How To Stay Fit While Building a Startup
The founder lifestyle isn't exactly conducive to staying fit. Long work hours, little sleep, and an irregular schedule can quickly kill any momentum you have at the gym.

Assuming you have the drive to stay fit and the ability to get to a gym, here's a sure-fire way to keep up the momentum no matter what your job demands:

LIFT WEIGHTS EVERY OTHER DAY

Check out the workout routine below. It’s a full-body routine that will take 30 minutes from beginning to end. You’ll be worn out when you finish, but you’ll only need a day to recover before you do it again.

ON THE NON-WEIGHT LIFTING DAYS, DO HIIT CARDIO

High Intensity Interval Training compresses an hour’s worth of cardio monotony into 15 min of win. It will leave you sweaty and tired, but you’ll recover quickly.

AIM TO GO 7 DAYS A WEEK

Wait, WHAT? Ok, it’s a safe bet you’ll need to skip a few days here and there so you’ll probably end going more like 4-5 days per week, and that’s ok. But the trick is to TRY to go every single day so it becomes more of a priority, and only cancel if you really have to. Everyone can spare 30 minutes. No excuses.

IF YOU SKIP A DAY, SKIP CARDIO

Why? Because maintaining muscle is more important than just elevating your heart rate. Cardio might burn some fat, but it’s your muscle mass that’s burning the fat. By maintaining your muscle you’ll burn more fat on the occasions you do cardio, even if you do cardio far less than you lift weights. And the weight lifting is a pretty decent aerobic routine all by itself. Even if you end up only lifting weights 3 days a week with no cardio, you’ll stay fit.

HOW IS THIS ANY BETTER THAN OTHER ROUTINES?

The difference is the ability to keep up momentum despite an irregular schedule. A traditional routine that works each muscle group once per week will allow you to gain more muscle, but miss a day or two and that momentum is gone, and then you’re back to square one.

SPECIFICALLY, WHY DOES THIS METHOD MAINTAIN MOMENTUM?

Depending on the type of exercise, your body needs time to heal. After it heals there’s a small window of time when your body is primed for building on that momentum, and once that window passes you won’t see any gains the next time you work out. Even worse, if you go too far past the window you’ll actually be less fit than before. Long story short, working all your muscles 3-4 times a week makes it easier to hit that sweet spot for maintaining momentum vs. the random or once-per-week routines. The concept is called Supercompensation and it is illustrated fantastically on page 4 of this article in Men’s Journal Magazine (http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/4). The whole article is great actually, I recommend reading it if you have time.

So there’s your work out hack. This isn’t a novel concept, but I’ve used it with great success over the years when my business deals me an uneven schedule. What works for you?

WEIGHT LIFTING ROUTINE

(Many thanks to www.bodybuilding.com for the exercise illustrations)

Squat (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-squat)

Deadlift (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-deadlift)

Lunges (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-lunge)

Shoulder Press, dumbbells (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-shoulder-press)

Pull Ups, machine assisted (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/pullups)

Bench Press, dumbbells (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-bench-press)

Seated Cable Row (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/seated-cable-rows)

Shrugs, dumbbell (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/dumbbell-shrug)

Bicep Curl (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/barbell-curl)

Tricep Pushdowns (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/triceps-pushdown-v-bar-attachment)

Calf Extensions (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/calf-press-on-the-leg-press-machine)

Machine Flys (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/butterfly)

Abs (http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/ab-crunch-machine)
Stretch, if needed.

For each exercise, do one set of 10 reps at ½ weight to warm up, then one set of 5-8 reps at the heaviest you can lift. If you can do 8 reps without help, go up in weight the next time. Always be looking to go up in weight. Form is important too so you don’t hurt yourself at higher weights, so read up on each exercise. That’s it, one warm up set and one heavy set, then move on to the next exercise. Keep up the pace, with little or no rest between exercises. Your heart rate should stay elevated, but not so high you get winded. Think of it as 30 minutes of cardio using weight machines. And go easy the first week or two, you’ll be back again in 48 hrs and you’ll be bummed if you’re sore. You should see improvements immediately, and in 3-4 weeks you’ll be in great shape. This is a type of strength training which tends to build strong, dense muscle, so don’t be upset if you don’t get huge like Arnold. The point is to stay fit with a minimal time requirement.

HIIT CARDIO ROUTINE

Pick a cardio machine, preferably one that uses both upper and lower body. Here are the ones I consider best, in descending order:
Row
VersaClimber
Elliptical
Treadmill
Stair Climber
Cycle

Hop on the machine and do a light 2-3 min warm up. Then ramp it up to the highest level you can maintain for 30 seconds. It should be hard! Then back it down to an easy level for 30 seconds. (For the treadmill do a run/jog interval). Then Repeat. Do this for 8-15 minutes depending on your stamina, then a 1-2 min cool down. At the end you should be over it, ready to go home.