The Club we have today is the result of this effort.

I am in the trenches with you

I do not speak to you from an edifice of physical perfection. I am very unlikely to make the cover of Men's Health. I am not precisely where I want to be, and often fluctuate throughout the year. Like nature itself, I too change with the seasons.

But, I live by the precepts of this Club. You will see me, on the inside, in the groups, day in, day out. You'll see my score on the leaderboards, in with everyone else's, every week (and trust me, it's not always a perfect score!)

I walk the talk and I take my own medicine. My life is often chaotic and prone to interruption, but I'm on this journey too, with you. Why? Because I'm just like you.

Join me.

I was at my worst when my second child was born

My second daughter was born in Merida, Mexico. I'd relocated my pregnant wife, and our first daughter, to make sure this could happen. Here, I am 111kg and 29% body fat

My stress levels were through the roof

I was still working remotely, juggling two jobs on UK hours. I was getting up at 02:45AM, every week day, to get started. This played havoc on my sleep quality.

And I'd ditched all exercise in favour of nice, cold beer

Merida is hot. Scorching hot. The temptation to skip exercise, in favour of lounging by the pool with a nice cold beer, proved irresistible.

These days, I tend to hover at between 93kg and 95kg

At the moment, my weight tends to settle around 94kg, at a body fat percentage of roughly 20%. I am much stronger than I've ever been, at a lower body fat percentage. I make better choices with my food and drink, consistently, and workout more too.

I'm enjoying my time as a Dad feeling lighter, healthier and stronger than ever!

I can play with my kids without getting too tired and I know that I am becoming the physically capable Dad they deserve. I walk or cycle them to school every day and it feels great to do so!

I'm not done yet, though. Still plenty more to do!

I'm not finished yet, though. In fact, I'll never be finished. That's the point. It's an ongoing lifestyle. The work is never 'done' And that's just fine. I'm on my own journey and I'd love for you to join me, side by side, as you undertake yours.

1. Onboard into the Club

Once you sign up, you'll learn the key precepts of the Buff Dads Club structure, including your Eating Plan, Workout Plan and Side Quests. You'll introduce yourself to the rest of the Club and take your baseline measurements (weight and waist - don't worry, we'll show you how) so you'll have something to look back on and be proud.

2. Record your performance

You'll kick off the season, scoring yourself as you go based on your adherence to the Club's precepts. You can record these points however you like (we use an honesty system here) and report them, once a week, to secure your place on the Leaderboard. You'll also submit your weight and waist measurements regularly.

3. Adapt and progress

As you progress, you'll review your performance and engage with the rest of the Club. Share your sticking points, and celebrate your successes. We hold weekly calls, that we call Summits, and host special challenges and quirky games regularly. You'll iteratively improve as you go, getting better each day. Remember, it's progress, not perfection.