Why CEOs Struggle to Get & Stay in Shape (and COOs Don’t)

I’ve been coaching executives for 10 years, turning them into athletes with actual paychecks.

This isn't a theory. It's an observation. I’ve seen it time and time again.

But hold your horses (and the share button), COOs, before you forward this to your CEO and the rest of the C-suite. Let’s get one thing straight, you’re not perfect either. A lot of you suck at getting and staying in shape too.

You just happen to have some fundamental behaviour traits that make it easier.

So before you start rubbing your face and feeling smug, check your blood pressure, your resting heart rate, and those unused belt holes.

And to the COO who inspired this post after our conversation, the one who probably shared it before finishing this sentence, I’d like to remind you of that screenshot of you from Helsinki’s largest newspaper that ended up in your DMs. You know, the one that told you it’s time to come back to coaching.

Onto the list.

1) CEOs live in chaos, COOs live in calendars.

I’ve been here, and I fall into this trap too. Keep in mind, I’m a CEO, two companies, 70+ staff, and an inbox that looks like a landfill site.

The life of a CEO is chaotic, mostly by choice, but chaotic nonetheless.

We’re bombarded with new opportunities (the lady in the red dress from The Matrix), new hires, new fires, and new distractions every damn day. Our dopamine-dependent, ADHD-riddled brains never stand a chance.

You might start the day with a perfect plan, workout booked, meals prepped, inbox at zero, and then boom. Some local Karen sends in a complaint, and suddenly you’re personally trying to fix it like it’s a hostage situation. Goodbye schedule.

COOs, on the other hand, are like knights in the Queen’s Guard, they live and die by the calendar. (If you’re a CEO reading this, check your COO’s calendar. There’s probably an entry for the day they plan to die.)

Health and fitness relies on predictability, macros counted, steps measured, weights lifted. Chaos kills it.

A CEO’s day is like a firefighter’s: nonstop, reactive, full of adrenaline.

A COO’s day? They’d probably have to light the fire themselves in a controlled environment, just to feel something.

How to Fix It (or at least manage the chaos)

You’ll never stop being busy, so stop waiting for “a quiet week” to get back into training, it doesn’t exist. The key isn’t to remove chaos, it’s to build predictability inside it.

Start by treating your workouts like investor meetings, they don’t move. Block them in your calendar and let everyone else work around you for once. We used to say doctor appointments but we all know you move those.

If something breaks, ask yourself, can this problem wait until tomorrow or can someone else handle it? And if you have to move it, fine, but reschedule it immediately, not someday. Chaos can’t kill a system that’s already in the calendar.

You don’t need monk-level discipline, just COO-level scheduling.

2) CEOs value outcomes. COOs value processes.

When I first launched my company, I was lucky enough to work with some of the biggest-name CEOs in the country. They’d always ask me where I wanted to take the business, “How will it look when you’ve got 1,000 coaches? 100 gyms?”

I’d think about it for about three seconds before realising all the headaches that would come with it.

Personality-wise, I sit somewhere between the CEO and the COO. Those CEO mentors would tell me to “play the infinite game” or “think bigger”, meanwhile, I was just trying to make payroll and keep the lights on.

If they’d said that to another entrepreneur, I’m sure the guy would’ve had to tuck his dick into his belt line like a kid at a high school dance for the rest of the day.

The engineer in me always wanted to focus on the process, I just lacked the systems thinking to actually put it together.

With health and fitness the CEOs take their before photos and already imagine they are there. To be honest I wish I could think like that sometimes, the transformation is done, the abs are there, the business is built. My business would probably be a lot bigger if I wasn't such a generalist.

Unfortunately, health and fitness, just like in business, is a daily process that leads to outcomes. COO's know this and execute on it and at the same time they enjoy it.

CEOs understand this but it's not as easy to outsource the operations of putting the fork or spoon down as compared to hiring your number two to help run your company.

How to fix it:

Having a great coach is the next best thing for a CEO to having a great COO. A great coach knows how both need to be treated differently.

And if you don’t have one, talk to your COO.
He already knows that a calmer, fitter, more focused CEO is better for him long-term than a chaotic, monkey-brained partner.

So be open about your health and fitness goals, take pics of your food, send them to each other, and let each other know when you do something positive for your health and fitness. He might end up being your best accountability coach.

3) CEOs make 10,000 decisions a day. COOs automate them.

Humans, according to some thrown-around internet influencer statistics, make about 35,000 decisions per day. Apparently, 226 of those are about food.

Honestly, I would’ve thought it was more. When I’m trying to lose weight, food decisions consume about 20% of my brainpower.
Come to think of it, 226 is probably right.

Fuck a duck.

Anyway, I digress. (I googled that word just to sound smart.)

Think of your decision bank like a bank account that refills overnight. You wake up, check your phone, and that same Karen from the previous point has already bombarded you with drama. Now you’re spending your mental capital figuring out how to unfuck the rest of the day.

By noon, you’re 12,000 decisions deep. You’ve skipped meals, caffeinated, nicotine’ed, and if you live in NYC, probably nose-beered your way to productivity.

At that point, a workout or a healthy meal doesn’t stand a chance.

COOs, to CEOs, barely seem human.

They’ve somehow automated the entire “getting fit” task of the day. It’s like they’ve got a red button on their desk, the same one Trump uses to order a Coke, and every press grows their biceps and shrinks their waistline.

Lucky for you (if you’re still reading),

I have the fix.

How to:

The upside is, you don’t need more discipline.

After six years in the Army, I learned one thing.
(Yes, it took that long.)

Get your workout clothes ready the night before. Put them in the doorway so you actually have to step over them. It annoys my wife, but she thanks me at a certain time of day, if you know what I mean. (wink wink)

That way, before you’ve checked your phone, before Karen’s found her way into your inbox, you’ve already put your clothes on and you’re out the door, whether that’s a walk, a run, or a workout in the gym.

Most mornings, I train fasted. Because if I eat first, I’ll check my phone, and once that happens, the workout’s derailed. And when the workout’s gone, so is the day.

This is also what we recommend to a lot of our clients.

Remember: you’re more important than Karen.

4) CEOs chase opportunities. COOs chase consistency.

You know that skinny guy who can’t run a decent Cooper’s test or do a push-up, but somehow thinks sitting in cold water makes him an athlete?
Yeah, the biohacker.

They’re only popular with CEOs. They are the ones always looking for the next opportunity, the next biohack.
COOs think these pelican-necked pencil pushers are a waste of oxygen.

Help me get rid of the biohackers once and for all, unfollow them on social media.

Okay okay, that was mean. Some of their stuff does have value... but only once you’ve nailed the basics.

I’ve said it before, macros, steps, seven to eight hours of sleep, and at least one push-up. (Yes, that was another slight stab.)

I’ve fallen into this trap repeatedly.
Today, for example, I was reading about heat training to increase my VO₂ max for cycling. Then I remembered, it’s my offseason, and I haven’t even done my workout today.

The COO I mentioned earlier, the one this whole blog was inspired by, is at the level where that kind of stuff actually matters. He’s at the pointy end of the sword when it comes to being an Athletic Executive (shameless plug for my online coaching brand).

He nailed the basics years ago.
He didn’t care about heat training or red light therapy until it made sense for his level. I have a metric fuck tonne of respect for this guy (yes, thats an Australian unit of measurement)

Think of this like a pyramid, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but for fitness. With steps, 8 hours of sleep and counting macros at the bottom.
If you’re a “biohacker” CEO who’s skipping the basics, you don’t need heat training or another ice bath.

You need some COO-level consistency.

How to fix it:

Stop trying to hack biology and start doing the basics like a grown adult.

Track your macros, walk 10,000 steps, sleep 7–8 hours, and lift something heavy three times a week.
Do that for a year before you start worrying about how your mitochondria are feeling.

You don’t need a red-light panel. You need repetition.

Start by tracking one thing at a time, this ties back to my second point.
Create yourself a roadmap and pick the lowest-hanging fruit that’ll give you the best result.
Report that progress to your COO or your group chat for accountability, if you decided not to click the shameless plug link above.

If you’re currently doing 2,000 steps, jumping to 10,000 might be a stretch.
Start smaller. There are a lot of numbers between 2,000 and 10,000.
For example, 2,001 is still progress. Shit, but I’ll take what I can get.

Assess your motivation and your schedule like an accountant during tax season.
Set your target. Hit it. Report it.

Then repeat.
Pick the next thing, maybe it’s eating protein at every meal, or putting your clothes in the doorway just to piss off your partner, and start.

Not on Monday. Fuck Monday.

Why not today?

5) CEOs need external validation. COOs need internal order.

I was going to post the screenshot of the conversation and the newspaper photo of the COO who inspired this post, and the after picture.

But, much to the disappointment of my inner marketer, he said I couldn’t.
If he were a CEO, he probably would’ve let me.

Let’s be honest, we CEOs have bigger egos. It’s not our fault, barely anyone tells us “well done.”
You don’t get pats on the back, so you keep chasing stars hoping one day someone gives you one.

We care more about optics. How we’re perceived.
Our job, at least according to every business book and LinkedIn philosopher, is to “build the first product, then build the company.”

And when you’re building the company, your job is simple: communicate the vision, hire the people to execute the vision, and make sure everyone looks good while doing it.

The COO doesn’t care how it looks. They care how it runs.
They don’t need a LinkedIn post to prove they worked 12 hours. They just do the 12 hours, go home, and quietly log the win.

That’s the difference. CEOs crave applause. COOs crave order.

But don’t worry, you can hack it like a biohacker.

How to get a pat on the back:

Tying into point 2 and 4 this is where social accountability can help. It’s hard for your friends and co-workers to see everything you do at work. As they say, ‘’heavy wears the crown’’. Or the original from, Shakespeare ‘’Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’’

This is where you can take that crown off.

Explain to them that you would appreciate their support or at least a thumbs up when you do a positive behaviour that improves your health and fitness.

James Clear the author of ‘’Atomic Habits’’ explained the Habit loop quite nicely. You don’t need a coach for it. You most probably know some people. But this is exactly what coaching is.

How It Works In Practice

How to do it:

I get this is a lot to ask of your friend group.

So I have taken the liberty of writing the exact text to send before this all starts. So cut and paste then send.

‘’Hey, I just read this blog post from this Australian Asshole that explained Why CEOs Struggle to Get & Stay in Shape (and COOs Don’t). He wrote this message and told me to post this in the chat.

He said I am the same as a puppy dog and need validation to do the behaviours that improve my health and fitness (along with other things) and not to worry, but most of us are.

I am going to post a single pic of a simple daily habit in this chat daily and I would love it if you could keep me accountable and give me a ‘’well done’’ every now and then. Much appreciated, Best regards, your off with the fairies CEO friend who struggles with basics :D ‘’

There you go.

So yeah, maybe we’re all a little bit broken, CEOs, COOs, and everyone in between.

CEOs dream big but forget to show up.
COOs show up but forget to dream big.
The sweet spot, I think, is somewhere in the middle.

If you’re a CEO reading this, remember: you can’t delegate discipline, and you can’t outsource your health, but you can get some help.

As Jocko Willink says, “Discipline equals freedom.”
Just make sure you add a little COO-level structure to it.

And if all else fails, start. Not on Monday. Today.
Ready? Go.