Your health as a founder is a priority — it affects how well you run your company. But you may be time-crunched, a frequent flyer, on a tight cash flow, etc. Such circumstances can make it hard to exercise.

I am the Founder of a bootstrapped health startup, and similarly, I face such challenges.

Thankfully, I have a decade of personal trainer and coaching experience, and last year, I decided to practice what I preach. The result? I tangibly improved my health, and leading my company became more enjoyable.

Here are five tips I have for fellow founders who want to take back their health; we start with the obvious, then go into the magic.

Set workout goals based on your health needs

Not all workouts are created equal. For example, a particular type of workout is better for you if you have high blood pressure (isometrics). Likewise, if you are going through perimenopause, on weight loss drugs, etc.

It is essential to find out what health goal you should set as the target for your workouts. Without an informed goal, you will likely spend mindless effort improving your fitness instead of your health. Sometimes, your fitness goals may even hamper health improvements.

Takeaway: utilise health screening, past health records, etc. to determine what health goals to set for your workout routine.

Systemise your routine

James Clear wrote in his best-selling book Atomic Habits, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This is true for both your company and workouts. Like many people, your regime might falter across the year due to other commitments.

Also Read: Top 5 strategies on how startup founders can drive healthy, rapid growth in an uncertain economy

Thankfully, you can plan for that. The tip here is to find a system that still produces results despite expected decreases in effort.

It is easier said than done. Hence, I’m sharing what worked for me in the following three tips and the video below.

Takeaway: find a workout ‘system’ that gives you the best chance of success

Set a Northstar metric for your workouts

The main workout metrics that usually matter for health goals are cardiorespiratory fitness, power, strength, balance, and mobility. For some people, it is weight. Just note that, if so, there are health improvement limitations when you use it as a Northstar metric. Hence, it might not be a true north.

Ultimately, your health goal determines which metric to focus on. There are then tests to help you quantify and track these metrics.

In various cases, these test results also inform you how best to work out. For example,

• Strength tests help you find out your weakest areas – these areas can have the largest potential for improvement and require the least effort to see gains
• Cardiorespiratory tests can give you the heart train ranges to exercise – working out accordingly is the most efficient way to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness

Takeaway: create a system that optimises the main metric(s).

Find the minimum viable workout

Here’s a quick story to better convey this point. In January last year, I spent four seconds per day working out for 22 consecutive days, increasing my maximum strength by 30 per cent. All I did was an isometric mid-thigh pull.

The data below shows the force measured when I do the pull exercise for four seconds daily.

My result aligns with a study by Danny Lum, PhD, head of strength of conditioning at Singapore Sports Institute. He shared more about the study in a podcast I shot with him. Check out the timestamp here for more details.

Also Read: Finding your groove: Balancing the hustle and emotional health as a startup founder

Coming back, this is an example of a minimum viable workout to gain strength, which, with a simple inelastic band, can be done anywhere, anytime. There are other ‘minimum viable workouts’ that you can create for the metric you are optimising too.

Essentially, such workouts get you through the days you can afford minimum exertion. And as a founder, you will likely have many of those days. The key here is that with your minimum viable workout, you should be able to improve your health and performance regardless.

Takeaway: Find the minimum viable workout for your Northstar metric that would fit nicely into your system

Look for a group

My last tip is to look for a community to get healthier together. As the cliche goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I started a Healthy CEO Club that practices my aforementioned system because it aligns with my startup’s work of building community-based health solutions.

Nevertheless, there are other options for founders if you search for them. At the end of the day, having a community makes your health journey more fruitful, sustainable, and rewarding. Whether it’s running a company or traversing your health journey, it boils down to people and relationships, isn’t it?

Takeaway: search for a health-centric community that works for you

Conclusion

If you have any questions about the above sharing, please feel free to contact me. I’m passionate about founder’s health, having sacrificed mine for close to a decade, and am on a mission to help everyone eat, sleep, and exercise for their health.

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