Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to break through those fitness barriers without picking up an injury or becoming unwell and simply knackered…? Have you ever wondered why you wake up in the morning and you would swear by the way your body feels you have put on 20kgs overnight.

Well here it is…

The average corporate or company worker in my opinion is like an athlete with excessive demands and little guidance.

And I’m not talking about exercise yet either!
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Work demands put strain on the body, long hours, and stress, sometimes physical, invariably mental. The effect of constant stress through work demands and mental energy expenditure is actually as demanding as physical stress from sports. In fact it is often more so.

In sport and exercise there are health benefits, pressure release through the cathartic effect of endorphins etc. In professional sports, there are coaches, carefully planned schedules and recovery periods.

In the business world, there is stress, pressure, performance requirements whilst being couped up in an office behind a desk for many hours.

There is nowhere to get an endorphin hit, the body is in an unnatural position and you are lucky if you have anything other then a demanding boss asking you why you look like you haven’t slept since last month.

Pressure Cooker

Stress starts to bounce around inside you like popping popcorn hammering at your insides as the temperature rises. Your body switches from its normal metabolising state and calm parasympathetic nervous system to the fight or flight sympathetic system. You get home and realise that you had promised yourself you would go for a long run. You force yourself into overdrive to hammer the pavement in the hope it will cure all.

Whereas actually the result is opposite

That’s right you will break down. The stress of work and the strain of exercise couples to reach your breaking point.

You wouldn’t expect an athlete of any standard to be able to perform without looking after their body, without thinking about nutrition or without planning their training. Why is work in a suit any different? It’s not.

The Ingredients of Sustainable Success

So to perform at your best consistently at work, reach your exercise goals and stay healthy you need to start thinking like the elite performers.

1. You need a trainer or coach to structure your program effectively. This may mean using periodisation it may mean cross training it may mean a combination of both.
2. You need to be consuming the right fuel. If you have not considered what fuel you are putting into your body then how can you expect to perform at high levels. Do you think a high performance car is going to be any better then a tractor if you feed it diesel well no you will be lucky if it functions at all.
3. Focus on recovery. If you have not thought about planned recovery time then you have no hope. Factor in some rest days, some stretching or meditation and even a holiday.

Poor Health = Poor Performance = Increased Costs

With poor performance costing companies billions of dollars per year it is about time we all realised the obvious; performance without adequate planning comes with a cost, a human cost.

So if you expect to be a high flyer and have health and fitness objectives, think about it, you are a corporate athlete with a profession as your event. Treat yourself like a high performance machine making sure you put in ALL the ingredients required and you will perform. Skip rest, nutrition, exercise or any of the ingredients and you can at best hope for 60% of what you are actually capable of and it won’t be enjoyable!

Keep an eye on The Lab for more performance tips!

Ever looked at your worn out trainers sitting in the corner and hated the thought of putting them on and going for a run. Ever wished you’d drown rather than look at that incessant black line on the bottom of the pool for one more second. Sounds like your suffering from a serious case of repetitive training.
Continuous training of one sort or another will inevitably become boring eventually resulting in us stopping that activity. The secret is to break up your exercise routine, and try something new that you enjoy. By doing this you will stay interested and break the monotonous cycle that often ends in dropout. Exercise is great for our health and well being, but only if it is continuous.
Summer is a great time to introduce a mix of exercises into your program; instead of jogging on your treadmill in front of the TV, get outdoors and experience some fresh air on one of the many running tracks. As a substitute for pounding the pavement for another 30km this week; take advantage of the improved weather and swim a few laps.
This system of including many different modes of exercise in your program is called Cross Training. The changes you make to your program could be day to day, or minute by minute; you could incorporate some short sprints into your endurance run to keep you on your toes; or do a cardio session instead of pumping iron. Cross Training also allows you to be flexible; if the pool is closed, go for a run.
Not only will Cross Training break the boredom and allow you to be more flexible, it also has its physiological benefits as well.

Cross Training -
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups.
Reduces the risk of acquiring an overuse injury.
Allows you to work some muscles while others rest and recover.
Allow you to continue training while injured.
Improves your skill, agility and balance.
When you continue exercising in one style your body becomes very efficient at this type of exercise; while this is good for specific competition, it limits just how conditioned you can become and may leave you susceptible to injuries of the joints, bones or muscles. By combining different types of exercise some of your muscles and joints can rest while the others are working.
Making the switch to new forms and intensities of training can be difficult, and the new muscles that are working are more vulnerable. So start out slowly and build into it. Keep the intensity lower and the time shorter for your new exercise than you would for your old one, and give yourself time to learn the new skills or techniques.
All exercises have their good and bad points, so when mixing it up it is important to chop and change your program to suit you at your specific point in time. For example cycling is a non weight bearing activity so it is easy on your joints; however we need weight bearing activities to help build the strength of our bones. Running on a treadmill is good for increasing cardiovascular fitness; but it doesn’t challenge our balance and kinesthetic awareness like running on an uneven path.
It is all well and good to be doing 30 different types of exercise every week, but the key is enjoyment. Try many, find the ones that you enjoy, and integrate these into your training. That way you will be looking forward to your workout every day. It may take some time to find and perfect the right mix, but the hard work will payoff in the form of increased enjoyment, less boredom and results.