Arriving in New York from London recently, the first thing I did was go to a spin class at SoulCycle. I needed to clear my head, but I’m also on a job: to complete a fundraiser of 60 cycles before I turn 60 this summer. As I pedaled away to the beat, I wondered: Is my workout benefiting my work?
The evidence is compelling that exercise has professional advantages, which would make the working assumption that it’s de facto separate from work wrong. Time to physically work out must become sanctioned – if not mandated – in the workplace.
Research published in Harvard Business Review notes a correlation between cognitive function – which contributes to job performance – and exercise. Exercise also improves mental health. A cross-sectional study published in the Lancet Psychiatry in 2018 of 1.2 million US adults shows it reduced days of poor mental health by 43%.
This strong relationship is one reason corporate fitness has become a big business. It’s in the mix of the global corporate wellness market, which was valued at $53 billion in 2022 and is set to grow by nearly 5% year-on-year to 2030. Perhaps this explains why another brand known for its spin cycles, Peloton Interactive, has plans to become a workplace perk. The recent deal between Apple Fitness+ and corporate wellness firm Gympass is another example of companies trying to profit from the trend.
It also explains the increasing popularity of activities such as fun runs that incorporate group fitness opportunities into the workplace. In the UK, the Financial Times reported that Hyrox, a group fitness challenge, is one of a number of exercise groups being taken up by corporates “as part of a broader trend for workplace wellness.”
Given all the career benefits of exercise, it makes sense to reconfigure workplaces to include exercise more meaningfully. Big companies are using gyms as a way to bring people back to the office. Marriott International’s new Bethesda, Maryland, headquarters is a campus where “you can eat, exercise, shower, and meet with your manager,” according to a Wired report.
The workplace used to be known for the water cooler. It is where gossip is shared and networks form. Given the asymmetry of scheduling and the importance of exercise to career and well-being, the workout studio should become the new water cooler.
But most businesses are small, and many workplaces can hardly fit a water cooler in, let alone a space to workout. That means temporarily converting workspace for physical fitness – turn the cafeteria into a dance class once a week? – or encouraging it elsewhere.
Which brings me back to SoulCycle, my particular form of fitness. I like that it’s a sort of cheat-sheet team sport: I’m working out alone – but with others. It benefits my physical health, my mental health and therefore, of course, my work, too.
There’s an additional vital benefit: Workplace workouts provide the kind of bonding that happens away from a desk, outside of the formality of work.
If bonding happens outside the workplace, but is part of being better on the job, why is that different from a lunch break? Workouts can act as significant social and cultural glue. In hybrid working times, being around people to bond is all the more valuable.
SoulCycle has, perhaps, become today’s golf circuit for powerful women. I confess I’m not averse to a little networking while I work out. The US First Lady Jill Biden and Akshata Murty, the businesswoman who is married to the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, went to London’s Notting Hill for a SoulCycle class after the coronation of King Charles III.
Even if you’re not sweating with international VIPs, seeing your manager struggle to keep up with you on the spin cycle – well, that’s probably a bonus.
