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Beyond Resolutions -- Team Fitness Plans Lead To High Performance

This article is more than 6 years old.

Viktor Hanacek

If you are looking for a creative and competitive edge in 2018, forget the New Year’s resolutions and focus on creating a culture of fitness with your team. As you jump into your quarterly planning for next year weave health goals into the projects and deliverables.

There will always be challenges to fitness plans. For a lot of executives and team members with extremely busy schedules, working out tends to be one of the first things sacrificed for more time to email or make phone calls.

What is the cost of this sacrifice to your team’s success?

Turns out, the older you get the more important exercise is to your ability to be a high achiever. A Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study shows a direct correlation between working-out and your cognitive abilities. Christopher Bergland wrote a nice summary of the study in Psychology Today.

This study means your team is missing out on a huge competitive advantage. By adding more exercise to your team’s goals and objectives, you will see an increase in productivity and results.

Dispelling some of the myths.

It does not have to be painful, take a ton of time, or even be a workout at a gym. Just by adding a few tricks and strategies you can easily increase your team’s performance with a little moving around. According to the BUSM study your goal is to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness.

This can be accomplished by increasing your heart rate, moving your muscles, getting your blood flowing and improving your oxygen levels.

Fitness plays a crucial role in how you view the world, what you are able to accomplish, your confidence level, and most importantly your brain activity. Creating a habit of health and fitness for you and your team is one key to a better bottom line in 2018.

I haven’t worked out in years.

The great news is you do not have to go crazy right out of the gate.

“Start by using your lunch hour to go for a walk. Even better, exercise at the office or at home 2-3 days per week to build muscle, which helps to boost metabolism, de-stress and improve your mood. It’s simpler than it seems; just keep a pair of dumbbells, a kettlebell, and or a set of resistance bands around and you can work out anywhere, anytime,” says Anatoly Krichevsky, founder of ProSource.

Some of you are going to join a gym this New Year for the first time in a long time before you injure yourself doing squats and lunges. Konstantin Mikhaylov, also with ProSource, suggests, “If you are newer to working out or it’s been a while, start with the machines. Many gyms even have a circuit set up where you can hit every muscle group as you move down the line of machines.”

As you create your first quarter goals for work deliverables, add number of days working out as a team. Even just adding two or three days a week will have an impact. The more you separate this from any sort of resolution the better. People are notoriously poor at keeping New Year’s resolutions. However, most teams want to complete a quarterly company or team goal.

Please don’t tell me what to eat.

The reality is you have to cut down or cut out refined sugar of any kind. Most people are shocked to find out that a fat-free Yoplait yogurt has your entire days’ worth of sugar intake.

For years fat was to blame and sugar was actually ok. Remember that commercial series where the Corn Refiners Association tried to convince you that sugar is ok?

https://youtu.be/lQ-ByUx552s

This video gets a “half-truth.”

There are two things about sugar you should know:

  • Fruits and veggies that contain high amounts of sugar also contain fiber that helps your body regulate the amount of sugar consumption.
  • The amount of sugar you should consume should be limited to seven little cubes of white sugar, max.

To put this into perspective; one can of soda has 10 cubes of sugar.

That Yoplait yogurt has six cubes. Two slices of bread pack one whole cube. You get the point. Don’t believe me? check out That Sugar Film, it is like Super-Size Me, but with sugar.

So what can you eat? I asked my contact Konstantin Mikhaylov for some ideas.

“Start eating more veggies! Anything: spinach, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, peas, mushrooms. And for many people, protein like chicken breast, lean turkey, lean beef, eggs, fish are a great source of filling foods, especially if you're lifting weights,” Mr. Mikhaylov explains.  He also tosses in “Drink lots of water.”

How much can this really impact my team?

A lot and in many different ways. With a healthier team you have fewer people out on sick every year. The increase in confidence, brain power and energy will equal more productivity, and a higher quality of work.

Less junk food around the office will make everyone feel better about themselves. This will improve your company culture. It is not about telling people what they can and can’t do, it is about helping them achieve the most they can. With increased fitness plans your team will be more successful, and that means more success for you.

Mr. Mikhaylov adds, “Active, healthy employees bring a higher level of energy to the workplace. Exercise helps to reduce stress, improve focus, and reduces sick days. Employees who take care of their health tend to have better moods and a higher level of production. It’s also very helpful for creativity and being able to come up with new ideas and think on your toes when your mind is sharpened by regular exercise. Doing activities together also helps to build relationships and improve communication at work. It fosters teamwork and a healthier company culture.”

[Update January 18, 2018 5:24 PM EST: The original piece misattributed a quote from Konstantin Mikhaylov. Anatoly Krichevsky is the correct attribution. Mr. Mikhaylov is quoted later in the article]

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