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A standing desk for $22

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Re: A standing desk for $22

#101

Post by avigesaa »

moogatronic wrote: post #73
jaredstenquist wrote: post #17

I spent $1,100 on a GeekDesk max (including shipping). An investment in my health was long overdue, especially since I've spent $4-5,000 on my computer setup. The huge benefit is not having to move all your stuff whenever you're done sitting or standing. I press a button and in 10 seconds it's changed height. MAGIC! I highly suggest them to anyone, just watch out for the long backorder. Mine took 3 months to get here…

I just got my GeekDesk after a long and varied string of various sit/stand combinations. I opted for the small, frame only, and bought my own "butchers block" solid mape top - 48" x 25" x 1.5". This coupled with an ergotron LX monitor mount and a humanscale keyboard tray is beyond fantastic. I can adjust everything, and I love it.

This is very similar to my setup[1]. I picked up a geekdesk frame on craigslist and threw an Ikea countertop[2] on it. I even have a humanscale keyboard tray that I haven't gotten around to installing.

All in all, it probably set me back about $1000 (including the keyboard-tray and monitor-mount). And it was worth every penny; I'm much more comfortable after long hacking sessions.

[1] http://imgur.com/4XGYh [2] http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60057852/#/200578...

Re: A standing desk for $22

#102

Post by oscardelben »

sunsu wrote: post #99

I switched to a standing desk a year ago and will never go back. The biggest benefit is that it completely got rid of my wrist pain. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why though. The first couple of months were rough on my back, but adding a nice standing mat helped that a lot...as well as doing some back excercises like back extensions and dead lifts.

Yes, use a mat guys it helps a lot

Re: A standing desk for $22

#103

Post by bokonist »

goodside wrote: post #70
jcampbell1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6'0" and 130 lbs is quite underweight. You have very little muscle and I am not surprised by the back pain. You need to gain about 25 pounds of muscle and then consider a standing desk. You need to hit the weights and fridge really hard for about 6-18 months.

There are mountains of evidence that BMI correlates positively with the incidence of lower back pain. I have no history of LBP outside of the context of using a standing desk. Further, most of the purported benefit standing desks is to prolong lifespan, and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer, so the suggestion that I should gain weight and sacrifice a clinically validated approach to livin…

"and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer,"

Not true. If you go by the raw numbers, your BMI of 17.6 puts you at the same death risk as someone who has a BMI around 30 (which is borderline obese): http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S014067360960318...

Article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673609...

Both higher than typical BMI and lower BMI are associated with higher mortality risk.

I don't think anyone knows which direction the causality goes ( and that is true for a lot of things, I'm think the direction of causality is unknown for a lot of these articles that say "standing is better" or "people who walk more live longer").

Re: A standing desk for $22

#104

Post by th5 »

goodside wrote: post #70
jcampbell1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6'0" and 130 lbs is quite underweight. You have very little muscle and I am not surprised by the back pain. You need to gain about 25 pounds of muscle and then consider a standing desk. You need to hit the weights and fridge really hard for about 6-18 months.

There are mountains of evidence that BMI correlates positively with the incidence of lower back pain. I have no history of LBP outside of the context of using a standing desk. Further, most of the purported benefit standing desks is to prolong lifespan, and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer, so the suggestion that I should gain weight and sacrifice a clinically validated approach to livin…

I'm 5'9" 150#. I was diagnosed with scholiosis in jr. high, had lower back pain when sitting all through hs and college (back when i was 130#). I too tried the standing desk and it didn't help.

Here's what helped -- about 3 years ago I got into squats and dead-lifting. I got them up to 1.5x and 2x body weight, respectively. I didn't gain a whole lot of weight, but my core strength increased tremendously.

Maintaining good posture requires some (~10-30%) flexion of the core/abdominals at all times while sitting. Now, after learning proper form of squats and deadlifts, my body goes into proper sitting form without even thinking.

Back pain is completely gone. squats and dlifts -- highly recommended!

tldr-its not about weight, its about strength

Re: A standing desk for $22

#105

Post by bokonist »

olliesaunders wrote: post #93
nick_urban wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BMI is a misleading indicator in this case. It doesn't differentiate by body composition at all (e.g. fat vs muscle). I doubt very much that adding muscle to an underweight person would decrease that person's life expectancy. Probably it would improve it (the health benefits of exercise are well known). Either way, it would improve his quality of life.

I don’t think this is true. Pretty much the only proven thing you can do if you want to live longer is calorie restriction. Supposedly this is because the fewer calories you consume the less exposure your body has to free radicals that are important in aging. The corollary of this is that building muscle, which requires eating a lot, is inferior to being a skinny rake for longevity alone. Then, if you eat barely anyt…

I wonder if calorie restriction works because it slows down your metabolism, and thus slows down cell division, and effectively makes it so you are just living more slowly/aging more slowly than other people. However, I would think you would also have less energy, and get less done. So effectively you would live longer as the calendar turns but you would not live any longer in terms of life experienced.

(this is all just pure speculation, I have never looked into any of the science regarding calorie restriction)

Re: A standing desk for $22

#106

Post by crikli »

bpbp-mango wrote: post #97
abossy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody I know is capable of standing for an entire workday. A drafting stool is absolutely required, and it's often the trickiest part of the configuration; for men taller than six feet, it's very difficult to find an inexpensive drafting stool that is sufficiently tall to match the height of your desk. [1] e.g., http://www.amazon.com/Boss-Drafting-Stool-Foot-Black/dp/B001...

> Nobody I know is capable of standing for an entire workday. I used to work in a supermarket and would stand for nearly the entire day apart from a short tea break and lunch break. All the other employees would too. It's not uncommon.

Ditto. I bartended a decade ago and my shifts started at 4:00PM and didn't end until an hour after close at 2:00AM. We were on our fee the entire time, with only smoke breaks where we weren't allowed to sit down.

Re: A standing desk for $22

#107

Post by AJ007 »

goodside wrote: post #70
jcampbell1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6'0" and 130 lbs is quite underweight. You have very little muscle and I am not surprised by the back pain. You need to gain about 25 pounds of muscle and then consider a standing desk. You need to hit the weights and fridge really hard for about 6-18 months.

There are mountains of evidence that BMI correlates positively with the incidence of lower back pain. I have no history of LBP outside of the context of using a standing desk. Further, most of the purported benefit standing desks is to prolong lifespan, and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer, so the suggestion that I should gain weight and sacrifice a clinically validated approach to livin…

I don't know all of the personal details here -- but, if your muscles are underdeveloped your at risk for RSI issues. I'm taking a guess, at that height and weight your muscles are underdeveloped.

Since I switched to very basic body weight strength training nearly 2 years ago, problems I thought I would have until I died vanished. Nothing I ate or drank, no amount of aerobic exercises did anything to address those issues.

You should not be developing back pain from standing. Everything else should be getting sore. Back pain, that I've seen, generally occurs from people who either slouch forward at work, have major stress issues, or have some type of actual injury.

Re: A standing desk for $22

#108

Post by sliverstorm »

goodside wrote: post #70
jcampbell1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6'0" and 130 lbs is quite underweight. You have very little muscle and I am not surprised by the back pain. You need to gain about 25 pounds of muscle and then consider a standing desk. You need to hit the weights and fridge really hard for about 6-18 months.

There are mountains of evidence that BMI correlates positively with the incidence of lower back pain. I have no history of LBP outside of the context of using a standing desk. Further, most of the purported benefit standing desks is to prolong lifespan, and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer, so the suggestion that I should gain weight and sacrifice a clinically validated approach to livin…

As a 6'2" individual who tips the scales just shy of 145lbs on a good day, I am not you, but I'd strongly suggest you consider gaining some weight. If you are anything like myself, you (like myself) are so skinny as to be a health problem.

Among other things, gaining good weight (I used to fluctuate between 135-140) has clarified my mind, improved the strength of my heart, and a small host of other nice little upsides. I'm not even to my target weight yet, either.

Remember, just because someone with a BMI of 23 has better health prospects than a BMI of 27, doesn't mean a BMI of 3 is even better.

Re: A standing desk for $22

#109

Post by zacharycohn »

goodside wrote: post #70
jcampbell1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6'0" and 130 lbs is quite underweight. You have very little muscle and I am not surprised by the back pain. You need to gain about 25 pounds of muscle and then consider a standing desk. You need to hit the weights and fridge really hard for about 6-18 months.

There are mountains of evidence that BMI correlates positively with the incidence of lower back pain. I have no history of LBP outside of the context of using a standing desk. Further, most of the purported benefit standing desks is to prolong lifespan, and there's even stronger evidence that low-BMI people live longer, so the suggestion that I should gain weight and sacrifice a clinically validated approach to livin…

It has nothing to do with BMI - which is a terrible system of measurement by the way. I'm highly athletic and in great shape, and my BMI is 25. Which puts me right at the bottom of "overweight."

6' and 130 is very underweight - you don't have to look like a body builder, but your body does need some muscle to function properly. And 130 isn't enough.

Re: A standing desk for $22

#110

Post by Detrus »

tatsuke95 wrote: post #55
Detrus wrote: post #26

I bought a similar Ikea side table for $10. I use a laptop so I can take it down and sit. No extra work for keyboard is required. And mine matches the color of the sitting desk.

> "No extra work for keyboard is required. " If you're using your laptop keyboard and screen, you probably don't have things in the optimum position (hands too high, monitor too low).

Probably but got used to it quicker than to standing. It depends on individual's height.
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