Health and Fitness in The City of London: How to fix the problem

Why is Health and Fitness in City so bad?

It’s true the sacrifice for success in the city has a high price. Thankfully our health is one of the few things we sacrifice that we can recover to a certain degree. There’s only so much time to make your mark in the world, and if that was at the expense of your health, you’re in the same group as 95% of your peers. 

In a recent report by Dr. James Rippe, associate professor of cardiology at Tufts University, of 200 patients studied, three-quarters of which were Fortune 500 executives. The study revealed that 73 per cent of the participants were sedentary, which can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and many other conditions. To make matters worse, 80 of the 200 patients studied were obese.

How to make the city a healthier place to be

It is clear from these alarming results that execs pay the price, and it’s their health that suffers. The biggest problem with Health and Fitness in The City is that these issues are preventable if understood early enough and are reversible if caught quickly enough.

Executive health specialists

As Executive Health Specialists, we deal every day with the first-hand effects of ill health, and the knock-on effect can be disastrous to the individual, their business, their associates and their family. Apart from shortening your potential life span, you are also at risk of reducing the quality of the time remaining, meaning trips to hospitals, doctors, medication and illness.

It’s a horrible moment when you wake up in the morning and realise you can’t do the things you love anymore. It’s unfortunate to say, but many execs fall into a habit that they can never get out of due heavily to cultural pressures and social obligations but also because there is a huge lack of knowledge.

Surprisingly we meet few execs that know how many calories their body needs during the day to survive and keep them healthy. We meet even fewer of them that can tell me what the right type of movement patterns works for their body to keep it strong, agile and fit. With all the knowledge they hold, they often come to us as absolute beginners.

The future of Health and Fitness in The City is changing

Well, the future is changing. There is huge growth in the health and well-being sector driven by the demands of a younger workforce. But I hear you cry, why is it just the young ones that get all the health benefits? Well, we have found there are some more significant blocks for execs. As an executive, your demands are not the same as your associates therefore the plans and answers the average personal trainer has simply aren’t well thought out enough causing immediate disengagement.

Another massive block is, who wants to be training, getting all hot and sweaty with the work members you’re trying to create a bit of distance from? (Even despite social distancing rules being dropped.)

Well, no one really; your training time is your time. It’s not too personal when you have your entire team sweating next to you in the gym or on camera during a Zoom session.

Well, that’s the problem faced in many commercial gyms, and there are all most certainly commercial gyms wherever your office is based.

Viable fitness option for senior executives

No matter where you go in the fitness world, there is rarely an executive option. This is strange considering you have executive bars, members' clubs even aeroplanes. 

The fact is we at TRUTH have spent the last 10 years decoding all the blocks and working out the chinks in the armour for executives. From getting the right mindset shifts to creating easy-to-follow meal guides and confidence-boosting body-transforming workouts, we have it covered.

You know we all love to see a return on investment. Well, our body is the only home we will ever truly own, no matter where we are in the world, and it’s the only investment that guarantees a return.

In our world, we’re used to helping executives get back ten years or more of lost time to business. We do this by creating long-term sustainable plans that cater for the needs of executives. These individuals spend 10 hours a day on Zoom, have pressing and urgent meetings pushed into their diaries last minute, are regularly invited to social events, and who need to put their business first. They simply do not fit into the same box as everyone else. 

Our bespoke plans are tailored to the client’s goals and lifestyle demands, and we are achieving incredible success at the executive level.

Take nothing away from this. Time is our friend, not our enemy. Why rush towards an early grave when we can saunter in full of happiness and no regrets leaving a legacy to be proud of. It’s clear to see that the finance and insurance market has to evolve on some level. The culture of entertaining is a massive part of business development and networking, but the negative effect that it has on your health is quite obvious. 

So what’s the solution?

How can we experience real-world tangible improvements in the health of the city, whilst maintaining business development and social benefits?

We believe the following guidelines are a great place to start fixing Health and Fitness in the city.

1. This starts from the top down. Working with a large number of the city’s CEOs and senior executives, we know that a change in culture starts with the boss. We have experienced this first hand. When your team gets into the office and the CEO is full of energy, happy, and smiling after his morning workout and healthy breakfast it inspires the team. It opens up a conversation that may not have happened before, it creates a positive shift in the team mindset and drives the team to feel the benefits of health just as the boss is.
2. Small steps make all of the difference. Some of you may be reading this and feel overwhelmed by the ideas and thoughts that are running through your head. Spinach and broccoli smoothies, no more pints tonight, 5 litres of water a day etc etc. The truth is, that’s not the reality of what actually works. Huge shifts, new protocols, big changes in policies and a free Virgin or Nuffield membership isn’t the answer either. It is the small changes that matter, opening up healthier options in the canteen, creating a programme of health and fitness that is bespoke to your business, a programme that works for you and your staff, fun, engaging and rewarding. 
3. Think about the long game. The city is in a phase of transition. With businesses slowly returning to the city, the idea of flexible working becoming more acceptable and health is a consideration; change is coming. It is all about the long game. What changes are you going to make as a CEO, a senior executive and as a business that is going to benefit everyone from the top down over the next 5, 10, 25 years? This is all about collaboration, about a conversation and we are at the very start of the journey to creating the future business.

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