A Step-by-Step Executive Workout

Even the most health-conscious corporate executive sometimes struggles to balance professional and social commitments with a regular exercise regimen. The bottom line is this: The healthier you are, the more productive you will be; the fitter you become, the fewer work days you will miss, the less susceptible to stress you will be, and the better you will sleep.

So how do you make time for a workout when you are at your desk before a foreign market opens or at the office long after the gym closes? I recommend what I call the Corporate Workout: a time-efficient, flexible routine that can be done at any time of day . . . no equipment, no gym membership and no weight room necessary. All you need is a stairwell and some guts, which should not be a problem for people who routinely close multimillion-dollar deals. Your body is the equipment, the stairs are the cardiovascular machines and each landing in the stairwell is the weight room. Oh, and you'll want some sweat duds and access to a shower later. This is definitely not a regimen meant for your business suit.

The program is simple, at least to describe: Climb a flight of stairs. Perform an exercise on the landing. Take the next flight up. Do another exercise. And so on. On the road and don't have access to a stairwell? Skip the stairs and do the same exercises in your hotel room.

Try the following sequence of exercises, each targeting multiple muscles and joints; the first in each set focuses on the upper body, the second on the lower body and the third on core muscles. (Follow the same concept for a shorter sequence.)

· Push-ups: as many as you can get with proper form.

· Split squats: Put one foot forward, one foot back, splitting the legs broadly enough so that when the back knee is lowered toward the floor, the front knee is directly over the front heel; do eight to 15 on one leg, then switch legs and repeat.

· Bicycle sit-ups: Lying on your back with the legs moving in a bicycle motion, first move one elbow to the opposite knee, then the other elbow to the opposite knee; do as many as you can in 60 seconds.

· One-arm fliers: Begin in a push-up position and slowly raise one straight arm away from the body while keeping the shoulders and hips square to the floor; slowly return the arm to the start position, then raise the other arm in the same fashion; do eight to 15 on each side.

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Categories: Executive, StepbyStep, Workout