How I stay Healthy in Investment Banking
I see people upset about our hours and they cant find ways to workout and eat right. So let me tell you how I am able to stay in shape. 10-12% body fat. Played college football so I had the base. I enjoy good food so I am content at this level lmao.
Routine and Discipline:
I strongly suggest getting into a healthy eating diet along with strength training before you start. Get into this routine and have the discipline to workout 5 days a week. I try to go to the gym everyday, but I work til 11 at night and this isnt possible. I will do a bodyweight workout at home, think crossfit style. Other than that I seperate my workouts into body part and two full body days. Bodybuilding sarm goblins will tell me I cant have a good physique with fullbody but man are they incels lmao. Anyways, Full bodies may include (Trap bar DL, Bench, etc) finishing with mobility (my back thanks me).
Training is also one part of it. I recommend doing cardio 3-4 days a week after strength training if you can, for me I train jiu jitsu but well banking has fucked me from training that every week. I would do 20 mins of cardio heart rate 110+.
ANY MOVEMENT IS GOOD MOVEMENT. If you are behind and a little overweight or havent exercised ever, start with walking 20 mins everyday and build up. Just start moving. My bodyweight workouts include squats, lunges, pullups, pushups, and I use as much bands as I can. Increase reps and you wont lose that much strength, add in some handstands and 5 minute planks if you are "Banking Monkey Beast"
Diet:
Biggest part. I see summer analysts eating like shit because they get to expense lunch and dinners. Lmao do not do this for over a few weeks. I have one or two cheat meals a week where I go to a nice place w my gf and order whatever tf I want. Life is to be enjoyed. I got approval to expense grocery store for lunches and dinners. I will eat a can of salmon with hot sauce for lunch (snack is hummus and veggies), skip breakfast, then try to eat prepped chicken and potatoes or steak and rice for dinner. Cooking on Sundays for the week helps me alot and you can find recipes on pinterest, ig, or tiktok. If I get hungry I will mix a protein shake in after dinner or before. I like Ryse protein and it tastes the best.
Also, Losing or gaining weight is simple. You do not need weightwatchers. Download myfitness pal and track cals. If you wanna lose weight, take ideal weight x 12 then subtract 200-500 calories. (You will lose weight fast). If you want to gain take ideal weight x 12 add (200-500) cals. I just recommend 1 gram of protein per lb you weigh to retain muscle mass.
Mental:
I love IB but at the end of the day. This is a job. Do not let it sacrifice your physical or mental health. If you have a wedding in brazil, go. I love to read my own books, go on walks, and eat at nice restaurants. These help me stay sane. I also love what I do and am always looking up ways to make more money and create better life for my family. Banking will be the fastest so I am going to just bust my ass as many as you can believe. Make sure you have hobbies or man you are going to lose your mind.
Keys:
Rhythms, discipline, habit
You dont need a fad diet
If you enjoy alcohol then drink in moderation if you earn it, working 80 hours a week means you fucking earned it
Try to prep meals if you can, otherwise get creative and find foods you like, think paleo diet if you can.
Find a hobby
These are just suggestions that have helped me. Let me know if you guys have questions.
Lmao worked til 1 last night. I am tired. If any of you jabronis critique my grammar FO. Don't need some Chad telling me I need to fix my WSO post.
If you guys want me to post a 5 day workout split. I can. I hate those people who charge lmao. Upvote this comment if you guys want that.
definitely want
lets see it
Monday: Chest/Tris
Bench Press 5x5
Incline Bench 5x5
DB incline press 4x8-10
DB pullovers 3x10-12
Chest flies (machine) 3x10-12
Triceps of your choice (i like pushdowns) 4x10
DB skullcrushers 3x10-12
Finish with Pushups AMRAP
Tuesday: Legs/Back
Front Squat or back squat 5x6 superset with box jumps 3x3
RDLs 5x10
Leg Press 5x5 (go lighter) can substitue with Barbell Hip Thrusts (up to you)
Pendlay Row 4x6
Lat Pull down 3x10-12
Shrugs 4x10
Seated Rows 3x10
Calf Raises 5x10
Abs of your choice 3x
Russian Twists 2x50
Plank 2x 1 min
Weds: Armfarm (hypertrophy)
Wide Grip Bench w pause 3x8
Close grip bench 3x8
DB incline benc h 4x10
Arnold Press 3x12
DB shoulder press 4x8
front raises/side raises 2x15 each
Seated delt pullbacks 2x15
tricep extension 4x10
DB tricep kickbacks 3x8-10
Preacher curls 3x10
Hammer Curls 3x10
Seated 45 degree curls
forearm plate pinches 3x30 seconds
Thursday: Cardio of your choice
Do 30 minutes of cardio where heart rate bpm is 110+
Finish with Abs of your choice
Friday: Full Body
Trap Bar Deadlift 5x5
Broad Jumps 3x3
DB Rows 5x5
Pullups 3x10
Bulgarian Split Squats 4x10
RFE Split Squat Jumps 3x6/6
Triceps of your choice 3x
Biceps of your choice 3x
Sat/Sun: (Split half into sat other half into sun)
Mobility
Weighted butterfly stretch
Cobra Pose Stretch
Spinal Rolls
Back Bridge
Deep squat groin stretch
Knee to head marches
Side Split Pushups
3 step horse stance isometric
90/90 switch
pigeon stretch
shoulder arcs
Sissy squats
iso lunge hold
Hanging Lat Stretch
Hanging on Bar
Frog Pose
Finish with Ice Bath on weekend if you want better recovery
This is a shitload of volume, how does this not take you 2+ hours for each workout?? Maybe it does? Props to you if you can get this done with banking hours.
Usually mine will be upper/lower split and just try to hit it as many days a week as I can. Sometimes it’s 2 sometimes it’s 6, you just kinda see what work throws at you.
Upper:
Superset cable pullovers with dips: 5x12-15
Superset low row machine with incline chest machine: 5x12-15
Superset rope pushdowns with ez bar curls: 5x12-15
Lat raises: 4x20
Lower:
Ham curls: 4x12-15 with one dropset/isometric hold set
Leg press: 4x20 myorep style (deep and paused)
Lunges: 3x20 (usually pretty gassed at this point so these are mostly likely body weight)
Lat raises:4x20
Bro take a rest day
Holy shit, that's way too much volume. Beginners only need 4-5 exercises per workout, mostly heavy compounds. Even advanced lifters dont need this much volume. 10-20 sets/week/muscle group is optimal--anything more than that is counterproductive. Advanced lifters shouldnt need more than 8 exercises per workout at most. This split would kill any non-enhanced lifter who attacks their sets with appropriate intensity.
The second big issue is that it's more optimal to train every body part 2-3 times per week as opposed to body part splits--although I see that this split does repeat some exercises throughout the days.
My recommendation for most of the people here is to use any cookie cutter full body split over this one. Starting strength, stronglifts 5x5, Madcow, 5/3/1, GZCL, nsuns, WSF4B, Nuckuls, etc--anything is better than this for beginner and intermediate lifters.
How are you not injuring yourself by now? 2 sets of 5-by-5 (assuming strength regimen) and all these DB press and then triceps?? Followed by cardio andd all these without a rest day? 💀
Also, if there is an exercise you generally love doing. Then do that, you dont have to do anything I say. If swimming is your thing or yoga, then do it. There is a workout enjoyable to almost everyone. If yoga is your thing then do hot yoga. Do kickboxing if you are afraid of the NYC rats attacking you. There are so many workouts imo.
Honestly, all this health talk is starting to sound a lot like liberal indoctrination that is being force-fed to our children by paramilitary, jewish supremacist, extremist organizations such as Soros Fund Management.
You can't own the libs on an empty stomach lads, get extra meat on that chipoltle burrito and always take an extra set of plastic cutlery to throw into the Hudson as an effective way to own the sea-turtles. Sea-turtles act as the foot-soldiers for the paramilitary extremist organization known as S*ros Fund Management.
I didnt know exercising, eating steak, and reading was classified as liberal. Incel.
Its clearly a parody post making fun of all the conservatives looking to own the libs. I personally found the comment hilarious because thats the type of nonsense right wingers are usually spouting.
Jw are people still somewhat hybrid, and if so does that mean you can sneak a workout in between pls fixes
Depends where. I am not. Both my brothers are.
3 boys all in IBD?
Asian mother rejoices
Yeah not sure how that happened. Oldest was just a damn good resource and was honest about it all. We are gonna try to create the next Lehman bros hahahah one day.
Interesting choice of firm as a role model
Lee Bros
Most hybrid will be determined by size of shop + location
Hey bro, I need some advice. Im skinny fat, 150 pounds at 5 foot 11. What do you recommend doing? I have started lifting, but I have so little muscle that I can only workout with 20 pound dumbbells right now. I hope to scale that up over time and be able to lift 40 pounds by the end of this year. What else should I do?
Remember we all started somewhere. Dont be afraid to start small with weights, youre not a bitch and youre not small. Get a good workout split and use the one I use if you want. Make sure you are lifting and getting around 150 grams of protein in a day and over time youll build muscle.
It is a marathon not a sprint. Most guys on insta and tiktok are injecting some sort of anabolic. and have 5+ years of training.
former college lacrosse player here with a strength coach who was big on full body, athletic / functionality and mobility focused exercises which helped me in so many ways. i was looking to continue that wave. i think your advice came closest on continuing that -- especially because my coach's workouts could take up to 1.5, 1.75 hours depending on the phase (includes sprints n shit too). good to see that you found your rhythm. +1 sb
Yeah man. I had to shave my workouts to 45 mins because theyd take too long. Def feel that long workouts but ultimately we need a balance between physique, functionality, and health.
Hey man, I am a NCAA DIII lacrosse player as well, and I will be at a top 5 BB next summer in ECM. Just curiously, do you think I can still do a 5 or 6 day workout split? Love to hear your thoughts.
Exercise through sex with girls who are in awe of bankers and their very important well-respected career
Hey this is really great to hear that it’s possible to keep in shape, albeit difficult but possible. Thanks for the post!
Shoutout to bodyweight exercises to keep healthy. In case anyone is looking for a beginner Routine and has no equipment at home check out the Recommended Routine of r/bodyweightfitness. All you need to arrange for is a pull up bar.
take care of yourself
Your calorie suggestion is way too low. It's supposed to be desired weight times 16, then you subtract by 200-500. Hope this helps.
My advice is to focus to prove yourself in the first 1 to 2 months of the job and then step out for 1 hour at night to exercise once people know you and trust you. You should aim for gym workouts on Friday and Sunday and if you can manage some time then do another one on any week day in between. For more health tips visit my blogs.
Been trying to drop 20 pounds (200 to 180) but think it’s been most difficult with the diet part - if I stuck to a clean diet with daily cardio, how long do you think it would take?
Depends how much you’re cutting in your diet (ie. calories reduced each day). The more you reduce the faster. I was 250 after my football days and cut to 200 and it took me like 8-9 months so probably 4-6 months is my guess.
Yeah he’s right. I would probably say a little longer but it depends on how if you have cheat days and how consistent you stay with it. When I do a cut for summer, I think i will lose 5-6 lbs in 8 weeks. It’s usually faster to lose first 10 than last 10.
An obvious one but make sure to sleep 7-8 hours a night. I know some nights that won't be possible, but try on the nights you can. You can burn out much faster if you only sleep 5-6 hours; your mind will not function be as fast and you'll be slower and more tired, so work wears you out more easily
I think the most important thing is just making working out your priority over work. I usually go straight into the office gym at 08:00 every day and get it done before I start my workday. I'm usually awaiting feedback in the morning anyways and it's unlikely anyone will bother me before 10 unless I have an early meeting or deadline to work towards. It's great to just get it over with, and then you know you can work as long as necessary with a good conscience
I would definitely recommend for junior bankers to get all the exercise they can get and not fall into the trap of abusing your seamless privileges as I’ve been seeing already with the new summer analysts at my firm. Learn how to put away the time you can allot to going to some kind of gym near your building. Like OP said, building good habits and eating smart will pay off in the long run especially with those long stressful hours.
Also, the easiest workout to keep strength. Is a 3 day split. Push, Pull, Legs. Pretty simple. Only 3 days to complete. Google really any push pull legs and you’ll be good.
Caveat that this isn’t possible if you’re at a sweatshop 🥲
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