Why Working Out Harder Won’t Fix Your Midday Energy Crash as a CEO or Founder
Every CEO and founder knows the scenario: you wake up early, hit the gym, and push yourself through a hard workout. The day starts strong. But by mid-afternoon, your focus fades, your energy drops, and the crash arrives, often right before a crucial meeting or decision.
It’s tempting to assume the fix is more effort, whether that’s more reps, more miles, or more sweat. After all, you didn’t get where you are by backing down.
But when it comes to sustaining your energy as an A-level leader, more isn’t always better, and in many cases, it’s precisely what’s keeping you stuck.
The truth is, midday crashes aren’t about a lack of discipline or willpower. They’re about how your system is wired. Leadership today demands more than brute force.
Just as elite athletes design their training around recovery, precision, and biology, executives need a smarter approach to fueling their energy—one that matches the demands of leading a company, not just completing a workout.
In this article, we’ll unpack why working out harder won’t solve your fatigue and what high-performing leaders should focus on instead. Think of it as upgrading your energy strategy so you can show up at your best in the boardroom, at home, and everywhere in between.
Why Energy Crashes Are a Systems Problem
Energy is capped by biology, not grit.
Circadian rhythm, mitochondria, and recovery inputs dictate your true capacity.
More gym time without addressing your system's issues accelerates fatigue.
Stress + Exercise Without Recovery = Energy Debt
CEOs already operate under a heavy cognitive and emotional load.
Adding intense training without recovery digs a deeper hole.
Sleep, light, and nutrient replenishment are non-negotiables.
More Training Doesn’t Equal More Capacity
Elite athletes train with precision, not volume.
Strategic intensity and recovery unlock performance.
Executives need the same approach to sustain all-day energy.
Midday fatigue is more than an inconvenience. It’s a silent liability for leaders. One bad decision made in a foggy state can create ripples across your organization and cost far more than the price of a smarter health strategy.
The solution isn’t grinding harder in the gym. It’s about engineering your energy like you would engineer your business: with precision, leverage, and systems that scale.
At Executive Health, we serve as your board of directors for well-being, bringing you the strategies and insights that turn energy into your most reliable competitive edge. Leaders who master this don’t just survive the day; they thrive. They create a compounding advantage that shows up in the boardroom, in their relationships, and in their legacy.
To see this in action, watch the video below, where I break down the core principles. And if you’re ready to explore how Executive Health can help you design your own precision health strategy, let’s start the conversation.
Transcript (May Not Be Exact)
(0:00) So why is it that no matter how much harder you push in the gym, (0:05) your energy still tanks throughout the day? (0:11) Welcome, I'm Julian Hayes II, founder of Executive Health, where we help CEOs, (0:16) entrepreneurs, and other A-level leaders optimize their billion-dollar asset (0:19) so they can thrive in business, lead in their communities, and be more present with their (0:23) families. And for founders and CEOs, energy isn't a nice-to-have. It's the currency of leadership.
(0:32) If you're crashing midday, no matter how hard you train, (0:36) it's not just inconvenient. This bleeds into your boardroom presence. (0:40) It clouds your decision-making.
It steals time you have with your family at night. (0:46) And the truth is, when you're trying to outwork an energy crash by exercising harder, (0:52) this is akin to maybe perhaps trying to fix a leaky roof by turning up the heat. (0:59) And the root of the problem remains.
And there's three reasons why this is going to happen that (1:05) we're going to dive into. And so the very first one is, energy crashes are a systems problem, (1:12) not a willpower problem. So perhaps most executives, most entrepreneurs, (1:19) they're probably going to think that fatigue is about grit.
It's about doing more to try to (1:25) alleviate this issue. But in actuality, it's not. It's about your biology.
But it's about your (1:32) biology in a way that you may not be thinking about. It's about your circadian rhythms. It's (1:37) about your mitochondrial efficiency.
It's about your relationship with light and your recovery (1:42) inputs that set the ceiling for how much energy you can actually access. So pushing harder in the gym (1:49) without fixing the system fundamentally, you're simply accelerating the crash. (1:56) You're simply pouring gasoline on the issue already.
And so the second point I want you to (2:03) keep in mind is, it's a formula. So we have stress plus exercise without recovery. This (2:11) equals the energy debt.
Now, CEOs, you know, entrepreneurs constantly live under a constant (2:20) cognitive and emotional load. And most of the time, you're going to be a hard charging individual. (2:27) So you're not going to be a person who's just going to sit on the couch and be a little lazy (2:32) and need motivation to get started or anything.
It's actually going to be the opposite. Most of (2:37) entrepreneurs and founders I talk to, they're already go-getters. They're already getting after (2:42) it.
After all, that's how they got to the position that they are. So their workouts are generally (2:46) going to be the same thing. But you add these aggressive workouts in, in combination with early (2:52) mornings, sometimes your sleep's not as good, sometimes an abuse of technology, an abuse of (2:57) blue light, red eye flights, late nights, and you're stacking stress upon stress.
And also, (3:04) you're shutting down systems that are beneficial, that are not going to be as activated due to some (3:11) of the behaviors and habits that you do on a daily basis. And so your body, speaking in business (3:18) terms, it's going to treat this like another boardroom fire drill. And so without proper (3:22) recovery protocols ranging from your sleep architecture, your light exposure, the light (3:28) exposure at the right times, your nutrient replenishment, you're digging a deeper energy debt (3:33) that no extra workout is going to repay.
The third point here is more training (3:41) doesn't equal more capacity. Now, if you've seen some of my columns, you've, you've heard me talk (3:47) about the importance of capacity. And this is what we as high level leaders should actually be (3:52) training for.
But at a certain level, more volume does not equal more output. Elite athletes already (4:01) know this. They use precision.
They have recovery windows. They have personalized fueling. They have (4:08) strategic periods of intensity.
Executives need the same. This is why I always emphasize for business (4:15) leaders to think of themselves as business athletes. Because the difference is between you (4:20) and a professional athlete a lot of times is you have no off season.
Business is 24-7, (4:28) 365 days of the year for decades that you're in this game. It's the ultimate sport. And so you're (4:37) not going to just win by training harder.
You're going to win by training smarter. You need both (4:42) of these. And you're going to align your exercising.
You're going to align your nutritional strategies (4:48) with your biology, your calendar, your mission, and your long-term goals. Now, (4:56) I will bring up some common objections, maybe one of those, right? Some people will say that (5:03) exercise is supposed to give me more energy. And I would say, absolutely, you are correct.
(5:10) But only when it's programmed correctly. Because, you know, exercise is providing you with more (5:16) joules because our bodies are electric. But the wrong kind of exercise at the wrong time (5:25) is pretty much like putting premium fuel in the wrong engine.
Or it's pretty much putting, like, (5:29) the 87 gasoline in a car that needs premium. And so instead of running smoother, you're flooding (5:37) the system. And the fix isn't more sweat.
It's precision. And so identifying what your body (5:42) truly needs and aligning your workouts to amplify, not drain, your overall leadership and presence (5:49) is what needs to be top of mind. So, as we land this ship here, when you are hitting the gym (5:55) harder, but you're still dragging throughout the day, the problem is definitely not effort.
(6:02) It's strategy. And so, for leaders, energy is the ultimate return of investment on everything. (6:10) When you protect this, everything else compounds in your life.
Especially the big three pillars (6:14) that we always talk about. Community, family, and your business. And so if this resonates, (6:20) click the link below to schedule a private executive health diagnostic call.
(6:24) And think of this, once again, as a chemistry meeting. A chance to see if we're working (6:29) together makes sense. And so until next time, stay awesome, be limitless, and optimize today (6:35) so you can lead tomorrow.
Peace.
