WWE’s Stephanie McMahon: Going to the gym is ‘a bit of a religion for me’
While former WWE Women’s champion Stephanie McMahon may now spend more of her time in the C-Suite promoting the media company’s brand, that doesn’t mean she’s given up her athletic streak.
“I'm in the gym all the time, but I trained for life — so the gym is sort of my church, if you will. It's a bit of a religion for me,” McMahon, chief brand officer at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), told CNBC’s Karen Tso in an episode of “What Drives You.”
McMahon has been around WWE since she was little — modelling Rockers T-shirts in the WWE shop catalog when she was in middle school and working on the WWE switchboard as a teenager.
While McMahon now works on the corporate side of the wrestling business, she’s spent a fair bit of time inside the ring as well.
From around the turn of the millennium, McMahon appeared in a number of WWE storylines, securing her first and only WWE Women’s Championship in 2000.
McMahon’s influence, both in and outside of the ring, has helped promote women’s wrestling at WWE; she’s also been the first female to head-up WWE’s Talent Relations, Live Events and Talent Brand Management businesses.
Even though she’s now in more of a desk job, McMahon continues to keep herself physically fit — and for her, it’s all about hitting objectives.
“What I think it boils down to is achieving goals — training is as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. And to push yourself beyond what you think you're capable of — and to set even just small goals,” she said.
“When you're working out and achieving them (this leads to) confidence building. And I think that is incredibly important — to build your confidence, to achieve goals, to push yourself and challenge yourself, as much as you possibly can.”
Exercise can be extremely beneficial for the body, with the ability to offer a lower risk to a whole host of illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, certain cancers and depression.
The World Health Organization recommends adults between the ages of 18 and 64 do a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity each week.
“Just the general overall benefits of being in shape: you have much more stamina, you can do more things,” McMahon said at the Cannes Lions festival in south France in June.
“I love feeling strong. Strong mind, strong body. Healthy. I feel like there's nothing I can't do.”
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