Can you do Investment Banking and train for a Triathlon?

I just got a text from my dad: "how are we going to keep training for a triathlon when you start IB?"

Haven't given this much thought since I'll be a SA and haven't graduated yet. Just curious to hear if it's been done or if I should give up and just accept that I'll be a fat tub of lard for the foreseeable future (please someone give me some hope)

17 Comments
 

If you are the son/daughter of a client or a global head, yes you can.

If not, feasibility is very low. Even if somehow you make some time to train, there’s no recovery.

That said, you do not need to be fat tub of lard as you put it if you are conscious on what you are eating while working in the office.

Smoothie instead of soda, salad instead of pizza, and so on. Conscious choices

 

It’s really about how much you want to prioritize training and how good you want to be.

You can reasonably get 3 workouts a week on Friday Saturday and Sunday even with a pretty egregious schedule, you just can’t do much else. Your sleep will also prob be pretty shit.

I think you are kidding yourself if you think you will be able to get several workouts a week Monday-Thursday. You might be able to sneak one off, but it isn’t going to be a consistent day of the week, will depend on the week, and it will be on low sleep, it also might get interrupted.

 
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When I interned I was in the gym at 530 am 3-4x per week. I often would go to sleep at 11 or 12 and wake up at 5. It sucked, but I was so happy that I hit the gym. I’d crash on the weekend, but it felt well deserved. There’s no excuse not be be asleep by 11 or 12 most nights. You need to show up in the office between 830 and 9, but there’s a window in the AM to get something done.

Of course you will have a couple weeks in your internship where you work into the wee hours of the morning, but that’s when you hit the weekend workouts hard.

Lots of guys don’t workout because they’re “so tired”. We sit behind a desk man, not bail hay or set concrete. It’s mostly about priorities.

 

This is regarding weight lifting, but I’ve heard some groups might have a gym culture? Maybe a satellite office thing? Like a couple guys might hit the gym and dinner together and then go back to work (especially when a local gym membership is provided). Correct me if I’m wrong though or if this just isn’t common at all

 

The problem in banking is that it’s rare that the whole office is on the same schedule. During the times you are slammed, your buddy is asking if you want to fuck off for two hours during lunch, and vice versa. -As an intern working out prior to work is the best way to make sure it always happens -Always have your work phone on you. In hindsight I did some of the worst work of all the interns, but I was ALWAYS available to respond to an email. I’d respond to emails at 515 in the morning with “got it we will have this to you by lunch”. I was not actually doing anything, but just responding that early has some of the senior guys labeling you as a go getter -As an intern 6-10 pm is a weird time. Most people are barley busy, but terrified to leave. If you blank this off as a gym time you will often be disappointed -As a full time guy it’s a bit easier to sneak off and say that you’ll be back. As an intern it’s nice to just be around

 

The thing about this is that I'm 95% sure that working out the expense of getting only 5 hours of sleep a night is not going to be worth it.

No matter how you put it, 5 hours of sleep is not good for you and will not only wipe out any beneft you get from working out but also it's probably a net negative. 

Work out when you can but sacrificing sleep to do so is not worth it

 

People here are being too pessimistic

Weekends you can do proper long rides, brick workouts etc

During the week, you’re kidding yourself if you can’t find 3x 30-45 min slots to do a run, few laps of a pool or a session on a stationary bike.

Will it be hard to train for an Ironman? Sure. For a 70.3? Maybe, depends how fit you are. But for Olympic distance you’ll be able to do ample training IMO.

 

Yes you definitely can. I’ve been training for a Ironman 70.3 the past 6 months as a senior associate at a BB.

The challenge is that your weekends will turn into long workout sessions 2-3 hour morning bike on Sat and 1-2 hour runs on Sunday.

You’ve also got to build in credibility from your team that you’ll get stuff done, as I’d call it at 11pm, where possible to review work from 5-6am, and get a morning workout in before going into the office.

Having Zwift helped significantly, as I could get in 30-45 minute rides when time constrained.

You’ll have to prioritize it and it helps if you’ve got friends doing it with you as you can train together.

 

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