Do we need sports?
On September 14, the Swiss Management Run will once again take place in Arosa. Sporting ambitions of managers are definitely in demand at this event, but they are not the only focus. Because even in recreational sports, everything is a question of the right measure.
Mr. Stäuble, I'm reaching you during your summer vacation. What does your "anti-stress program" look like?
Patrick Stäuble: I'm currently spending time comfortably in the mountains, hiking or biking. Hanging around at an airport or driving for several hours to the vacation destination would be too much stress for me.
You were a top athlete yourself. How much sport do you currently do?
Today, I make a strong distinction between exercise and sports per se. On an intensity scale of 1 to 10, "exercise" is about 3 to 5, and sports from about 7 upwards. Currently, I move regularly at an intensity of up to level five. What's above that level is already in the direction of ambitious hobby sports. That's where you have to differentiate.
Speaking of performance: Many executives often work at the limit in terms of their performance in their function and, in addition, often go to their performance limits as hobby athletes. To what extent does sport still make sense as a leisure activity or "anti-stress program"?
Managers have changed in this respect in recent decades. Whereas 30 years ago, for example, a bank director was still more likely to follow Churchill's motto of "no sports," today's executives go "full throttle" everywhere, including in sports. In addition to top professional performance, wanting to complete four marathons and the Ironman is, in my view, too much of a good thing. This also led me to the provocative lecture topic "Do we need sport? No way!". The underlying theme, however, is to find the right balance between tension and relaxation.
When can sport help to cope with stress, and when not?
It depends on the frequency and intensity. Exercising four times a week for one and a half hours each at an intensity of over 7 is hardly relieving. I have good experience with physical activity of about three times an hour per week at an intensity of 3 to 5. A good benchmark is also to cycle to work about three times a week. In concrete terms, it is a matter of activating the autonomic nervous system: with any form of high performance, one controls the so-called sympathetic nervous system, while the parasympathetic nervous system serves to recover and build up the body's own reserves. And this only succeeds in a relaxation mode.
How can you tell that the balance between tension and relaxation is no longer right?
There are various known early warning indicators. Physically noticeable are, for example, headaches, disturbances in the digestive tract or sleep disturbances. These are classic symptoms of overload - if a person were a car, the first warning lights would be flashing now ... The rule of 3 is helpful: If the symptoms appear three days a week over a month, then you should get to the bottom of the causes.
However, this requires a high level of self-awareness?
Yes. In fact, the difficulty is that these early warning indicators are often ignored. Many burnout sufferers report exactly this.
To make sure it doesn't come to that: What's your most important tip for effectively balancing your job and exercise?
Moderate exercise two to three times a week is ideal. This can be combined well with about 30 to 40 minutes of muscle training, e.g. Pilates. I personally have had very good experiences with this. In short, we don't need the fitness level of a marathon runner to stay healthy as a manager.
Swiss Management Run 2018
The Swiss Management Run is an exclusive platform for exercising and exchanging ideas with other managers. The program includes the symposium "Fit for Management" with presentations on the topic of "Health of Managers" (from noon), a run with the distances 1.2 km, 5 km and 10 km (early evening), followed by the After Run Party for networking and exchange in a relaxed atmosphere.
