Fitness Mantra: How young CEOs stay healthy to take on work-life challenges

It takes loads of energy to travel, host meetings and run a business while keeping erratic hours – and do these all over again the next day. It also takes high levels of fitness. Hardly surprising then that some of India Inc’s busiest young CEOs are fitness buffs. They run, swim, dance, dive, practise martial arts and yoga and eat right: everything to ensure they stay fighting fit.

“I don’t have time,” could be the easiest excuse for these jet-setting chief executives. Instead, no matter how gruelling their schedules, bosses such as Mittu Chandilya, Nadia Chauhan Kurup, Rajiv Mehta and Vikas Khemani make sure that their fitness regimes are high up on their priority lists.

Take Nadia Chauhan Kurup, for instance. Weeks after giving birth to her second child in end-June, the 27-year-old joint MD and chief marketing officer of Parle Agro was back in peak shape. Nadia weight-trains and kickboxes at the gym, runs on the beach and also rides horses and swims. “Over the last few years, I have maintained a very well-balanced and extremely structured fitness routine,” she says.

Anyone running into AirAsia India CEO Chandilya at the airport is likely to see him with a bag containing his training shoes. A former model, Chandilya is passionate about health and fitness.

He runs on the treadmill everyday for 3 km besides squeezing in a weight-training session. “Discipline and focus are critical.Discipline to ensure you are in the gym every day without making excuses. And focus when you are in the gym,” he says.

For all these young bosses, fitness isn’t a recent fad, or something they do to shed the extra flab. Most of them approach it with as much seriousness as any business decision. They read up extensively, take the right coaching and guidance and make time for their fitness, no matter what. Chauhan Kurup, for instance, has fitness consultant Zarine Watson developing a meal guideline tailor-made to her lifestyle.

Their fitness regime, say these bosses, has become part and parcel of their daily life. Rajiv Mehta, MD of Puma South Asia, takes it all the more seriously given that the brand has a strong sport performance heritage.

Mehta runs about four times a week in the morning and supplements this regime with a gym workout about two-three times a week. This gives him a good combination of cardio and resistance exercise and builds strength while keeping him fit.

“Fitness has become an integral part of my life, more and more,” says Mehta. “So much so that I also try to make sure other Puma employees take fitness seriously. Now, it’s not enough for me to simply run on a weekly basis but I’m also conscious about improving my timings when I compete in races and generally getting better with my performance and fitness.” Holistic health guru Mickey Mehta says that everything these young leaders do in food and exercise influences their wellness quotient.

“It’s not about reaching the right weight or the ideal body-fat ratio. Composite well-being promises spiritual and mental growth, tapping the exponential growth hidden within.”