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What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

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Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#91

Post by awjr »

mathattack wrote: post #83
awjr wrote: post #50

I would strongly suggest anyone looking at this and saying they don't have the time to invest in this to also consider the mental benefits that exercise brings. I don't feel I have time (which I know is wrong) and I particularly do not like gyms, but I cycle to work (2 miles) and on the way home I'll take a detour and add an extra 5-10 miles to my trip home. It clears the cobwebs. Cycling can be very meditative as we…

"FYI before starting this I weighed about 310lb and have got myself down to 275lb within a year without focusing too much on what I eat." Keep it up!! Every incremental pound gets harder as your body gets smaller, but it's still worth it!

Slight issue with clothes budget. I keep shrinking 44 down to 38 :)

Still I only fill the car up with fuel once every 6 weeks now.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#92

Post by jsmeaton »

ekidd wrote: post #82
awjr wrote: post #50

I would strongly suggest anyone looking at this and saying they don't have the time to invest in this to also consider the mental benefits that exercise brings. I don't feel I have time (which I know is wrong) and I particularly do not like gyms, but I cycle to work (2 miles) and on the way home I'll take a detour and add an extra 5-10 miles to my trip home. It clears the cobwebs. Cycling can be very meditative as we…

If anybody needs to optimize exercise time, also consider high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight or dumbbell exercises. These can both be done at home, and they consistently have more effect on my overall fitness than long, medium-intensity cardio. HIIT is an old, popular technique; it's basically intervals of intense cardio separated by rest. For an introduction, see Couch-to-5K or the Zombies Run tr…

C25K was like an epiphany for me. I've always hated running and have never been very good at it. But working up incrementally and hitting goals has allowed me to really enjoy running. Great way to bootstrap an exercise routine IMO.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#93

Post by stiff »

What is missing in the discussion of this and the previous article is some reflection on physiology and why could prolonged sitting possibly be bad for you in the first place. One must know that that there are many processes in the human body that can only be executed efficiently when we move, like for example transfer of lymph or movement of digested food through the intestines (involuntary smooth muscle contractions are also involved in both processes but skeletal muscle contractions make it much more effective). Problems with the gastrointestinal tract, like not visiting the toilet often enough, have been linked to a great amount of diseases, so this is something to be concerned about.

Hence doing sports after 8 hours of sitting will not necessarily counterbalance all the negative effects involved. I am not so sure working standing would be better, either. I think a good practical recommendation that is great in many aspects is to take a short break every 2 hours or so and get just 5 minutes of exercise done, just enough to get the heart beating a bit faster and the blood circulating, it can be just basic stretching or isometric contractions, whatever you are able to easily execute in your office environment. It makes the work day much more productive, too.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#94

Post by cema »

Amadou wrote: post #88
laichzeit0 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of something I read from Arnold Swazenegger: "While on maneuvers, Schwarzenegger and his fellow soldiers would use the hot spots (areas of metal over the tank’s engine) as a makeshift cooking stove, grilling up steaks and frying eggs. The eventual Mr. Universe continued his bodybuilding training even while off base, having stowed his workout equipment (plate weights, barbells, and a collapsible bench) in t…

I've had a couple of trainers -- the kind with degrees in sports-medicine, not the kind that were selling cell-phones in the mall last week -- say that Arnie was the single worst thing to happen to modern fitness. Their complaint was that his genetics are exceptionally rare. That very few people, like 1 out of 10,000, could ever hope to come anywhere close to achieving the same physique. That by becoming a sort of fi…

Isn't physique, like, orthogonal to fitness? Bodybuilding may be a way to get fit, but working out in general does not require it at all. I think the lesson we all can take from Arnold is the mental effort, strength of will and so on, not necessarily the specific exercises he used to perform.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#95

Post by lutusp »

cema wrote: post #94
Amadou wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a couple of trainers -- the kind with degrees in sports-medicine, not the kind that were selling cell-phones in the mall last week -- say that Arnie was the single worst thing to happen to modern fitness. Their complaint was that his genetics are exceptionally rare. That very few people, like 1 out of 10,000, could ever hope to come anywhere close to achieving the same physique. That by becoming a sort of fi…

Isn't physique, like, orthogonal to fitness? Bodybuilding may be a way to get fit, but working out in general does not require it at all. I think the lesson we all can take from Arnold is the mental effort, strength of will and so on, not necessarily the specific exercises he used to perform.

> Isn't physique, like, orthogonal to fitness?

Not if "physique" means not being obese. If "physique" means "photogenic," then yes -- they're pretty much unrelated.

> Bodybuilding may be a way to get fit, but working out in general does not require it at all.

Very true, and if people thought they had to build up muscle and look like Arnold, it would set the fitness movement back.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#96

Post by keiferski »

Amadou wrote: post #88
laichzeit0 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of something I read from Arnold Swazenegger: "While on maneuvers, Schwarzenegger and his fellow soldiers would use the hot spots (areas of metal over the tank’s engine) as a makeshift cooking stove, grilling up steaks and frying eggs. The eventual Mr. Universe continued his bodybuilding training even while off base, having stowed his workout equipment (plate weights, barbells, and a collapsible bench) in t…

I've had a couple of trainers -- the kind with degrees in sports-medicine, not the kind that were selling cell-phones in the mall last week -- say that Arnie was the single worst thing to happen to modern fitness. Their complaint was that his genetics are exceptionally rare. That very few people, like 1 out of 10,000, could ever hope to come anywhere close to achieving the same physique. That by becoming a sort of fi…

Meh this is kind of an irrelevant complaint in my opinion. It's not like everyone is out to look like Arnold in his prime - 99% of people would be thrilled to look 1/10 as good as he did (and they would look good).

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#97

Post by leothekim »

Moving to a standing desk is not "futile". For myself, a standing desk prevents me from reinjuring my lower back and potentially missing out on a couple days of work due to back spasms. Others use it to help them with repetitive stress injury.

And how did I injure my back? Exercising with too much weights at the gym!

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#98

Post by photojosh »

jsmeaton wrote: post #92
ekidd wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anybody needs to optimize exercise time, also consider high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight or dumbbell exercises. These can both be done at home, and they consistently have more effect on my overall fitness than long, medium-intensity cardio. HIIT is an old, popular technique; it's basically intervals of intense cardio separated by rest. For an introduction, see Couch-to-5K or the Zombies Run tr…

C25K was like an epiphany for me. I've always hated running and have never been very good at it. But working up incrementally and hitting goals has allowed me to really enjoy running. Great way to bootstrap an exercise routine IMO.

Absolutely. Combined with the geekery of quantitative tracking with something like Strava or Runkeeper and I was very motivated.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#99

Post by dtf »

stinos wrote: post #75
dtf wrote: post #34

My winter workout: pomodoro technique + no heating + pull-up bar. Work 25 minutes. Now you're so cold your fingers are about to drop off. Do push-ups until warm again. Work another 25 minutes. Now do pull-ups. Repeat..

Not sure if you're serious, but having spent the last winter without central heating due to rather unfortunate renovation works timing, I'm really not sure this is a good thing. There were several consecutive weeks where the temperature inside would never rise above 10degrees celcius as we only head a small petrol burner. At night the condensation froze on the walls (outside temperatures of -10 degrees celcius). Sure…

Semi-serious :-) I've worked in a number of cold, sometimes freezing locations in the depths of winter, although not quite as bad as your situation by the sounds of it. Push-ups and exercise does keep you warm and sharp though, should you need it. Sadly there's no quick fix for the opposite situation, when your mind turns to glue in the summer heat.

Re: What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise

#100

Post by photojosh »

mathattack wrote: post #83
awjr wrote: post #50

I would strongly suggest anyone looking at this and saying they don't have the time to invest in this to also consider the mental benefits that exercise brings. I don't feel I have time (which I know is wrong) and I particularly do not like gyms, but I cycle to work (2 miles) and on the way home I'll take a detour and add an extra 5-10 miles to my trip home. It clears the cobwebs. Cycling can be very meditative as we…

"FYI before starting this I weighed about 310lb and have got myself down to 275lb within a year without focusing too much on what I eat." Keep it up!! Every incremental pound gets harder as your body gets smaller, but it's still worth it!

Have a read about the "Famine Response". You need to stop trying to lose weight to let your body adjust its setpoint, then go again.
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