• Rucking workouts replace traditional meetings for networking and business transactions.

• Exercise can build group camaraderie while helping people multitask and build fitness.

• A growing number of leaders are embracing wellness trends to optimize their health and performance.

Forget a working lunch, coffee or happy hour. These days, leaders strap on a weighted backpack and run a few miles with colleagues and new contacts.

Rucking – walking while carrying weight, usually in a portable bag – has gained popularity in the fitness world as a way to improve longevity, build muscle and burn fat.

Now, coaching is replacing Zoom calls and sessions as the face-to-face activity of choice for sharing ideas, developing relationships, and creating career opportunities. Welcome to the era of the rucking meeting.

NFL player turned entrepreneur Jeff Byers told Business Insider that he moves around on a treadmill desk during meetings and invites guests to join him in the exercise during one-on-ones.

Lee Heisman, an Atlanta entrepreneur who is CEO of several companies, including Exit Stage Left Advisors, has been making trouble for years. For Heisman, the unique characteristics of rucking make it an ideal activity for anyone who wants to work up a sweat, regardless of their fitness level. As a networking tool, it can be used to improve connections while fitting a workout into a busy schedule, he said.

“I don’t really have time or interest in sitting across from someone at a desk or in an office meeting and not doing something while we’re doing it,” Heisman said. “We’re going to have our meeting and we’re going to leave refreshed. And it really improves your negotiating power when you’re working with someone and they’re in a good mood.”

Health-conscious leaders are redefining social work

Wellbeing has already seeped into the workplace.

Founders, investors, and venture capitalists openly share the lifestyle changes they make to be at the top of their game in business, like intermittent fasting And get sober.

Casey Strunk, president of Strunk Insurance Group in Phoenix, said he began taking his fitness and nutrition more seriously in recent years, and that conventional social activities such as boozy cocktails and large meals in the restaurant were not always suitable. its objectives.

“I always craved that sense of community with people I liked, who were leaders who helped me progress,” he told BI.

He first learned about rucking about a year and a half ago at an entrepreneurs’ conference featuring Michael Easter, a journalist whose books sparked a Renaissance.

Strunk heard that a friend had started a rucking network event, and last fall he started his own local version called Rise & Ruck Phoenix.

Once a month, a hand-picked group is invited to meet at a local park on Friday at 7 a.m. for an hour-long ruck, followed by 30 minutes of coffee and conversation.

You need an internal connection to receive an invitation, and discussions often focus on hot topics in the community in areas such as business, economics, and medicine.

“We’ve been very intentional. Even though it’s invitation only, we’re not exclusive. We’re inclusive of anyone who knows someone who is high-achieving in some aspect of their life,” Strunk said.

Rucking is a natural choice for the ambitious multitasker, as it helps improve cardiovascular health, improves strength and stability, and burns fat at the same time.

“For me, rucking was really about optimization,” Strunk said.

The appeal of networking for rucking

Exercising at work isn’t just a convenient way to multitask in a busy schedule. It’s also strategic.

“When you have these endorphins, how can anything go wrong when you do this type of exercise together?” » said Heisman.

This can be humbling; Getting in and out of the backpack can feel like a beetle stuck on your back, Heisman said, and you risk looking out of breath if you go hard.

But rucking is fundamentally an evolving exercise, which makes it relatively accessible. It can be adjusted for different fitness levels by changing factors such as ruck weight, movement speed and terrain.

Since everyone’s gear is a backpack, it’s not about keeping up appearances; no one can compare weights like they could visually with a barbell.

“The beauty of the ruck is that there’s no blatant feeling of ‘you’re doing less than me, or I’m doing more than you’. It’s much more about ‘we’re doing this together’.” Heisman said.

Heisman, a fan of ruck meetings for years, said he puts a lot of thought into each meeting, often starting his guests with a lighter weight, offering them the option of adding more on the way back and even planning the route so that it ends on a hill. The overall effect is a feeling of accomplishment and camaraderie that’s hard to replicate in an office setting.

For Strunk, the meditative monotony of rucking is what makes a meeting so productive. He and his associates have time to communicate and contemplate.

“I definitely wouldn’t want to be in an F45 or Orangetheory group with other people where we were trying to communicate and network. But from a barrier to entry perspective, most people can walk for 60 minutes” , Strunk said.

Strunk’s group ends with the accoutrements of a good social, but he packs coffee with protein bars, shakes, and bananas to enjoy in a picturesque park instead of pastries or donuts in a conference room.

Yet a little challenge is part of what sets ruck meetings apart. The increase in your heart rate encourages you to conserve your breath, cutting out the fluff: there is no such thing as a group meeting that could have been an email.

“I think it’s easier for people to contribute more meaningfully when they have something to say rather than just talking,” Strunk said.

Read the original article on Business Insider