How to Train for a Workplace?

Finding time for physical activity is the best investment you can make for your career. Because even before dealing with ourselves as professionals, we should take care of ourselves as individuals. Let’s see how and why.

When it comes to work, career, and professional growth, we often tend to focus on activities directly associated with these areas. Things like networking, working on your own skills, understanding the dynamics of office politics, etc.

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The truth, however, is that there are even more important and foundational aspects that we need to pay attention to. And taking care of our “physical capital”, which also involves physical activity, should be at the top of this list.

Of course, when you have a full-time job, friends, hobbies, and perhaps even a family to take care of, it’s easy for training time to end up at the bottom of our list.

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I can’t count the times when, amidst work, commitments, and the stressful rhythms of the city, I spent weeks or even months neglecting to take time for physical activity. The result? I was often low on energy, lethargic, nervous, and even weighed down.

The complete opposite of when I find the time to work out consistently. Recovery of energy, a more positive and winning mindset, a lean, quick, and lively physique. All qualities that, in one way or another, I carry with me into work as well.

That’s why I want to offer you today:

an additional reason to treat it as a priority (part 1 of the article)
some tips for carving out the time you need (part 2 of the article)

What kind of exercise to do?

John Ratey is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of the book “Spark,” in which he discusses the scientific evidence supporting the many benefits of physical activity.

And not just on a purely physical level, but also on a mental and psychological level, you are increasingly at risk in the society we live in. Both due to the stress we are often subjected to and the increasingly massive presence of smartphones, social media, and technology in our lives.

According to Ratey, there are 3 (1) major types of physical activity that we should implement in our lives:

Aerobic activity: HIIT workouts of 30 or 60 minutes that elevate your heart rate.
Strength: Whether through weights in the gym or bodyweight exercises, building your muscles is a true investment for your old age.
Balance & Flexibility: Yoga, Pilates, dance… these are all activities that help maintain your agility level.
Mental exercise: This is a bit different from the others, but while exercise lays the groundwork, mental stimulation is what allows our brain to capitalize on physical work and stay young even at an older age.

What Professor Ratey recommends is to alternate a mix of low, medium, and high intensity activities, as each one acts differently on the health of our body and brain.

The benefits of physical activity for body and mind

We have read very long lists on the benefits of physical activity. Before moving on to tips on how to find more time to train, however, I want to talk to you about some benefits that are a bit different than usual:

Physical activity helps you be more sociable, as it increases our self-confidence, allows us to meet new people, and provides us with the vigor and motivation that are also necessary to maintain and nurture social relationships.
It helps you stay calmer. Most studies show that aerobic activity significantly alleviates anxiety levels. Unsurprisingly, many doctors prescribe outdoor exercise as a treatment for depression (used, of course, as an adjunct; no one claims that a brisk walk is enough to cure a pathology).
It makes you more focused and helps you make better decisions. In a way, physical activity has cascading beneficial effects that go beyond health. Have you noticed that? You start by going to the gym more often and end up smoking less, drinking less coffee and alcohol, eating healthier and less junk food, spending less, and even losing your patience less frequently 🙂
It helps you combat bad habits like nervous hunger or smoking. This is because physical activity increases dopamine levels (the pleasure and reward hormone) while decreasing anxiety, tension, and stress levels. I mean, all those typical irritability symptoms that make people falter when trying to break a bad habit.
It helps you live longer. As in all things, entropy also acts on a physical and cerebral level. That’s why, if our body and brain are not actively progressing, it means they are regressing. Dying. And exercise, along with diet, is one of the most effective ways to counteract this aging process.

Finding time for physical activity: Here’s how to do it

Sit as little as possible; do not trust thoughts that are not born in the open air and in motion — which are not even a feast for the muscles — F. Nietzsche

1. Change your mindset, change your life

A while ago, I read the book “Perfection exists” by Max Calderan, an Italian explorer known for his extreme feats such as solo desert crossings. I particularly liked the opening. Here’s a slightly shortened and edited version:

“Welcome, athlete. Before proceeding with the reading, I would like to agree on one fundamental point for me: you are an athlete. An athlete is someone who engages in appropriate motor activities to produce natural medicine to promote their well-being. Who, simply by following their own nature, can enjoy a functional, harmonious, and generous organism. I believe that physical harmony and functionality should not be seen as the ultimate goal, but as a simple consequence of actions that are naturally part of being human and that we have forgotten. It doesn’t matter if in your life journey you have climbed Everest or if the hardest effort you faced was climbing the stairs in the subway. You are an athlete. And from this moment on, you will be treated and behave like one.”

You are an athlete. And from this moment on, you should start to treat yourself as such.

Continuing to tell yourself to be lazy, not to be into sports, or not to have time to dedicate to it will certainly not help you find it. Even if these things are true at the moment, start thinking of yourself and talking to yourself differently.

How would you think of an active, dynamic, and busy person? What habits would you adopt to prioritize your health? How could they talk about themselves and themselves in relation to the fact that one of them is an athlete?

Even before doing what that person would do, you must become that person. Adopt a true personality change regarding this area.

Act and speak to yourself like an athlete, because as you have seen, you already are. It won’t come naturally at first, but it is at this very stage that you need to push a little to encourage a sustainable long-term change.

Let’s take some super concrete examples:

Instead of saying: “I don’t feel like going to the gym today,” try saying “Today has been a really tiring day and has consumed a lot of my energy for the evening. I will still go to the gym for a short workout because I know that in the end, I will be satisfied and it will be worth it.”
Instead of saying: “I don’t have time to run tomorrow,” try saying “I know tomorrow will be a really tough day, but my health and well-being come first. Tonight, I will go to bed a little earlier so I can go to the park for a run before work. Instead of 5 km, I will do 3, but it will still be a great way to start the day.”

2. Make it a priority

“If it’s not on the agenda, it doesn’t exist.”

This is a real mantra for those who particularly rely on their agenda or calendar to organize their lives.

Personally, to ensure I bring home the workouts I want to complete in a week, I make sure to put them on the agenda on Sunday night when I plan the rest of the week. Very often, I use this half-hour to book my spot in closed classes, so I don’t make excuses.

A shift in mindset that I have acquired over the past few months is to consider these appointments as those I intend to work on. Because there is no call or commitment that matters more than your health. And if you don’t make it a priority, who do you think will?

3. Prepare everything in advance

Benjamin Franklin once said:

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Planning really makes a huge difference in whether we achieve our goals or not. If after a day of work full of commitments and stress, you also have to think about where you put your sneakers or find a clean shirt, the chances are very high that you will end up deciding to lean toward the couch.

I have dedicated a shelf in my closet to gym items, dividing them into pants, t-shirts, and sports bras. And I know that at all times, I need to have at least two sets of these “ready to go” clothes, ready to be packed in the gym bag the night before.

That’s right, the night before. At first, it’s a bit of a hassle to take time at the moment of the day when you would finally like to unwind, but see it this way: it’s a favor you do for yourself when the next day you’re battling the alarm clock to get up early!

I do the same regarding music. On my phone, I always have a playlist😉 ready and updated for cardio workouts. Because there’s nothing worse than hearing “Five days I lost you…” while you’re on the treadmill at speed 8.5 😉

4. Track your progress

Okay, this advice is somewhat related to my enthusiasm for measuring and keeping track of everything 😉 But give it a try: visualizing your progress can really give you a significant boost to move forward with your workouts.

For example, you can download (or create) a monthly calendar where you can write down how often you’ve done it. Or…
Keep track of the times and kilometers you cover every time you go for a run, to notice improvements and turn that appointment into a fun competition with your limits.

Having a portable or simple step counter can help you be more active as it allows you to see how many steps, kilometers, or calories you burn in a day. Very often, especially for those of us who work sitting at a desk, we don’t realize how sedentary we are until one of these devices shows it irrefutably.

And if one day you can’t bring the workout home, taking a long walk back from the office, or a longer stroll during lunch break, is certainly better than doing nothing.

In central London, it’s often seen that women dressed in full business attire, at the end of the day, take off their heels and put on their sneakers and take long walks.

There are also many videos and apps that can help us complete a mini-workout on days when time for the gym and being on the move is really tight.

I have long used Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide and also the app “7 Minute Workout.” The latter contains 12 HIIT exercises to be performed one after the other for 30 seconds until reaching 7 minutes.

5. Invest wisely

There’s nothing that motivates us more than a fresh start. The first day of a diet (or the first 4 hours :D), the day we step into the gym, when we start writing in a new planner…

The problem is, more often than not, motivation has a short shelf life.

What matters, in these cases, is not so much starting as continuing.

If your annual gym subscriptions have been buried in your wallet among receipts, health cards, and Coop loyalty cards over the past few years, you might want to change your investment strategy.

I have tested two that have worked very well:

Enough subscriptions: I stopped making expensive annual subscriptions because “well, that amount divided by 12 saves me twice as much as the monthly.” Too bad that, considering how many times I went, a count of each entry ended up costing three times. So I started making monthly or pay-as-you-go registrations, gyms, and various types of training. Yeah, maybe I ended up paying more. But even with the use of that extra subscription, knowing that its validity was time-limited. And above all, I tangibly perceived how much my poor discipline was costing me (literally). I didn’t do it for punitive purposes, but to assimilate the lesson each time. Now that I “trust” my ability to be consistent in my “athletic commitments” a little more, I will probably take out an annual gym membership at the one located at home.
Clothing: As mentioned above, a habit that helps me a lot is to always have a gym kit ready to go. To do this, I bought 3 pairs of leggings, 3 t-shirts, etc. to always be ready. I chose them in colors, fabrics, and brands that I enjoy wearing and that give me the image of someone who cares about and takes care of their body. Not someone who left the house in last year’s outfit that also acts as pajamas 😀 Little tip: if you’re starting, don’t invest everything at once in new clothes. Treat it as a reward for your first month of consistent training, the first three months, and so on.

6. But most importantly: have fun!

Nothing has made more of a difference in creating a habit of physical activity than stopping and asking myself what I really wanted to do and what made me feel satisfied and fulfilled during and at the end of a lesson.

HIIT workouts will also be super effective (okay, they are!), but spending 30 minutes doing weights, lunges, and lifting 20 kg bags is not exactly the kind of activity that makes me think of the gym with longing.

At first, I decided to only take up activities that made me happy, let me live in the flow of the moment and enjoy the experience in the present.

It could be a boxing class that brings out my most combative side, a yoga class where I feel I’m regaining control of every part of my body, or a bodypump class where they play music I love and that energizes me so much.

Sometimes, it can also be a brisk walk to Hyde Park after work, immersed in greenery and letting all the thoughts of the day flow before heading home.

Whatever that activity is for you, don’t neglect it. Honor it, nurture it. And if you haven’t discovered it yet, dive in and experiment.