How To Stay Fit and Focused When You're 40+ (with Kids) 💪
The sustainable health habits of 4 founders over 40 with young families
👋 Hey, Dan here,
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Fit Founder', where I interview successful founders about their health and fitness habits.
This time, rather than focusing on one, I decided to feature and compare multiple founders. Because I realised everyone I’d interviewed were fit founders 40+ (with kids).
But first, are you a founder over 40 with kids too?
Introducing: ⭕️ Founder Circles (40+ with kids edition)
If you’re a founder over 40 with kids – you know it’s a whole different game.
More responsibilities. Less time. Fewer people like you.
I’m pulling together small, curated in-person Founder Circles in Amsterdam (and maybe beyond).
✅ Real talk about the challenges and tactics.
✅ Real in-person connection.
✅ Somewhere outside your usual routine.
Interested?
This is part of my 6 side projects in 6 months challenge.
Now, back to this week’s newsletter…
Fit, Focused & 40+ Founders – the Lineup:
Jorrit Steinz: Founder of ChannelEngine, 200+ employees, based in the Netherlands (father of 3)
Patricia Puiggros: Founder of IKI Health, former doctor & paddle surf champion, Mallorca (mother of 2)
Camille Richardson: Founder of OneFit (sold), now travel startup Voyin, Utrecht (father of 3)
Aline Lerner: Founder of interviewing.io, California (mother of 2)
What you'll learn:
How to structure your exercise routine for maximum efficiency and work productivity
Sleep and stress management systems for busy and family-first founders
How to do 10 pull-ups (as a female founder over 40)
Which supplements to choose and why
The 4/4 consensus on alcohol
Let's dive in 👇
Quick note: The response to Fit Founder has been amazing - I have a backlog of founders wanting to share their health habits. So many that I could be writing about only this topic every week for the next 3 months!
I realised that every founder I've spoken to so far is over 40 with kids - which was never my plan. But it shows that today's founders are proving you can build great companies while staying healthy and raising families. I find that inspiring!
🏋️ Exercise: It's About Consistency
The most clear pattern I noticed across founders when it comes to exercise? Consistency matters.
They've all built sustainable exercise routines that integrate with their responsibilities as a founder. And it actually enhances their day-to-day performance.
The High-Growth Founder's Integration
Jorrit has learned to weave exercise into his work rhythm:
“For me, sports is a form of meditation. I can disconnect my mind, put things into perspective. Your decisions determine the direction, and direction determines how much effort you have to put into things.”
Jorrit's routine:
At least one form of exercise every day: a mix of HiiT, weights, running and preferably kitesurfing or bouldering multiple times a week.
Bikram yoga once a week
Ice baths for recovery
Travel-adapted routines for his international schedule
The "Mandatory Minimum" Approach
Patricia:
“Every day that I work, I do a minimum 30 minutes of walking. Not in the city, not to go shopping–just walking with my dog and my running shoes on. It's mandatory for me.”
“You need to move. You need to breathe. Sometimes I send messages or do calls while walking. So it's not mindfulness, it's a moment to move the body and to activate the muscles.”
Patricia's routine:
Daily walking: 30-60 minutes with her Border Collie
Running: Maximum 5k ("just for health, not to compete")
Cycling: Reduced from 3-hour Saturday group rides to 1-hour solo sessions due to time constraints
Paddle surfing at sunrise or sunset: "One of my favourite sports" – both with and without waves
The Fitness Founder's Balanced Approach
Camille combines structure with flexibility:
"I go to the gym three times a week, and I cycle—I try to do six hours a week. I need to take the break exercise gives me: so I go to the gym, lift weights and go back, or I go for a bike ride. If I don't do that, I literally go crazy. I also sign up for at least one cycling event per year, so I have a big goal to work towards."
Camille's routine:
Gym: 3x per week, full-body workouts (45 minutes)
Cycling: 6 hours per week, including one longer weekend ride (3+ hours)
Annual events: Races to maintain motivation and gradually increase training
Built-in Flexibility:
"Generally, I cycle during the week when I need a break from work. Sometimes I do everything in the morning and cycle in the evening. Some days I don't do anything because I'm too busy."
The Professional Trainer Approach
Aline has perhaps the most structured approach:
“I see a trainer five days a week. It's probably the most money I've ever spent on a single thing. But it's completely changed my life. It obviously made me stronger, but also helped smooth out the ups and downs of my job [as a founder], which are constant. I just feel so much more confident, both mentally and physically.”
Aline's routine:
5 days per week with personal trainer (weekday evenings)
Focus on high-intensity interval training, weights and pull-ups
Follows the Russian fighter pull up programme and can do 10+ pull-ups
Mix of strength and metabolic days
Aline's non-negotiable boundary:
“When I go to the gym, I walk there, I walk back. It's an hour and a half out of my day. But that's not negotiable.”
Breaking the Pull-Up Myth:
Aline is passionate about challenging misconceptions around women's fitness capabilities:
"There are all sorts of bullshit pieces out there like this New York Times one which reinforce the idea that women can't do pull-ups, and it's nonsense. So is the idea that you have to look perfect to talk about fitness. I’m not an athlete. I still have a bunch of baby weight clinging to me, and if you met me on the street right now, you definitely wouldn’t think, “Oh, this lady is fit.”
But, nevertheless, I can do 10 pull-ups, and less than a year post-partum at that. Yes, it took me years of training almost every day, but anyone who prioritizes that (or whatever their fitness goal is) can do it."
Exercise Comparison: Different Approaches, Same Consistency
🥗 Nutrition: Evidence-Based Simplicity
The nutrition approaches vary–but with consistent underlying principles.
The Whole Foods Philosophy
Jorrit offers the clearest framework:
“Don't eat processed crap. All diets work because they eliminate processed food. As long as it's just whole foods, healthy foods, it doesn't matter whether you're vegetarian or carnivore.”
Jorrit has also adopted intermittent fasting together with strategic food choices:
“I try to avoid carbs during the first meal. I have four eggs in some shape or form, avocado, some olive oil—that sets the pace for the day. I notice if I eat too many carbs, then you go into that dip.”
Jorrit's supplements:
Magnesium ("A lot of people have a magnesium deficit–if you want to sleep well, that helps")
Vitamin D3 and K2
Vitamin C
Fish oil
Chlorella and spirulina tablets ("for fibers and healthy food")
The Medical Zero-Sugar Approach
Patricia has implemented what she calls "healthy fast food":
"We don't have any sugar at home—zero, no kind of sugar, not stevia, not black sugar, not white sugar, nothing. We eat mainly plant-based but not vegetarian. I eat a lot of eggs, I love eggs."
Her family's daily staple is "trampo" – a Majorcan salad of green pepper, tomato, onion and olive oil that can be prepared in bulk and modified with eggs, tuna, or legumes.
Patricia takes some supplements to complement her already ultra-healthy diet:
Omega-3
Magnesium
Ashwagandha ("Benefits for women's health and managing stress")
The Intermittent Fasting Approach
Camille has practiced fasting for decades, without really calling it fasting:
"I don't eat breakfast. I've been doing that for 20 years. I only eat breakfast if I'm on holiday, or if we're in a hotel with kids."
His discovery:
"Once you get used to it, it doesn't pass my mind to eat something. I can start eating at four o'clock in the afternoon—it's totally fine. My body just got used to it."
Camille's cycling reality check:
"I tried to do a low-carb diet recently, but it's impossible to combine that with cycling. My legs were hurting after 20 minutes on the bike. I couldn't produce any power."
The Intuitive Eating Approach
Aline takes a refreshingly honest approach:
“Nobody should ask me about diet, because I eat like a child! I've never been good at eating particularly healthily: I eat chocolate every single day, but it seems to be working for me.”
Her weight management philosophy:
“I have found that I'm pretty good at gaining weight and losing weight... What's effective for me is just taking in fewer calories than I burn. And then I have found that it really doesn't matter what I eat.”
Aline's natural eating pattern:
“I don't really like eating dinner... I prefer to eat most of my food in the first half of the day, not because I'm doing intermittent fasting, but because I just feel better. I'm starving in the morning, I'm starving through lunch. Then I eat, and I'm kind of okay after that.”
Supplement Strategies: From Medical Precision to Basic Essentials
😴 Sleep: The Non-Negotiable Foundation
Sleep emerges as the most prioritised health factor among all founders.
Travel and Sleep Disruption
Jorrit emphasises consistency over duration:
"I try to be in bed by 10:30pm and get up at 6:45am. The last few months, I'm trying to be more consistent in the times I go to bed and wake up at the same time—doesn't matter if it's during the week or the weekend."
Jorrit, who travels frequently for ChannelEngine's international operations, shares these practical strategies:
“Apart from traveling, because I do travel a lot and that screws up my sleep routine, I try to make sure you don't eat too close to sleeping. If you travel to the US, your whole rhythm is screwed up. I try to sometimes do full fasting during flights—it helps get into a fresh rhythm.”
Digital Boundaries for Better Sleep
Patricia has the strictest digital protocol:
"I have a home office separate from the house, and when I go to the house at night, I put my phone in flight mode. If I have work to do, I sometimes stay in the studio until 10pm. But when I go to the house, I put flight mode on."
Her medical insight on sleep timing:
"There are studies that if you go to sleep after 11, you start to change all your hormones. First cortisol, but then leptin, the hormone that manages the feeling of being full. If you go to sleep after 11 as a routine, you may have problems with obesity.”
Meditation for Sleep Quality
Camille discovered meditation as a game-changer for founder sleep challenges:
"I had really bad sleep hygiene because I used to work too late or stay on my phone, figuring things out. Especially when you're first starting a company, your brain is constantly on. It's really difficult to switch off."
His solution: "
Recently, I started meditating, and it works like a charm. If I wake up at 5am and my brain turns on, I do guided meditation and fall back asleep. Nine out of ten times it works. I use the app Breathe."
The Founder Mind Racing Solution
Aline has developed a strict work cutoff policy:
"I try to be in bed by nine every night, and up at six something every day... One thing that I do religiously is I have to stop working a few hours before I get into bed. Otherwise, my mind is racing."
Her realistic approach:
"I'm not asleep at nine. But it takes some time to wind down. There are some days when it's six. Anything below six, I'm just a zombie and not worth interacting with."
Sleep & Schedule Strategies: Protecting the Foundation
🍺 The Alcohol Reality Check
The consensus: all founders have dramatically reduced their alcohol consumption.
The Strategic Moderation
Jorrit has made an even more dramatic shift:
“I hardly drink. I used to drink every day many years ago... but now hardly anything. Last year I tried a dry January—let's do a dry year. Now I only drink at special occasions, for instance at a very good restaurants with good wine, and just a little bit for taste.”
His insight:
"Better sleep, better focus, better productivity. And it gets easier over time, especially once people are used to you not drinking. I notice more people are not drinking nowadays."
The Medical Perspective
Patricia takes an almost zero approach:
"Almost zero. My body doesn't enjoy it. Maybe when I was younger, but I prefer to be good the next day. Now after two glasses of wine, my mind feels foggy and my body stiff the next day. Occasionally, just one crisp glass of white wine is enough to enjoy the social moment without feeling off the following morning"
The Strategic Moderation
Camille has clear boundaries:
"I don't drink during the week. And on the weekend, I can have a beer or a glass of wine. It's fine, but not during the week. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally I don't do that."
The Social Reality
Aline acknowledges the social aspect of drinking while also prioritising performance:
"Alcohol ends up being the first thing to go [when focusing on health]. But yeah, I love a drink. Nothing wrong with it."
The Common Thread: All founders have moved from social drinking to strategic, minimal consumption–prioritising performance.
🧘 Mental Fitness: Exercise as Meditation
Here's the surprising pattern: none of these founders rely on traditional meditation. Instead, they've all discovered that physical exercise serves as their primary stress management and mental processing tool.
The Common Thread: Movement as Mindfulness
Jorrit captures what everyone else said:
"For me, sports is a form of meditation. I can disconnect my mind and put things into perspective. It's super easy to have everything running in your mind continuously. I know how to disconnect it. And that's with exercise."
Even Patricia's approach centres on movement:
"For me, walking is movement, global movement. You don't need to do anything more complex than move. Sometimes I'm really efficient [at working] when I go for a walk."
Aline is direct about why formal meditation doesn't work for her:
"I don't [do meditation]. It hasn't worked well for me. But I think part of the reason I don't is because of all the physical exercise I do. It solves a lot of low-grade problems."
The Founder Support System
Beyond exercise, Aline highlights another crucial element:
"The other thing that really works for me is talking to other founders. Having a partner who understands what this is, and has been through it, is amazing."
The pattern: these founders have replaced meditation with physical exercise. This serves the same mental processing function–while delivering the bonus of improved fitness and energy. This then becomes the foundation for both mental resilience and business performance.
⚖️ Work-Life Integration at Scale
As companies grow, maintaining health habits becomes more challenging. Here's how each founder has adapted.
The Team-Enabled Approach
Jorrit emphasises building processes that don't depend on him:
"Most important is to have a team around you that takes operational responsibility. If I'm not there, there's nothing dependent on me except some signatures, which my PA can do."
His work philosophy challenges hustle culture:
"I don't believe in structural overtime, or continuously working, because then people are available - but are they actually producing the results you want? That's often quantity over quality."
On the 996 debate:
"I think it's most effective to have people that are really engaged and want to get stuff done... I don't want the mentality of nine-to-five with a break in between, but I also don't want people working many hours longer every day or weekends structurally. It’s more important to be able to count on them when it matters in urgent situations at flexible times"
Company Culture Extension
Jorrit actively promotes health within his company:
"We have gym memberships as well. We have a small meditation room (not used enough). I openly advocate for sports, healthy living, and you see plenty of people that love that as well."
The Reality of Parent Founders
Patricia has found creative ways to blend her founder responsibilities with her role as mother to two competitive young tennis players:
"I've basically turned the Rafa Nadal Academy into my personal co-working space. When the boys are training, I'm there working. What better meeting room could I ask for?"
Her perspective on managing the dual demands:
"Every challenge brings its perks if viewed positively. I'm proud to serve as a female role model for my two boys–whether they become future entrepreneurs or professional tennis players."
Camille describes the integration challenge as a parent of young kids:
"Having kids changes a lot. They want your attention, they need your attention. So if I want to get something done before the end of day, I'll find a way to do it by working at night or whatever."
The Support System Approach
Aline is refreshingly candid about the help needed:
"There's no world where I would be able to work 60 hours a week without having nannies and grandparents flying in and out and all of this other stuff."
Her perspective on work-life balance:
"We have a tonne of help, and I'm very grateful, but that's why I can work 60 hours a week."
On normalising support:
"What my pet peeve is, you know, mums who 'do it all,' I do this and I do that. Well, can you talk about who's supporting you?"
The Common Thread: All founders have had to evolve their health routines as their companies scale, whether through delegation, physical boundaries, building health-conscious company cultures, or normalising the support systems that make it all possible.
⚡️ Final Thought: The Real Competitive Advantage
The most striking insight from these conversations is that none of these founders treat health as separate from their business success. It's fundamental to it.
The real competitive advantage isn't having perfect health habits–it's having sustainable ones that compound over time. Whether it's Jorrit's sports-as-meditation approach, Patricia's mandatory daily walks, Camille's structured flexibility, or Aline's investment in professional training, the founders who stay healthy long-term are those who've built routines that work with their reality.
Health and fitness are infrastructure for successful founders.
Until next time,
Dan
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