Paternal obesity programs metabolic syndrome in offspring. Low‐impact exercise in obese males improves the metabolic health of female offspring, however whether this occurred in male offspring remained unknown. C57BL/6NHsd (Harlan) mice were fed a control diet (CD; 6% fat, n = 7) or a high‐fat diet (HFD; 21% fat, n = 16) for 18 weeks. After 9 weeks, HFD‐fed mice either remained sedentary (HH, n = 8) or undertook low–moderate exercise (HE, n = 8) for another 9 weeks. Male offspring were assessed for glucose/insulin tolerance, body composition, plasma lipids, pancreatic islet cell morphology and microRNA expression. Founder HH induced glucose intolerance, insulin insensitivity, and hyperlipidaemia in male offspring (p