111–120 of 149 posts
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Right, and these are all meaningfully related to work, directly or indirectly. Doing pushups is artificial and feels cheesy at best.
Why is it that eating is more meaningfully related to work than doing pushups?
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Yeah, I found that statement funny, since the first tech company I worked for was MSFT. Out in that area (the pacific northwest), physical activity is a huge deal -- hiking, skiing, and snowboarding especially. On every team I was on, the vast majority of the people were in stunningly good shape. Even the 35+, multiple-kids crowd. I still remember one time that I almost killed an interview candidate by mistake. Ran d…
Taking the stairs is such an easy way to burn a few calories. It surprises me how few people do it in my office. Although, as shown by your story, some people just aren't able to!
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Especially if you're sitting at a computer all day. Gotta strengthen that back to keep your shoulders from curling in too much. Then everything starts to go wrong =/
If the pushup is done properly the shoulders should be in the correct alignment. I do agree that I would add pull ups and then some band exercises to make sure the shoulders are kept in proper form. The other thing I would add is core work, and not just strengthening, but also correcting posture (pelvic tilt). All of the above just scratches the surface on how to correct the bad things that happen to your posture whe…
All of this only gets worse if your typing at a keyboard because of the 'natural' position you assume.
I'm horrified. This has very high potential to be harmful. The defacto nerd position is seated and hunched. Developing the pectorals will only exacerbate this. If you want to engage in group exercise, find a routine which is more balanced, or at least balanced against what you do the rest of the day. Just do some calisthenics and stretch out those tight chests.
You're kidding, right?
You're not in the Army. You aren't going to balance out your strength training with a long day of running, climbing, etc. You're going to get your chest good and pumped, then plop right back down and hunch.
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Team building just makes me shudder. A bad experience with a job I had in Korea made me almost swear off drinking entirely because I came to associate it with hwaeshik where I'd drink with obnoxious seniors while having to ward off their passive-aggressive male dominance bullshit. It was partly my own fault for setting expectations the wrong way. My friend who hired me and was the team's other foreigner just refused…
"Feeling stupid" isn't necessarily a good metric for determining whether or not something is worthwhile doing. Lots of people doing something "stupid" end up being incredibly successful.
These kinds of team-building rituals make certain people very uncomfortable and anxious. This is no doubt lost on a lot of the empathy-challenged type-A personalities that tend to infect middle management.
When it comes to push-ups I wouldn't personally have a problem performing them, but I'd really hate to see the weaker guys suffer. In the eyes of team building gurus, that kind of suffering and struggle is supposed to lead to a death-and-rebirth bonding experience. But for many people, it's the kind of thing that will make them dread going to work every morning.
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Depending on the situation, you could have a hostile work environment[0]. Take a guy who is over weight and weak, make him feel uncomfortable about not being "good enough" to do the push ups, add "good natured" ribbing from co-workers that goes on day after day and subtle "anti-team" vibe because the rest of the team is pushing up together. Likely? No. Possible? Yes. Something to watch for but not something to stress…
Conduct which creates a hostile work environment is illegal only if it is based upon the employee’s protected status as a member of a protected class. In other words, not all harassing behavior breaks the law. It is not discrimination if one employee is rude to another employee just because they have had an argument. http://www.eeo.wv.gov/Pages/FAQ.aspx In most states fat people are not a protected class. So mocking…
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Conduct which creates a hostile work environment is illegal only if it is based upon the employee’s protected status as a member of a protected class. In other words, not all harassing behavior breaks the law. It is not discrimination if one employee is rude to another employee just because they have had an argument. http://www.eeo.wv.gov/Pages/FAQ.aspx In most states fat people are not a protected class. So mocking…
Fair enough, but a lot of women have trouble doing more than 1 or 2 pushups. I'm guessing the author's company doesn't employ any (at least on the tech team).
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"Feeling stupid" isn't necessarily a good metric for determining whether or not something is worthwhile doing. Lots of people doing something "stupid" end up being incredibly successful.
I thought my anecdote suggested quite clearly why I consider it stupid. Reading over it again I still think it does, but I'll spell it out for you: These kinds of team-building rituals make certain people very uncomfortable and anxious. This is no doubt lost on a lot of the empathy-challenged type-A personalities that tend to infect middle management. When it comes to push-ups I wouldn't personally have a problem per…
Edit: That said, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with what seems like a terrible job.