The Power of Fitness

Books Referenced

Spark - Dr. John Ratey

The Happiness Advantage - Shawn Achor

Do Hard Things - Steve Magness

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I am just going to be blunt about this:

A fit leader is a better leader.

A fit human is a better human.

Another way to put this: a less-fit version of you is a worse off version of you.

Let me call out a few obvious things: a fitter you is more productive, more energetic, happier, less stressed… There is not one part of your life that cannot be improved by your fitness.

This is because our fitness impacts both our body and our mind.

These are the only two things we use to navigate and impact the world.

When it comes to leadership and self-leadership, our fitness amplifies our performance.

When we are fit, our performance is amplified to the positive, and when we are out of shape, our performance is dialed down.

Common teaching tells us that better fitness means more energy, and higher energy levels increase our performance.

But it is more than that. Much more than that.

Today we are talking about the undiscussed impact of fitness on your performance both as a leader of people and a leader of yourself.

Once you recognize that fitness is more than just having energy, and maybe some abs, you will never look at it the same. You will understand how it impacts every area of your life.

Let’s dig in.

The Obvious Parts

Let’s first get some of the more common topics out of the way. We will not spend a lot of time here.

Many of us exercise because we want to look better.

And it works. Workouts build muscle, burn fat, and change how we look.

And it is OK to want to look better. From my perspective, each person should strive to look how they want to look, especially through exercise. This builds confidence, creates discipline, and has a host of other side-effect benefits. We can cover those in another article.

Exercise is also good for our health. We know that cardiovascular health improves with exercise and can help us live longer with less disease.

We also know that exercise gives us energy.

A strong and fit body has greater energy reserves and a greater ability to work longer until fatigue.

Hooray, so we can be fit and do more work we care about… but I bet you already knew about that!

There are more reasons that we don’t consider which I want to cover.

These fall into the realm of physical benefits, mental benefits, and situational benefits.

Let’s cover each in turn.

Physical Benefits

I spoke about fitness and your energy levels, and I want to go a little bit deeper on this.

Exercise can make you a physical badass. When you are physically fit, you are more capable. Period.

What do I mean by capable?

I mean that you can do things that an unfit person simply cannot do. You can perform at a higher intensity for longer periods of time.

Your added strength and endurance mean you can move your body in ways a weaker version of you can’t.

So what does this have to do with self-leadership?

Everything.

What are the things you want to accomplish today? Or this week? Or this lifetime.

Accomplishing those things will require work. They will require your body doing a physical task of some sort (even writing is a physical task).

When you have strength and endurance you can do small and large tasks easier and longer.

Need to weed the garden? Done.

Need to clean the house? Check.

Play with the kids? Already did it.

Need to lead by example and move your office equipment around? Checkmate… you have this covered.

Your elevated fitness gives you a larger reservoir of energy to draw upon.

While weeding and cleaning the house may not be great examples of self-leadership, they are tasks.

But what if you want to create more memories with your kids?

Can you go on a weekend hike or adventure and keep up with their energy?

Can you go on an excursion with your spouse and maintain the physical energy to enjoy each new experience?

Your physical fitness will dictate how you show up to these events.

I can’t tell you how many leaders I have worked with who have said, “I get home from work, and I am just so tired I don’t have any energy to give to my family.”

I have been in the same boat. And I remember what this was like on the receiving end… My dad built a construction business and worked 12-hour days for over 30 years. When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was to play catch when he got home.

Sometimes we were able to, and I remember those nights fondly. But many times, he did not have the energy. I don’t fault him for this. But I do know that our energy levels contribute to the relationships we build. More energy equals more connection time equals stronger relationships.

While the physical benefits of fitness are clear, let’s dig into some underappreciated benefits: those of the mind.

Exercise impacts the brain just as much as the body.

It is this area where most people are unaware.

Mental Benefits

Would you believe me if I told you that you are smarter and more creative after you exercise?

Well, there has been research to demonstrate this.

The most famous research study on this was done on a PE class given to students at a school in North Carolina.

This story is described in the book Spark, by Dr. John Ratey. I highly recommend you add this to your library.

The story I’m referring to is about the Zero Hour PE program, which was implemented at Naperville Central High School in Illinois.

This program is one of the most well-known examples of how early morning physical exercise positively impacted students’ academic performance across the board.

Let me give you a summary of what happened:

• Zero Hour PE was a before-school physical education program where students participated in aerobic exercise first thing in the morning.
• The program was initially introduced to help students improve their fitness levels but later expanded due to its positive impact on academic performance.
• Students were given heart rate monitors and exercised with target heart rate percentages they had to hit.

The results were pretty crazy.

Students who participated in Zero Hour PE showed improvements in their grades across all subjects.

ALL. FREAKING. SUBJECTS.

The school reported that these students were more focused, had better attention spans, and performed better on tests.

Not only did they get better grades, but they scored significantly higher on standardized tests compared to their peers who did not participate in the morning exercise.

But why did this happen?

Why did morning exercise improve their ability to learn and mentally perform?

One of the reasons has to do with a protein called brain-derived-neurotrophic factor. Or, BDNF for short.

BDNF has been called “miracle grow for the brain.”

It has a ton of positive effects on the brain. Here are some that are important to our conversation:

• Promotes neurogenesis (growth of new neurons)
• Supports synaptic plasticity: This strengthens brain cell connections, which are needed to create memories when we learn.
• Improves cognitive function: higher levels of BDNF are linked to better memory, attention, and problem-solving abilities.
• Regulates mood and helps alleviate symptoms of depression.
• Supports brain resilience and repair: BDNF helps repair damaged neurons.
• Influences learning and memory: it is involved with a process called long-term potentiation, which is a process where neural connections are strengthened over time.

If you want a deeper dive into this, Ratey’s book digs in a bit more.

Suffice to say, exercise makes your brain ready to learn.

Tell me you read the list above and can’t say that all of those benefits would be helpful for you.

But learning is not the only thing exercise makes your brain better at.

It also helps you focus and helps keep your mind more positive.

Dr. Ratey has a quote in his book which is repeated often:

“Exercise has the same effect on the brain as taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin.”

Research has shown that exercise has the same effect on the brain as taking these two drugs.

This does not mean that exercise should be used as a replacement for people who are on these medications for real psychiatric purposes.

But, for anyone who is struggling with any amount of depression or lack of focus, exercise has been repeatedly shown to help.

It is easy to see why focus matters when it comes to mental performance and productivity, but what does positivity have to do with any of this?

Well, there is a whole field of psychology (called Positive Psychology) which studies the impact of positivity on the brain.

Shawn Achor has a great book called The Happiness Advantage where he describes positivity and the brain in depth.

One of my favorite quotes from his book also serves as an excellent summary of its theme, “A positive brain outperforms a negative or neutral brain.”

Positive brains are more creative, more resilient, and can better recognize opportunities.

So not only does exercise give you more energy to crush it, it also helps your brain learn, stay focused, and stay positive.

A final note on positivity…

If you want to be influential, positivity is a must.

You cannot inspire others over the long run through fear and negativity. Positivity is a requirement.

Can exercise make you more influential?

Maybe… I could probably argue that it does.

But it is best to stick with the research I know of and simply state that it helps ward off negativity and depression.

OK. We have covered some physical and mental benefits to your personal fitness.

But there is another category we need to cover: the situational benefits.

Situational Benefits

Your fitness gives you more endurance. It helps you fight fatigue.

This is important because fatigue makes cowards of us all.

I used to fight in MMA. I can personally tell you that fighting competitors who were in shape was very difficult. Not just because of the physical challenge, but because of the negative self-talk that comes with being tired.

I used to be the guy who was in better shape than my competitors, and it got in their head.

I used to mess with my opponents in later rounds of the fight by getting back in the middle of the ring and bouncing around like I had a ton of energy.

They would then think, “Oh jeez. I am wiped and this guy still has a ton of energy. I don’t know if I can keep going.”

The mind games worked in my favor.

Steve Magness covers this in his book Do Hard Things.

He summarizes the research when he says, ‘when we are fatigued, our brains naturally shift to the negative.’

As a leader at work and in your own life, a positive mindset is crucial to your success. We already talked about how a positive mind outperforms a negative of neutral mind.

Your conditioning fights against negativity.

Another area we don’t talk about much is confidence.

Not only is positive self-talk crucial for your confidence but knowing that you can physically overcome any challenge in front of you is a great way to build your self-esteem.

Strength is empowering.

This confidence, paired with a strong physique, also contributes to your presence.

When you walk into a room, you bring with you a sense of gravitas (or not).

Think of Tom Cruise walking into a room, walking tall and with a bit of swagger. A strong you is more likely to enter a room with the same presence.

When you are out of shape and fatigued at the end of the day, how likely are you to show up with the energy and presence required to be a good leader?

In challenging situations, you can show up with a positive affect ready to crush it, or with the fatigue and negativity that is tough to mask.

Your fitness impacts your confidence and presence.

How to Level Up Your Fitness

Now that you have an understanding of how fitness impacts your day, the question remains on what to do about it.

Here I will share some advice.

The first thing to do to start building your fitness is:

Anything.

Yes, some things are more effective than others, but the first moral of this story is to do anything.

Walk. Run. Do yoga. Lift.

Just do something to build your body.

If I had to pick just one thing to do, I would choose strength training.

Strength training builds muscles, and you can vary your training in ways to give you the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic exercise.

In an ideal world, you would do strength training, aerobic exercise (cardio), and stretching.

There is a saying in the fitness world that aerobic exercise ensures you live a long life, and strength training ensures you live a good life.

If you can do it all, do it.

Do something every day. Rest days are only a thing for body builders and high-volume athletes.

Your body is your machine. Your mind is the operating system. Exercise to build them both.

If you need help, get help. Find a trainer. Reach out to me if you need help. Look up workouts online.

There is really no excuse.

You got this.

The Wrap Up

Your fitness is the foundation on which your performance rests.

It gives you energy, enhances your mind, primes your brain for learning, helps you focus, gives you confidence, and enhances your presence.

Start working out by doing something to challenge your body.

If you can choose one thing, choose strength training.

If for some reason you can’t do that, then start jogging or running.

Build your body my friends. By doing so you will also build your mind.

With both of these, you can crush it.

Thanks for reading.

Clark