“She’s a runner, she’s a track star.”

Sarah Robb O’Hagan is the CEO of Exos, a performance company training NFL pros, Olympians, special forces, Fortune 500 execs, and, of course, people like us who are ready to get back on the exercise train. For decades, she’s paved the way for the future of fitness, having previously led the charge at Equinox, Flywheel, and Gatorade. Now, with the world increasingly transitioning to virtual life, Exos’s Fit app is revolutionizing at-home workouts while enabling that sense of community we all crave. (Because doing burpees is way more fun with friends.)

Here, the New Zealander shares how she became a boss in the industry, why random acts of kindness > random acts of fitness, and how we can leverage the online landscape to meet our 2022 health goals.

For those who don’t know, what exactly is Exos and what makes it unique?
We train everyone, from the world’s most elite athletes to the military to executives in corporate America. Our mission is to help anyone anywhere achieve their most ambitious performance goals, since we think about fitness as also including performance. Fitness is mainly about getting a workout in, but performance is about moving towards a holistic goal. That includes nutrition, mindset strategies, and recovery. We really encourage people to think about the interrelationship between working out, eating, sleep, breathwork, and other habits.

Who are some athletes you’ve worked with?
A little-known football player called Patrick Mahomes [laughing], tennis star CoCo Vandeweghe, and soccer player Alex Morgan. We actually trained the US women’s soccer team for many years. And right now, we’re working with a number of athletes at the Olympics.

What’s your advice for people who don’t feel driven to work out?
Understand what motivates you. For instance, if you’re someone who needs a social environment to work out, plan it into your week. Say, “I am going to that yoga studio, dammit! I’m gonna put it on my calendar, get my favorite group of friends, and go.” We’ve done a lot of research around people’s motivation to exercise, and for some, the social aspect is what gets them to do it. It’s like being with their friends is the reason to go, and the workout is secondary.

Why is it that sometimes we work out and see zero progress?
A big piece of that struggle is what we call “random acts of fitness,” which is when you’re working out just because you have to instead of it being part of a bigger plan. That’s why our coaches help keep track of your goals, because then you’re like, “Okay, it is worth it today, and I have made improvements.” When it’s just another week of doing the same workout and you aren’t tracking your progress, it becomes really hard.

Did you always know you wanted a career focused on fitness?
I played a lot of sports in my childhood. I sucked at pretty much all of them [laughing], but I loved the physicality and camaraderie of it. Then in the early ‘90s, I got really into fitness and wanted to work for companies that are about helping people achieve their potential. I don’t think I ever knew my career was going to be in this field. I just love, love, love seeing humans set out to do great things, and providing them the tools to do it.