Mr. Andrew McBean - Good health on the schedule

With a high pressure career in the ever-changing telecommunications industry, finding time for exercise can be a challenge for Andrew McBean. As senior vice president of Total Access Communication (DTAC), Andrew begins most days around 6 a.m. with an exercise and fitness session with a professional trainer. It’s a habit he’s been hooked on for nearly 20 years.

IT’S ABOUT DISCIPLINE

“Exercise is what keeps me healthy,” Andrew told Better Health. “Most people think that they don’t have enough time. But if you make exercise part of your schedule, then you just have to follow the schedule.”

“For some people,” he explained, “getting started on a healthy exercise routine is challenging, but making sure the commitment becomes long-lasting is even harder. You need discipline. Beyond that, you must convince yourself that your workout session can’t be missed or cancelled. You need to treat it just like your work meetings. I give working out the same priority as a business meeting, so when I’m arranging my schedule, working out always gets included.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Not everyone has the self-discipline to stay fully committed to a healthy fitness routine. For Andrew, scheduling workouts at the beginning of the day has made it easier for him to keep exercise in his schedule. “I make working out the first activity of the day,” he said, “because I don’t want to give myself an excuse to miss a workout. If I scheduled it any other time, I might have important work meetings and then postpone the
exercise class. By exercising before work, I can keep my other commitments without worrying about missing my workout.”

Besides scheduling exercise, working out with a professional
trainer has yielded tangible benefits for Andrew. “It’s another way to make it easier for me to keep to my schedule,” he explained. “My trainer, Daniel Remon from Fitcorp Asia, keeps me focused on specific improvements, especially strengthening my abdomen, spine and back muscles. He makes sure I do the exercises correctly, and he helps me set and achieve my fitness goals.” Over the years, Andrew has noticed some important health benefits. “I have a lot less back pain,” he said, “and, believe it or not, I’m actually one centimeter taller now. My posture has improved a lot, and it’s easy to see how strengthening my trunk
area made that possible.”

THE NEXT BIG GOAL

As a committed goal-setter, Andrew has his sights set on “The Impossible Race,” DTAC’s first 10-kilometer mini-marathon for company managers and staff in early 2008. “Everyone at the company has become very enthusiastic about the race,” said Andrew. “We decided to do the race as a way to get the whole company thinking not just about living healthier, but also to build a stronger sense of teamwork. Most staff first reacted to the idea with a sense of dread at trying to do the impossible. But as people began training, they could see how the impossible
was actually possible.” At age 42, Andrew feels healthier now than he did 20 years ago. And that’s a reward he gets to enjoy every single day.