How Strength Training Builds Resilience for Founders, According to Ahana Banerjee

In a recent LinkedIn post, Ahana Banerjee shares a personal reflection on how a childhood passion for movement, specifically gymnastics, was replaced by the demanding realities of entrepreneurship, and how she rediscovered the profound benefits of strength training as a founder. Banerjee recounts how the consistent engagement with physical activity in her youth gradually faded during university, internships, and the intense early years of building her company, Clear.

She highlights a moment of dissonance: immense professional pride coupled with a disconcerting physical disconnect. “Physically, I did not recognise myself in the mirror,” Banerjee writes, detailing the strange feeling of achieving significant milestones like building an app, getting into Y Combinator, and receiving Forbes recognition, while feeling estranged from her own body.

“What I’ve realised since is that strength training gives me something much deeper than aesthetics. It gives me a feeling of capability.”

This realization, according to Banerjee, is crucial for entrepreneurs. She posits that the discipline, consistency, and resilience required in building a company are mirrored in the practice of strength training. The act of showing up, doing the reps even when unmotivated, and gradually increasing capacity are lessons directly transferable from the gym to the entrepreneurial journey.

The Transferable Lessons of Repeatability

Banerjee emphasizes that strength is not built through intensity alone, but through repeatability. This principle, she argues, is particularly valuable for founders whose work is cognitively demanding, emotionally taxing, and often sedentary.

“You do not build strength through intensity alone. You build it through repeatability.”

She points out the common tendency for entrepreneurs to focus on optimizing the brain while neglecting the body that supports it, overlooking the reciprocal relationship between physical and mental well-being. As Banerjee notes, “the body changes the brain.”

Physical Well-being Enhances Entrepreneurial Performance

The founder elaborates on the tangible benefits she experiences from consistent strength training. “When I am lifting consistently, I am calmer. My energy is better. My posture is better. I recover from hard days faster. I feel less brittle,” she states. This doesn’t imply that life becomes easier, but rather that one feels better equipped to handle its challenges. Banerjee articulates this by saying, “It means I feel more equal to it.”

Practical Advice for Busy Professionals

For founders and busy professionals looking to incorporate strength training, Banerjee offers practical, no-nonsense advice:

• Simplicity is Key: Two to three sessions per week are sufficient to start, emphasizing consistency over complex programs.
• Prioritize Strength Over Novelty: Focusing on a few basic lifts performed well and repeated over time yields better long-term results than constantly changing routines.
• Treat it Like Infrastructure: Schedule workouts like any other critical business task, rather than viewing them as a reward for when work becomes less demanding.
• Manage Ego: Start with exercises that prioritize good form and injury prevention over sheer intensity, as this approach is more sustainable.

Ultimately, Banerjee frames her return to strength training not as a pursuit of vanity or a performative act, but as essential maintenance for the individual undertaking the demanding work of building a business.

“For me, getting stronger has been about returning to myself. Not as vanity. Not as optimisation theatre. Not as content. But, as maintenance for the person doing the building.”

Her insights underscore the critical role of physical well-being in sustaining the mental and emotional fortitude required for entrepreneurial success.