You may well be asking are these people sick? To the contrary, they have found a way to have some fun, de-stress their lives, feel good and start to achieve things they never dreamt possible without having to play politics, sweet talk clients and smooze up to the boss. Places like Hong Kong attract and breed high achievers who are prepared to drive themselves into an early grave in order to continually get the next deal or win that case. Most executives in Asia not only work crazy long hours but are expected to travel extensively while also trying to balance this with family life. Surely something has to give and all too often it does…………………

I spend day after day meeting people who on the outside are super successful, earning very healthy salaries but if you look underneath, these same confident, successful people are often unhappy with themselves. They feel unhealthy, often overweight which makes living in Asia’s heat and humidity even harder, hate the way they look, feel lethargic most of the time and many are depressed. It’s very hard when you get on the work treadmill to ever stop and take a second for yourself or do something for you and not for all the others in you spend your life trying to please.

CLSA Asia Pacific Markets have tackled this issue head-on inviting staff and clients to join a Triathlon program. This may sound crazy to ask completely un-experienced and unfit bankers and fund managers to tackle something like the Laguna Phuket Triathlon (1.8km swim, 55km bike & 12km run) but the success of the program has been huge. It has been one of the most wonderful experiences to be able to take a group of people who never dreamt they would ever be able to do anything more than run to catch a taxi to feeling fitter than ever before, looking better than they have since they left school and achieving something that they worked for fair and square. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, who your friends are, who you have smoozed the night before….the only way you cross that finish line is by putting in the work like all the others around you and that’s very refreshing in Hong Kong. I have seen people going from feeling their life has turned into one rollercoaster they have no control over or ability to get off to feeling back in control simply through taking part in sport.

So onto the big question, how do you get started? Here are some tips to taking control again and feeling good:

1. Pick a goal….it can be anything from running one lap of Happy Valley to a running race or triathlon. Once you enter a race, there is a commitment and this will help your motivation when it’s raining or you don’t feel like getting out of bed. It is also important to have a goal that you can quantify rather than simply wanting to “get fit” or “loose weight” which can be never-ending targets especially weight loose as your body will start to loose fat and put on tone/muscle which actually weighs more so you should focus more on shape not weight.
2. Get your Doctor to give you a check – up before you suddenly take up an exercise program especially if you haven’t been doing anything before.
3. Find a group or some friends to train with. This will not only help to motivate you if you have agreed to meet someone or committed to a group session but it also makes it much more fun.
4. Take on a coach – this can help you to remain motivated and focused and ensure that you are doing the right training to achieve your goal. Most people in Hong Kong have limited time, a coach will be able to help you prioritize your training and make sure you spend the time you have doing the right training and also help ensure you are using the correct technique and help you with equipment, nutrition and clothing queries.
5. Don’t put pressure on yourself……I know this is the way most people work in Hong Kong but remember the reason you are taking up sport is as a stress-relief and way to feel better about yourself. Take things one step at a time and enjoy being out of the office……sport requires patience and fitness/improvement is not something you can buy, it comes with some consistent work over time.
6. Enjoy the journey….it is awesome to watch your improvement and always remember where you started. Make a note of your first attempts of whatever sport you decide to take up. I remember being unable to run 4 laps of Happy Valley inside track (3.6km) without stopping when I first started. Most importantly…make it fun.

Claire Murray runs Speedplay Events, one of Asia’s leading coaching companies and offers private, group and corporate training programs. She is also one of Asia’s top long distance triathlete’s after a successful career in Banking. She only took up triathlon 8 years ago with no previous swim, biking or running experience and regularly competes over the Ironman distance (3.8km swim; 180km bike; 42km run) with a personal best of 9hrs59 placing third in Ironman New Zealand in 2005. For more information visit www.claire-murray.com

Adrian Gornall from CLSA completing his first Phuket Triathlon 2005.

Mark Koijman (CLSA Client) completing his first ever Triathlon in Phuket 2005.