5 Key Metrics, 1 Week — How One Growth Oriented Entrepreneur Transformed His Health By Working Smarter, Not Harder
“I want to run an experiment with you. What extra things could I do without adding too much to my already jammed packed day to get an immediate boost in physical performance, within a week?”
Dejan, is a no nonsense global entrepreneur expanding his company’s reach with multiple teams across international time zones. Balancing uninterrupted sleep, managing diverse personalities, planning for a family, and staying on top of his health creates constant pressure.
During a session a few months into our working together he requested these extra protocols. Most people don’t, however Dejan is your typical A-Type personality who doesn’t believe you can ever do too much.
Instead of overloading him, we worked out a plan to subtly adjust his schedule and routine. Changes that fit seamlessly into his day without demanding more of his time.
We ran this experiment to see what he could achieve across five key performance metrics in just seven days.
Here’s his results, and even I was surprised:
1. 100% Increase in Strength (Pushup Output)
We doubled Dejan’s max pushup output in one week. No new training program. No extra gym time. Why? Because strength isn’t just physical — it’s neurological. Once we optimized his recovery, breathing, and brain-body connection, the results showed up fast.
More physical resilience means fewer crashes. I’ve seen this play out countless times. A founder hits that 2pm wall, the point in the day where their body just says “enough.” Energy crashes, focus disappears, and instead of leading with conviction, they’re just trying to push through the fog.
2. 43% Faster Reaction Time
We optimized Dejan’s brain’s speed without stimulants (caffeine), funky compounds (prescription or off-label meds) or cognitive tricks (short-term brain games). Fixing what was slowing him down, we cleared nervous system friction so his brain could keep up with his ambition.
Speed of thought = speed of execution. Whether you’re on a sales call, handling conflict, or pivoting a product strategy — slow minds cost real money.
3. 17.5% Drop in Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
Dejan’s baseline shifted. A lower RHR isn’t just a marker of improved cardiovascular fitness — it means his body was less taxed, more efficient, and running cooler. That translates to better recovery, more stable energy, and improved decision-making throughout the day. Dejan’s body wasn’t working overtime to keep up anymore.
Lower RHR = better recovery = showing up fully charged, day after day. Consistency beats burnout.
4. 23% Increase in Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
A higher HRV means Dejan’s system became more resilient. He became more adaptable. Able to shift gears quickly, from calm to action and back again, without frying his nervous system (the control center that manages stress and recovery) and getting knocked off track into fight or flight energy. Staying in control under pressure is gold for anyone leading teams, making fast decisions, or navigating uncertainty.
You need to be composed in chaos. High HRV isn’t wellness fluff — it’s the physiological marker of a clutch operator.
5. 85.7% Increase in BOLT Score (Breathing Efficiency)
Dejan nearly doubled his BOLT score, a breathing test developed by Patrick McKeown (The Oxygen Advantage). It tracks how well your body tolerates and utilizes carbon dioxide. Better breathing = better oxygen delivery = more energy, more focus, and less anxiety. Simple. Powerful. Underestimated by most.
Efficient breathing stabilizes your nervous system, keeps anxiety down, and gives you more mental bandwidth — when it counts most.
Breathing efficiency doesn’t just improve workouts, it changes how you handle life. Dejan noticed that even outside of work, situations that used to spike his stress, tight deadlines or chaotic mornings, felt more manageable. At the same time, in high-pressure business moments, he stayed calm and focused, able to think clearly during presentations, and critical decisions. By improving his BOLT score, he increased his resilience, giving him the energy and clarity to perform at a higher level consistently.
All five of these shifts: strength, reaction time, RHR, HRV, and breathing efficiency — aren’t just health metrics. They’re performance metrics. Dejan didn’t suddenly become more disciplined or grind harder. His body and brain stopped working against him and started working for him.
The result? He pushed through long days without crashing. Made faster, clearer decisions. Led under pressure without relying on adrenaline. Stayed calm when others spiraled. And showed up with steady energy in the moments that mattered most.
Here’s the takeaway?
You don’t need more hours in the gym.
You don’t need another supplement stack.
And you definitely don’t need to grind harder.
What you do need is to remove the friction: the physiological and neurological bottlenecks that silently steal your edge.
Dejan didn’t “level up” into a different person in 7 days.
He became more of who he already was, but with better access to it and without burning extra fuel to get there.
Want that kind of upgrade?
If you’re a founder in that $1–5M range and you’re operating at 60% but have to pretend it’s 100%…carrying the silent burden of stress, poor recovery patterns, breathing inefficiencies, and nervous system overreactions…you’re already burning through margin you can’t afford to lose.
Don’t wait until your body forces you to stop.
Book a discovery call here: https://calendly.com/info-20912/discovery-call-1
Your business depends on your body. Start treating it that way.
Cheers,
Deepak
