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Thursday. 28 March 2024
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Fitness for workaholics

Maximize energy like a Fortune 500 executive


Executives at PepsiCo, Dell, Estee Lauder and many other top companies have boosted energy and productivity through the revolutionary programs at the elite Human Performance Institute in Orlando, FL.  In Energy Every Day: Your Personal Plan for More Energy and Better Health (Human Kinetics 2009), authors Ron Woods and Chris Jordan outline the strategies.

“Producing and managing higher levels of personal energy will allow you to live a more engaged life,” Woods explains.  “When your energy levels are high, it allows you to become fully engaged in the life activities that really matter.”

Full engagement can be achieved by maximizing physical energy through breathing and food intake. According to Woods, breathing and eating are the key systems for regulating and maximizing the production of energy.  Deep abdominal breathing rather than shallow breaths can change body chemistry, mood, level of relaxation and focus.  A fit, strong body with optimal posture enhances proper breathing and ensures more efficient delivery of oxygen to the cells.

Sleep and physical activity are also critical factors in unleashing physical energy.  Most adults require seven to eight hours of sleep each night, but few people achieve this goal.  Getting to bed earlier and waking earlier maximizes the chances of waking refreshed and rejuvenated.

“The final piece of the puzzle for creating physical energy is engaging in physical activity,” Woods says.  “It may seem counter-intuitive to think that if you have little or no energy, you should exercise, but physical activity does in fact help create and sustain high energy levels.”

Working with the Human Performance Institute (HPI), Woods and Jordan have aided corporate clients including, PepsiCo, Dell, and Procter & Gamble in learning how to harness energy and become fully engaged.  Research conducted at HPI shows that out of more than 100,000 clients, only 4 percent report being fully engaged in a balanced positive state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy.  The majority of clients reported the opposite, with 51 percent feeling disengaged and another 4 percent feeling toxically disengaged.

According to Woods, the demands on energy typically increase after age 30, while personal energy capacity decreases due to the natural aging process.  Energy demands, however, peak during a persons’ 40s and 50s through work, family and other obligations.  To prevent the downward spiral, steps need to be taken at an early age to combat the natural energy loss.    

Energy Every Day: Your Personal Plan for More Energy uses HPI’s strategies for full engagement and explains how to create a personal energy plan specific to an individual’s goals, needs and schedule. 

For more information, see Energy Every Day: Your Personal Plan for More Energy.


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© 2013 Human Kinetics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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