Why Mark Wahlberg wakes up at 4:10 am every single day

Producer Mark Wahlberg poses at the premiere of "Entourage" at the Regency Village theatre in Los Angeles, California June 1, 2015. The movie opens in the U.S. on June 3. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni - RTR4YFQ2

At 45 years old, Mark Wahlberg is an Oscar-nominated actor and producer, an entrepreneur, a Catholic, and a father of four who never misses family dinner.

It’s hard to believe he’s the same guy who sold drugs and pleaded guilty to assaulting two Vietnamese men as a teen. Those 45 days at Boston’s Deer Island House of Correction were the start of how that guy became this guy.

Wahlberg’s jail cell lesson: Being a screwup is a choice.

“I knew the only way I could be successful was by working hard and doing the right thing,” he says.

That resolve is evident today in everything he does, starting with the alarm clock that goes off at 4:10 a.m.

Related: 5 Guys Who Wake Up At 4 a.m. Tell You How They Do It

In the September issue of Men’s Health (available on newsstands and the Apple iTunes Newsstand now), Wahlberg opens up about how he became the man he is now. Keep scrolling for a sneak preview.

There Are Always Enough Hours In The Day—If You Get Up Early Enough

Wahlberg is up before dawn most days for a workout with kettlebells, dumbbells, bands, and a jump rope.

Related: THE Men’s Health 21-DAY METASHRED: 30-Minute Fat-Burning Workouts You Can Do Without Even Leaving Your House!

He helps send the kids off to school before a day’s work: Deepwater Horizon, about the deadly 2010 oil rig explosion, opens September 30; Patriots Day, based on the Boston Marathon bombing, premieres in December; and Transformers: The Last Knight is due out next summer.

Still, he’s home in time for a never-miss family dinner.

“There’s more than enough time in a day as long as you’re not burning the candle at both ends,” Wahlberg says. “As long as I’m not going out and getting crazy, I’m good. I get eight hours of sleep.”

Related: What 7 Sleep Experts Do When They Can’t Doze Off 

Fatherhood Changes Everything

“You do things when you’re younger that when you become a father make you go, ‘Well, I’m going to have to explain it to the kids,’” Wahlberg says.

(It’s possible that he’s referring to the 1997 movie Boogie Nights, in which he played the generously proportioned porn star Dirk Diggler.)

Wahlberg and his wife, Rhea, have two girls and two boys ranging from 6 to 12 years old.

They don’t watch Dad’s grownup movies (“We don’t give them access to computers and YouTube and Google and all that shit,” he says), and parenthood makes Wahlberg think twice (well, okay, four times) about his projects.

Go Hard Or Go Home

Wahlberg plays golf—but for him it’s not a lazy Sunday activity. No, Wahlberg plays a game called “hit and run.”

Basically, that’s a 4-mile run punctuated by booming tee shots.

Related: 10 Cardio Exercises That Burn More Calories Than Running

“It’s like everything else Mark does,” says Armando, a man in his mid-50s who’s Wahlberg’s longtime caddie. “Don’t dick around. Go to the ball, hit it, go to the next one, hit it, get on the green. Got it?”

For more about Wahlberg—as well as a master guide to online dating and an in-depth look at the new science of fat loss—pick up the September issue of Men’s Health.

This article originally appeared on MensHealth.com.