If we learned anything from the inaugural Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge in 2009, it was this: The crew from Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue was coming in with something to prove. The first go-round, one of Jack Stack’s two teams took the title of Most Improved; this year, another team finished second, but its members claimed top honors in three of the four individual categories:
• Todd Hulse recorded a vein-popping 43-point gain in his personal fitness score, earning the title of Most Improved Man Over 50.
• Andrea Hulse, his wife, raised her score by 27 points, claiming a share of the title in a two-way tie with individual competitor Jenny Henry for Most Improved Woman Under 50.
• And Chris Hayes completed a near-sweep for Jack Stack with a 34-point gain that made him the Most Improved Man Under 50.
Rounding out the individual honors in the most-improved category was JoAnn Mendenhall of A. Zahner Co., whose 33-point gain took the title for Women Over 50. Her improvement was the largest of the 90 women in the field, regardless of age, and helped her team soar to the title of Most Improved.
Both of the Hulses said that, as much as getting into a regular exercise routine helped, it was important to pay more attention to diet, too. They both focused on eating better, and it paid off.
The most difficult part of the challenge, Todd Hulse said, was watching what he ate. “You know I work with the best barbecue out there,” he said. “Also, having Thanksgiving and Christmas both in this time frame was difficult since we are a foodie family.”
His wife found the health benefits of the Challenge to have a bittersweet tinge to them. Even as she was taking part in the competition, her father has been suffering from vascular dimentia, strokes and diabetic ulcers.
That placed additional time demands on her, she said, but it brought a realization that this wasn’t just about accruing points: “For me, working on my health is the most important part,” she said. “I have a family history working against me. Any improvement you can do is going to benefit you in some way.”
Hayes cited the detailed health-metric report as a key contributor to his success.
“My favorite part of the Challenge was the detailed reports and information I received,” he said. “I enjoyed the fact that the program was very informative and the feedback was very detailed. I feel like I was able to get a better understanding of my body and what it takes to maintain healthier standards.”
Andrea Hulse worked out twice a week with a trainer, but said without a trace of irony that eating more was one key to success—at least early in the day: “Eating breakfast, something I did not do in the past, and high protein intake,” she said.
Jenny Henry, competing as an individual, tied with Andrea Hulse. Henry didn’t have the team dynamic working for her, but she nonetheless bested 62 other women in the field with an intense focus on making smarter choices with her diet. “I think going solo into this helped me,” she said. “I knew that nobody else could help me reach my goal except myself.”
There were, however, some other factors working against her in this installment of the Challenge: “The most difficult part for me was that I was working 80-plus hours a week in December and I was pregnant the last half of the program,” she said, “so I feel I could’ve done a lot better.” 