The Corporate Athlete: How to Achieve Maximal Performance in Business and Life

Jack Groppel is a speaker-consultant on business issues and a partner in a company that helps sports stars such as Ernie Els and Monica Seles enhance their competitive edge by fine-tuning their training regimens and overall lifestyles. In The Corporate Athlete, he proposes a total program of nutrition, exercise, and spiritual fitness that's designed to do the same for those competing in the world of business. "Executives and employees in the new millennium can protect their health and happiness and continue to perform at high levels only by doing what athletes do--train," Groppel writes. "You must become a Corporate Athlete, which means adapting the training mentality of elite, high-performance athletes." His program is hardly "a quick fix," Groppel admits, but rather a demanding (albeit versatile) and multifaceted process with explicit short- and long-term guidelines. He clearly explains how carbohydrates and proteins, stretching and aerobic activity, and even ethics and values affect performance at work, for example, and offers practical suggestions for incorporating them into an already overcrowded day. He concludes by outlining a complete 21-day improvement program, which includes day-by-day goals for exercise and meals along with ways to track subsequent accomplishments. This book is for anyone, corporate or otherwise, looking to add balance to an otherwise stressful and hectic work life. --Howard Rothman