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As the head of food catering operations of the Aramark Corporation in China, Catherine Toolan keeps an intense business schedule at her office in Chaoyang District, but she’s nothing less than religious in her commitment to her twice-weekly practices as a defensive player with the Beijing Banshees women’s Gaelic football team.

Since coming to China in 2005, Toolan’s life has been a blur of meetings, airport terminals and conferences, but she still finds time every day to get out of the office and pull on her football boots. From Sligo in the west of Ireland, the 31-year-old executive shifts between left full and centre back in the Banshees’s defence.

“I do not like to cross the halfway line,” Toolan, who in 2006 was charged with leading Aramark’s newly acquired subsidiary and its 6,200 employees, said.

It takes discipline for Toolan to get away from her Aramark desk and onto the field for her two-hour training sessions and regular games. “It’s a big time commitment on a week night. I have to be really careful in planning my diary that football is to the forefront on training nights and that I don’t organize a client dinner or meeting.”  Her first training sessions with the Beijing club in January 2006 were “outdoors in temperatures of approximately minus 20 degrees!” But the Chinese chill didn’t put her off. “For me it is a great way to meet like-minded people, get fit, be competitive and stay involved with team sports.”

Personal trainer Brian Bucsit is used to seeing business executives neglect their health and fitness: “Because work usually brings people to Beijing, it tends to rule life. Projects are big and the phone and e-mails are relentless.” Executives who worry about the health effects of their lifestyle hire Bucsit to tailor fitness programmes to reverse the slide. “They might find themselves 10 or 15 kilos heavier, out-of-shape, and stressed to the max. It takes a lot to get them moving again.”

David Bjerke knows how to make a fitness regime conform to the pressures of business. From Peoria, Illinois, the 38 year old was sent to China as a project manager with Caterpillar, a manufacturer of heavy equipment and diesel engines. Seeking a way to relieve office stress, he joined the Beijing GAA football squad “He” after an invite from two club members he met at the Beijing Hash running group.  “They said it would be fun.  I showed up for the first practice and had never even heard of the game, but what the heck?  I always want to try new things.” Bjerke has since become a staple at the club’s training sessions, but only because of good time management. A company car and driver stand ready outside his building to whisk him from the office to the pitch.

Bjerke’s sense of discipline was referred to by executive health expert Michael McGannon, who spoke at the recent BusinessWeek CEO Summit in Beijing. Addressing local and international CEOs, McGannon focused on the importance of fitness programmes to the “health, vitality and sanity” of executives who regularly work and travel as much as 70 hours a week. Executives can use minimum time to get maximum benefits for “your most important asset, health,” explained McGannon.

Fontainebleau, France-based INSEAD, an international business school, thinks fitness and exercise are so important that it added a health management programme at its Paris and Singapore campuses and invited McGannon to teach it. His book The Urban Warriors Book of Solutions, Staying Healthy, Fit and Sane in the Business Jungle, is standard issue at INSEAD and at other corporate management courses. Business is demanding more of fewer people, says McGannon. “Being online all the time is weighing on executives’ health, to the detriment of whole companies.”

Bucsit said fitness needs to be a boardroom priority. “Minds and bodies are inseparable. When your body is not cared for, your mental and physical abilities will be less than optimal.” Company brass, he says, must lead the way. “I have seen firsthand the difference in a company’s culture when physical and mental fitness is prioritized. People are happier, they look and feel better. Company morale is higher and the staff is energized and more productive.”

But Bucsit knows this is not easy for executives with fitness schedules that are often broken by travel stints. “It is best to be prepared with a home and an away workout plan,” he said. “I think just knowing that five or ten minutes of yoga in your hotel room really is worth it, or just making sure your training is part of your travel is key. Just get out and run or walk for 10–15 minutes; you will feel loads better.”

Toolan squeezes 20-minute jogs and half-hour ball practice sessions into her business trips around China. With her assignment in China expected to continue through the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she has already overseen food services for events such as the Formula 1 in Shanghai. She says playing football has improved her time-management skills. “It focuses you and makes you manage time a lot better, because you have to get away.”

The thrill of an upcoming game, even dreaming about it, keeps Bjerke going in between company conference calls and report writing. “It also gives me more energy for work,” he explained. “My career highlight was scoring a winning goal in Shanghai to give our team the championship. My career lowlight was waking up and realizing it was only a dream, and that I still hadn't even played in a real game!” He’s helping the club train new players and seek more chances to play the game locally.

Having a healthy, fit staff is smart business, says Bucsit. “Progressive leaders know that people make the difference to a bottom line. What image do you want representing your company...a staff that is overworked, overweight, and stressed out...or a group of bright, vibrant, and fit individuals who look and feel great. It seems like an easy choice, but in more cases than not, fitness is still not made to a priority by management.”