Executive Workouts

Stacie Kress Booker | 4/1/2010

Marta Montenegro, 34
Founder/publisher/editor-in-chief, SoBeFit magazine, Miami

Marta Montenegro says her father's sudden death from a heart attack when she was a teen was the turning point in leading her to a fit and healthy lifestyle. Since then, the Venezuelan journalist, fitness trainer and businesswoman has earned master's degrees in finance and exercise physiology. She is an adjunct professor at Florida International University and in 2009 launched SoBeFit, a fitness lifestyle magazine. She just completed a set of DVDs called "The Montenegro Method," a 21-minute daily workout.

Workout Routine Diet: Mini-meals every three hours. "I don't starve. I eat a lot. I always have food on hand." Wake-up call: 2:45 a.m. Bedtime: 9:30 p.m. [Photo: Steve Shaw Photography, Inc.]

Montenegro is serious when it comes to fitness, beginning each day at 2:45 a.m. when she has the first of three mini-breakfasts. Her first consists of black coffee. She reads magazines and by 3:20 a.m., she's on the treadmill clocking a seven- to nine-mile run. After a second mini-breakfast, she's off to the gym to lift weights for an hour. Two to three times a week, she throws in a kickboxing class.

Montenegro says her fitness routine takes focus and organization — not to mention sacrificing a social life when you go to bed by 9:30 p.m. But she says she thrives on the feeling of well-being.

"It's not just about the 2½-hour daily workout," she says. "It's about what you do the rest of the day — how active are you?" Montenegro encourages her employees to be active, "to get up from your chair and walk over to talk to somebody instead of sending an e-mail."

"If you want a better quality of life, the best supplement you can get is to have a healthy lifestyle, a good diet and exercise," says Montenegro. "When your body is strong, your mind is strong."

Tags: Healthcare