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A fit CEO is an effective CEO: Why leaders need to make time for exercise

The busier you are, the more important it is to be active. Make time for exercise because you are busy

Published September 9, 2018 1:00PM (EDT)

 (Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

Excerpted with permission from "Work Stronger: Habits for More Energy, Less Stress, and Higher Performance at Work" by Pete Leibman. Copyright 2018 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

As author and high-performance coach Pete Leibman demonstrates in his eye-opening book, stronger hours (not longer hours) are the key to feeling and performing your best over the long term.

If you think that you are busy, imagine being CEO of a publicly-traded internet company that provides non-stop, twenty-four/seven service to over 200 million active users, including A-list celebrities, political leaders, and the Pope. It would be easy for someone leading such an organization to claim that he was too busy to find time for exercise.

However, Dick Costolo, internet entrepreneur and former CEO at Twitter, found that strenuous exercise gave him the energy and resilience required to run one of the most active, influential web sites on the planet. Dick makes time for exercise. “This is probably the best investment in yourself that you can make,” he told me. “You’ll get a much bigger return from twenty minutes of exercise than you will from another twenty minutes wading through emails or being in meetings.”

The busier you are, the more important it is to be active. Saying you are too busy for exercise is like saying you are too busy to stop for gas because of how far you want to drive. Make time for exercise because you are busy. Exercise will make the rest of your day more productive, and it will make your brain stronger over the long-term. When you approach exercise the right way, you do not need as much time as you might think anyway. For example, one experiment by scientists at McMaster University in Ontario demonstrated that five minutes of interval training (consisting of only sixty seconds of strenuous exercise) can yield the same physiological benefits as forty-five minutes of steady, less intense exercise.

Exercise Provides Countless Benefits for Your Career

Studies have demonstrated that exercise provides a number of brain-boosting benefits, including greater creativity, a sharper memory, and a stronger ability to focus. A study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign even demonstrated that exercise can reverse cognitive decline associated with aging.

Leaders interviewed for Work Stronger highlighted a number of additional reasons why they make time for exercise. Kristin Machacek Leary, CHRO at Forcepoint (a global cybersecurity company), told me that exercise makes her tougher. “I work and travel so much for business, and I believe an active lifestyle has kept me resilient and not drained,” she said.

Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO at Destination D.C. (the lead organization to successfully manage and market Washington, D.C. as a premier global convention, tourism, and special events destination), told me that exercise gives him more stamina. “A lot of people think that working out will make you tired, but it actually energizes you,” he said.

Tom Lokar, CHRO at Mitel (a global leader in enterprise business communications), told me that being fit gives him more confidence. “You realize that you have done things athletically that are harder than many of the challenges you face at work,” he said.

Barbara Tulipane, CEO at National Recreation and Park Association (the leading non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation), told me that exercise helps her reduce stress and that being physically fit is a secondary benefit to her. “To me, it’s all about alleviating stress and taking care of my mental health,” she said.

Robin Thurston, CEO at Helix (a consumer genomics company), told me that exercise helps him break away from work and technology. “The way I really disconnect is when I ride my bike,” he said. “I fundamentally need it. I don’t think I could operate at the level I need to without it.”

How Much Should You Exercise Each Week?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), a global leader in sports medicine and exercise science, provides the following as weekly exercise recommendations for adults:

  • Aerobic exercise: At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or at least of sixty minutes of high-intensity) aerobic activity each week.
  • Strength training exercises for all major muscle groups on at least two days each week.
  • Flexibility exercises for all major muscle groups on at least two days each week.
  • Balance and coordination exercises on at least two days each week.

You can meet these guidelines in about thirty minutes of exercise on five to six days a week. Anyone can set aside one half-hour each day (or most days). This is only 2 percent of your time. You do not need to start here though. This is simply what to aim for eventually.

Take a few minutes each weekend and schedule when you will exercise during the following week. Morning workouts are ideal since you have greater control over your schedule then, and they set a strong tone for your day. However, what’s most important is that you schedule your workouts at times that work for you. Exercising during your lunch hour or after work might work better for some people.

How Can You Get Started If You Are a Beginner?

Based on ACSM’s recommendations, the eventual goal is to exercise at a moderate or high intensity for at least thirty minutes a day on five to six days each week. Do not feel badly or overwhelmed if you are not yet at that level. Few people are. Pending approval by a doctor, beginners can start with one of the following two options for the first few weeks:

  • Option 1: Schedule a twenty to thirty minute moderate intensity workout on one to two days per week, and schedule a twenty to thirty minute low-intensity workout (i.e. walking) on four to five other days.
  • Option 2: Schedule a twenty to thirty minute moderate intensity workout on one to two days per week, but don’t schedule anything officially for the other days.

You might prefer scheduling more exercise sessions each week (Option 1), since exercise becomes a habit faster and part of your daily schedule when you do it all/most days. If a daily habit feels overwhelming though, focus on a smaller frequency first. Then, you can gradually increase your frequency of moderate or high-intensity workouts when you are ready.

How Can You Be More Consistent With Exercise?

The more you enjoy being active, the more likely you will turn exercise into a long-term habit. There are so many ways to be active, strong, and healthy. Here are four variables that you can adjust daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally to keep your routine fresh. Mix it up based on your interests and goals:

  1. What you listen to during exercise: Brunel University psychologist, Dr. Costas Karageorghis, has spent more than twenty years studying the relationship between music and exercise. His work has demonstrated that certain kinds of music can motivate you to train harder, faster, and longer. He says that the right music can increase endurance by as much as 15 percent and significantly reduce the perception of effort. His research has also shown that different kinds of music are better for different kinds of activity. Songs with a slower beat (eighty to 120 beats per minute) are generally better for warming up, cooling down, or exercising at a lesser intensity—when your heart rate will be lower. Songs with a faster beat (120-140 beats per minute) are generally better for exercising at a higher intensity—when your heart rate will be higher. If you do not want to be as scientific about it, you could simply listen to your favorite tunes, whatever they might be. Or…you could listen to books on tape. Or…you could listen to nothing. It’s up to you, so do whatever will make the experience as enjoyable as possible for you.
  • Where you exercise: If you have not enjoyed going to a gym in the past, you might have been at the wrong one for you. Some gyms will feel more hardcore, while others will feel more like a spa. This creates a very different environment (socially and physically). Your experience can even change at separate clubs run by the same company, or at different times of day at the same club. You do not have to go to a gym though. Instead, you could exercise at home or outside at a track, trail, park, beach, or pool.
  • How you exercise: If you do not enjoy running, you could go for a bike ride, jump rope, play basketball, or take a dance class. If you do not want to do strength training with barbells, you could use resistance bands, kettlebells, sand bags, or your own body weight. If you are overwhelmed or uninterested in designing your own workout, you could hire a trainer, take a group fitness class, use a fitness app, or follow a home workout program.
  • Who you exercise with: If you do not enjoy exercising by yourself, you could exercise with friends, co-workers, family members, or even pets. Scott O’Neil, CEO at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (which includes the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, and leading venue Prudential Center), has been organizing 6:00 a.m. pick-up basketball games for co-workers and business associates throughout his career. Don Monistere, president at TekLinks, told me that he lifts weights with his teenage son before they go to work/school every day. Barbara Tulipane, CEO at National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), told me that she likes to run with her dog sometimes.

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By Pete Leibman

Pete Leibman is the creator of StrongerHabits.com and he’s the author of "Work Stronger; Habits for More Energy, Less Stress, and Higher Performance at Work." Before writing "Work Stronger," Pete worked as an executive recruiter for Heidrick & Struggles, a leadership advisory firm who serves the majority of the Fortune 500.

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