## 4 Results
### The Individual Level  
#### 4.1.1 From Physical to Social Resources  
Interviewees perceived that physical exercise provided four types of resources, that is, physical, affective, cognitive, and social resources. In terms of _physical resources_, one key motivation behind taking exercise was the desire to remain healthy in the present and in the future. Exercise was seen to counterbalance the negative effects of sedentary work, considered to have been exacerbated by COVID-19 restrictions: _\"This sitting is a dreadful bone for me, both mentally and physically, so exercise brings balance to it. All this sitting would kill a person otherwise... If your general fitness is better, then you will cope with everything else better\"_ (#18). The importance of physical exercise was also linked to the age of the interviewees. Interviewees suggested that, with aging, they could no longer recover from the working day in the same way as before. Exercising and having a good general fitness were then seen (regardless of age) to help cope better both in everyday life and at work: _\"Well, I will soon be 47 years old and of course I recognize the need for exercise and the need for overall fitness and the importance of sleep and nutrition\"_ (#16). Related to this, exercise was considered to increase physical resilience if a person became ill: _\"... but first you have to be in decent shape so that you can afford to get sick\"_ (#6). The perceived change in the operating environment was also seen as emphasizing the importance of health and good general fitness: _\"I think that you are not capable of doing this, being a leader, anymore, if you are not in good shape\"_ (#14). Current working life was described as demanding and the pace of working life intense. For example, a strictly scheduled work trip abroad was compared in terms of physical requirements to competing in a sports event. The complexity of the operating environment and the associated escalation in the rate of change, the real-time nature of management work, and global interdependence were seen to have contributed to increasing the physical and mental strength required of leaders: _\"Increased complexity means that more and more people need to be in the best possible condition, both physically and mentally, and to understand this and to find the means by which you will recover so that you do not burn out... so that your performance as a leader does not deteriorate\"_ (#10). In addition to its effect on physical well-being, exercise was also perceived to have significant benefits for mental well-being in the form of producing _affective resources_ and particularly promoting mental endurance and increased mental alertness. Exercise was described, for example, as a lifeline, a way to relieve stress, and as a method to _\"reset the brains\"_ (#18). Exercise provided interviewees with more content for life than just work, helping them to forget work matters, at least briefly. In addition, the joy and fun involved in exercising were considered important for mental well-being: _\"Everything that has been talked about sounds kind of calculative in that you have to live a certain way to be able to give your best at work and so on. Then you could start asking where the fun is. But then if you think again about the relationship with exercising, I think exercising is a pretty big source of joy\"_ (#17). For some of the interviewees, the well-being associated with physical exercise was further enhanced by the beauty of the environment they exercised in: _\"Golf courses are like gardens, that is, well-kept gardens, one more beautiful than the other, so yeah, the mind rests then\"_ (#12). The mental side of physical exercise was also connected to exercising alone. Management work was seen as a social team sport, with exercise correspondingly providing leaders with their own time. Interviewees thus emphasized that exercise is _\"a kind of moment to be alone and calm down and relax\"_ (#10).