It’s ab curls at 15 paces for Rob Bacon and Jim Boland.



The respective CEOs of Boland and John J. Kirlin LLC have challenged one another to an intercompany fitness showdown during May, which happens to be National Fitness Month.

Boland and his team headed over to Kirlin’s Rockville offices for an April 27 kick-off luncheon where local fitness guru and author Rick Bradley reviewed the rules of engagement of the first “B-K Challenge.” Each CEO will be part of a 12-person team of six men and six women committed to working out every day in May, as part of the competition led by Bradley. Teams will be awarded up to one point for each member to complete that day’s workouts.

The two companies are tied together not just through working relationships — as a mechanical contractor, Kirlin often partners with Boland, a Gaithersburg-based heating and air conditioning supplier — but through Bradley. Jim Boland and Bradley grew up across the street from one another in Bethesda. Bradley showed an entrepreneurial spirit even then, convincing the 5-year-old Boland to buy his blue bike “for $2 and a movie” when he was 7. The two remained friends over the decades. Boland watched as his friend became a gymnast at the University of Maryland, lead the Occupational Health and Fitness Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and eventually become the author of “Quick Fit: The Complete 15-Minute No Sweat Workout.” When Boland was looking for someone to monitor his employees’ health, he turned to Bradley six years ago. Kirlin also jumped on the Bradley bandwagon.

So why the challenge? Both CEOs say they want to help keep their employees healthy and drive down health care costs. And it’s working: Bacon is expecting no increase in his company’s health care premiums this year. Boland reports that his premiums only inched up 1 or 2 percent.

Both CEOs credit Bradley with potentially saving lives on their staffs. As he wanders their offices in his trademark blue golf shirt with his blood pressure machine in tow, he gradually wins the confidence of staff members, even those reluctant to face up to their blood pressure numbers. He’s gotten help for those who need it, and quickly.

Both CEOs have discovered that challenges like this one not only lead to healthier employees, but better relationships. Groups of people, normally focused on computer screens and meetings, are suddenly spending time walking and talking together. Says Bacon: “It makes business and life easier.”

And hey, a little competition never hurts. There should be plenty among this bunch, judging by what Kirland Team Captain Jim Golden said to his competitors: “We’re gonna have you for lunch!”

Let the games begin.