(Bloomberg Opinion) – Graham Ambrose has never felt stronger. He can barbell 145 kg (320 lbs) for four sets of six repetitions and bench press more than 100 kg for a single repetition. His friends and colleagues notice that his clothes fit him tighter and that he likes to post selfies in the mirror Instagram.
But Ambrose is no Gen-Z attention seeker: The 55-year-old is a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. London-based equity franchise sales specialist as well has his own podcastwhere he waxes lyrical about the benefits of lifting heavy alongside his personal trainer who calls him “G-dog”.
A Goldman MD is not exactly a man of the people, but very much so Bloomberg Opinion readers will find Ambrose's fitness experience more relatable than that of influencers in their 20s who don't have as many work and family commitments. His message is one that finance workers absolutely need to hear, and it couldn't come at a better time.
People who spend their working lives trying to manage risk in exchange for long-term financial gain often fail to apply these lessons to their own health. That's partly because balancing personal well-being and professional success can be difficult in an industry that values long hours and now requires workers to return to the office. But while finances have not become one walk in the parkthere is more awareness of the need to keep physically healthy and mentally resilient.
And strength training should attract bankers as a reward in terms of well-being – and ultimately longevity – can be deep.
The good news is that Ambrose is increasingly preaching to the choir. When we zoomed in on him in January, he said that clients and colleagues have been inundating him with questions about his routine and that “it's been really hard to find a free squat rack at Goldman Gym lately.”
Indeed, he's not Goldman's only evangelist for weight training. Jonny Fine, head of global investment-grade debt at Goldman, posts video at Instagram doing deadlifts at cult New York gym Dogpound, where an annual membership costs up to $36,000. (Fine's personal best deadlift is 405 pounds for one rep, he told me by email.)
American Psycho bankers satirized pumping iron for aesthetic reasons in the 1980s, but the reality was often an intense, high-stress, mostly sedentary job whose long hours were punctuated by drinking and drug taking.
Last memories of former Citigroup Inc. trader. Gary Stevenson Trading Game describes the fatigue, chest pains and depression that drove him to quit banking in 2014, aged 27. By 2021, new Goldman employees were still complaining about 100-hour work weekslittle sleep and deterioration physical and mental health.
However, these days, most banks have top-notch fitness equipment and some even offer workout clothes. It is not unusual for finance professionals to do this train with clients instead of going for a steak dinner.
“You don't need to ask permission to go to the gym because you'll see your manager there too,” says Ambrose. “It's a real real change in the way people interact on (Wall) Street. It's also incredibly unifying: the boss can learn to sit down in a meeting while a first-year analyst is dropping 160kg.”
The tone at the top is also improved. Goldman boss David Solomon talks about his early morning exercise habitwhile Morgan Stanley's executive chairman James Gorman admitted last year that he had problems with stress causing nausea early in his career which he overcame by getting much fitter.
Kim Fournais, CEO of Denmark's Saxo Bank A/S, is a fan weightlifting and Krav Maga (a notoriously intensive method of self-protection), while Deutsche Bank AG DWS Group's chief investment officer, Stephen Hoopscarries about a chest expander and hits weight room most mornings. (His one-rep bench press max was 140kg when a German finance podcast asked last year.)
Of course, finance types aren't the only ones who have caught the gym bug. or big chest and abs have become as essential as owning a yacht for Hollywood actors and tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. But this is not just a rich man's pastime, nor is it just a boy's thing.
A decade ago it was rare to see women doing strength training. In part this was due to a misperception that doing cardio was the best way to lose weight – in fact, having more muscle increases metabolic activity, meaning you burn more calories throughout the day.
There were also unfounded concerns that lifting weights would make women big. But emboldened by mainstream strength-focused workouts like Crossfit, aspirational images on social media and a wealth of advice accessible online, the ratio of women to men in the weight room of most gyms is now close to 50-50. Fitness centers have responded by removing treadmills and elliptical machines AND devoting more space to it for barbell and weight sled.
“There are definitely more women in the gym getting stronger which is amazing to see,” says London-based analyst Eleonora Dani, 38, who started in 2015 after reading a profile of Bloomberg Businessweek of one. female Goldman banker that Crossfit did. “The idea was born that you can be a woman, be in finance and be strong,” she tells me by phone, asking that her employer not be identified. After losing 20kg and gaining 4kg of muscle in a year through a combination of personal training and Hyrox (a mix of cardio and strength training), Dani can now deadlift 105kg for five reps.
If you think about the different aspects of weight training, it makes sense why Wall Street types would want to get strong. It helps that the sessions can be relatively short: Unlike training for a marathon, a 45-minute strength workout is enough. Building muscle also requires increasing the number of repetitions or weight in each session, careful meal planning and progress monitoring – something of a scientific approach that appeals to those who work with data. And there's a great sense of personal accomplishment when you finally achieve a goal like deadlifting twice your body weight.
Sure, people lift weights to look good and feel more confident, but the benefits go far beyond bulging biceps. For Mike Mayo, a banking research analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., it was bone-strengthening ability weakened by osteoporosis and the fight against age-related muscle wasting (sarcopenia) that prompted his pivot from running and cycling to powerlifting—a mix of deadlifts, squats, and bench presses.
There are also underrated mental health and hormonal advantages. “Our financial clients usually have an imbalance of (the stress hormone) cortisol because of the nature of their work. “Having more muscle mass gives you more control over that stress response,” says Mark Bohannon, principal at Ultimate Performance, an international chain of personal training gyms. (Dani is a client.)
“Meditation can be difficult for some types of finances,” he adds. “But if you're squatting with 100kg on your back, I guarantee you're not worried about your next date. You're thinking: I have to get up now or this bar will crush me.”
Of course, some people take things to extremes. Podcasters like Andrew Huberman, a Stanford professor and neuroscientist, embrace any method that might offer a mental or physical advantage, such as peptides, saunas and cold plunges.
— liquidity (@litcapital) January 19, 2024
But you don't need to swallow dozens of supplements to get stronger. The main benefits come from getting the basics right: lifting weights three or four times a week, getting enough sleep and eating the right foods. This obviously requires planning, especially since banks again require office staff and corporate travel (hotel gyms usually don't offer much in the way of weights).
“No one makes time to just work out—it's always been something I deliberately plan like any other meeting,” says Randy Giveans, a former research analyst at Jefferies Financial Group who now has a role in investor relations and development. of business at Navigator Holdings Ltd. The 39-year-old father of three meets clients or investors for training at least a few times a month. “You can talk business between groups and it's also a fun shared experience.”
But it's worth the time. “This health movement in finance began in part because of increased productivity. People thought: I could stay longer, read better and be more alert! But then they noticed that they were also getting better with their families and their children and becoming better people,” says Jason H. Karp, a former hedge fund manager turned entrepreneur. (This point about emotional well-being is echoed in Peter Attia's excellent book They survive.)
Instead of dreading my 6 a.m. workouts, weight training is something I now look forward to. It's satisfying to get stronger in my 40s and defy the decline that otherwise comes with aging. Once I've picked up a heavy barbell, whatever else the day throws at me isn't that hard. So I'm delighted that Ambrose and his peers are making weight training more popular – but it will take further encouragement from employers to help finance professionals lead healthier lives. If I've learned anything from grasping heavy objects, it's that progress comes one step at a time.
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Chris Bryant at (email protected)