161–170 of 184 posts
Desks on top of desks never felt safe to me. My recommendation (as it always is anytime these standing desk articles appear) is the Frederik from IKEA ( http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60111123/ ) Ok it's not $22 but I've picked up two now on special for less than $80.
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've been thinking about buying one. Are there any major downsides / regrets / things you didn't realize but wish you had? My only major concern is whether my Humanscale keyboard tray can fit underneath—it's about 21.5" long and 5.5" wide.
GeekDesk provides the dimensions of the desks, the large may not be able to accommodate your existing track, as the desk hardware mounts across the underside of the desk near the back. My 'small' frame takes up about 10" from the back of the desk, so I just got a 14" humanscale track. (My desk is only 25" wide)
This is slightly imperfect, as my tray can not fully retract under the desk, but the benefit of freeing the work surface and enabling more adjustment outweighs this concern.
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You're obviously not overweight but you're pretty light for that height, so I wonder if someone with a lower center of gravity would suffer fewer back issues? What if you used a laptop that you could move from standing desk to couch from time to time? Like after every 40 minutes?
I tried sitting down periodically. It just reinforced how much more comfortable it was to sit than to stand. I find it completely implausible that being thin would making extended standing harder. Flies in the face of everything I've ever read about back problems, which overwhelmingly afflict people with higher BMI. Also, I'm quite young, and have no history of back or muscle pains of any sort outside of what was bro…
Your spine is a stack of disks. It's got no inherent tendency to stay upright, other than the forces imposed on it by your muscles (and fascia, but that's a passive stabilization system). In particular the spinal erectors, iliocostalis lumborum, spinalis, longissimus thoracis, levatores costarum/breves, and cervical muscles.
With low bodyweight, you've got low muscle mass, particularly if you're not doing much in the way of strength training. As you age, you're losing this at the rate of about 0.5 - 1% per year (past age 30 or so). Which is where strength training comes into play.
Muscle tissue and strength are developed in direct response to imposed demand. It's called the "specificity" or "SAID" (specific adaptation to imposed demand) principle.
Full-body strength training routines -- squats, deadlifts, lunges, press, bench, and rowing / chin-up movements -- will develop that muscle.
At 6'2", last time I weighed 130# was some time in middle school. By high school, as a swimmer and just doing bodyweight strength training, I was 185-195#. These days I'm at about 260, cut weight would be closer to 235-245# with 8-10% bodyfat. I'm not saying that this should be your goal, but am pointing out that there's a huge variance in individual fit body mass. Your weight might be appropriate for a long-distance marathoner (Geoffrey Muttai, among the best in the world, is about 125# at 6' in competitive shape, but that's absolutely shredded with Here's my suggestion: try strength training for 6-12 months. See if it changes your perceived fitness and comfort. Like it? Keep it up. Don't? You've gained experience points and it's cost you little else. I'm a fan of The New Rules of Lifting (which describes much of the science and health/fitness benefits in much greater depth) and Starting Strength (a simpler and very brutally effective lifting program) myself.
Oh, and when you get into your 40s like me, you may appreciate that muscle mass.
Just sayin'.
I've been combining standing desk, couch and workdesk for some 2 years now. I've completely annihilated back and neck pain with that discipline. Originally, I was using a standing desk just so I can go and smoke in the other room and not stop working. As for BMI... Mine is 35, and I am a walking proof that BMI is a complete bogus for individual to measure his well being. I'm just big boned. My head measures 25" on he…
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Why weren't you allowed to sit down during cigarette breaks?
Man, I have no idea. They also didn't allow us to take a lunch break during what could be an 11 hour shift because, as one of the owners told me, people weren't clocking out during the 15 minutes it took to wolf down a burger and some cheese fries. I reminded them of labor laws and they made an "exception" for me. This was, is, a very successful burger place in Dallas and I learned a ton fom the experience.
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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…
This cannot be emphasized enough. To anyone reading, you don't have to do more than the big three — squats, dead lift and bench press — to build a strong core and ameliorate most RSI issues. Regular cardio fitness and 10-minute work breaks are good, but can only take you so far. Being stationed at a computer for extended periods of time requires having a proper muscular frame to support your bones.
Why do lats get no love?
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Man, I have no idea. They also didn't allow us to take a lunch break during what could be an 11 hour shift because, as one of the owners told me, people weren't clocking out during the 15 minutes it took to wolf down a burger and some cheese fries. I reminded them of labor laws and they made an "exception" for me. This was, is, a very successful burger place in Dallas and I learned a ton fom the experience.
Organize your co-workers to go after them for back wages and damages.
I learned a lot from that job about how to create extremely efficient processes as well as how not to treat humans.