I Lift Weights (And It Changed How I See Hospital Throughput)
Yes… this is such a guy blog.
I work with all women, and I could practically feel their collective eye roll when they read that title.But hey, this is my blog—and believe it or not, weightlifting has taught me a lot more than how to deadlift properly. It’s taught me how to lead better, solve complex problems, and—most surprisingly—how to think differently about hospital throughput.
Let me explain.
In the gym, form is everything. You can have the best equipment, the most aggressive playlist, and all the motivation in the world—but if your movement is rushed or misaligned, you’re not building strength. You’re just building up risk. Injury. Exhaustion. Burnout.
Same goes for hospitals.
Years ago, I was sitting in a mentor’s office during one of our monthly 1:1s. I came in hot—fired up about all the broken processes I’d seen that week. There were so many changes I wanted to make. So many obvious fixes. I slid a piece of paper across his desk, full of notes and diagrams, and launched into a full-court press: “If we can just get this change implemented, the impact on throughput will be huge…”
He interrupted me mid-sentence.
With his hands folded calmly beneath his chin, he leaned back in his chair and said something that stuck with me for years:“Slow down. You’re strong, but you’ll get stronger if you move with intention.”
He wasn’t talking about the gym. He was talking about leadership—and more specifically, about healthcare process improvement.
“I’ll bet when you’re lifting, you’re meticulous about your form,” he said. “You don’t rush. You don’t guess. You walk into the gym with a plan—what you’re lifting, how you’re lifting it, and what you’ll do if it doesn’t go as expected.”
Then he added something that’s become a mantra for me ever since:
“Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
I didn’t love hearing it at the time. I was annoyed—because he was right. And I hate when people are right thatcalmly. But I nodded, smirked, and told him I got it.
I don’t remember the rest of that conversation, but I remember that moment. Because now, in my role at BlackboxHealthcare Solutions, I live it every day.
We help hospitals untangle the messiest throughput challenges:
· Emergency departments backed up like freeways
· Patients ready for discharge but waiting on transport, meds, or paperwork
· Transfers that feel more like relay races than precision handoffs
· Departments that operate in silos instead of systems
And I’ve come to realize—throughput improvement is a lot like weight training. The parallels are almost eerie.
1. Speed Doesn’t Equal Strength
In the gym, tossing around weights looks impressive. But ask any strength coach: fast doesn’t mean strong. Real strength comes from controlled, intentional movements.
In healthcare, it's the same. Leaders often believe that “moving faster” is the answer—more huddles, more calls, more audits, more urgency. But without alignment, that speed leads to rework and friction.
The most efficient systems slow down just enough to coordinate, communicate, and get it right the first time.
2. Engage the Right Muscles
As somebody who’s had to have back surgery to relieve a herniated disk, try to lift with your back instead of your legs, and you’ll know immediately—you’re using the wrong muscles.
In hospital operations, not everyone has to carry every load. Bedside teams shouldn’t be coordinating transfers, arranging post-acute care, or chasing down transport. That’s what centralized coordination is for.
Transfer centers, discharge coordination teams, and mission control hubs exist for a reason: to absorb the load and allow bedside teams to focus on what only they do best.
3. Form First, Then Add Weight
My teenage son hates this one—but you don’t hit a PR on day one. You master form first. Then, and only then, do you add weight.
Hospitals often try to “scale” before they stabilize. They chase growth before process. We’ve seen it time and again:a new initiative gets rolled out system-wide… before anyone tests whether it actually works.
At Blackbox, we help systems strengthen the fundamentals before they expand. Because sustainable throughput starts with solid, repeatable process.
4. Reps Build Results
No one gets stronger overnight. Progress takes reps—consistent, disciplined, focused reps.
In healthcare, that means simulations.Daily huddles. Workflow testing. Redesigning handoffs. Real improvement comes from the repetition of better behavior—not just one-time training.
It’s not sexy. But it builds muscle memory into the system—and that’s what gets results under pressure.
5. Rest and Recovery Are Part of the Process
Even elite athletes take rest days.Without recovery, performance declines and risk increases.
In hospitals, that recovery isn’t just personal—it’s systemic. Too many teams operate at a constant sprint. Too many staff are burning out because the system never lets up.
Part of what we do is redesign flow to remove strain: reduce unnecessary steps, centralize decision points, and create buffer zones that protect time and space for both patients and providers.
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