Many of you might spend your day sitting in front of a screen. You do not even have to be a blogger for that. Spending all your days, around a good 8 hours per day, in a seated position leads to a few consequences on your body.
What happens
Your hamstrings, those muscles at the back of your legs, do not get sufficiently stretched and in the long run you can suffer from tight hamstrings and become stiff.
If you do not assume a correct posture when seated, and let’s face it, many of us slouch at our desk, bloggers or not, your back will also suffer. Many people are already afflicted with lower back problems on top of that, which makes the situation worse.
Finally, some of you also have the tendency to stretch your neck forward too far while trying to peep at the screen at the 8th or 10th hour into the work day. This is especially the case with those who have poor eyesight.
Now get fit
To address the shortened hamstring issue, you can bend down to touch your legs twice daily to stretch the muscles. But it is recommended to do that after warming up. You don’t want to warm up for the sole purpose of touching your toes, so some exercises on top of that would be useful.
If you visit a gym and are no stranger to lifting weights, perform the stiff-legged deadlift. This is similar to touching your toes, except that you lift up a weight while getting back in the standing position and keeping your back flat. This exercise helps to stretch and strengthen the hamstring muscles.
Watch your back
For the back, your can perform the normal deadlift. Or you could use the lower back bench to lift your torso up using your lower back muscles. This is a particularly effective lower back muscles exercise where you use your body weight or you can hold some plates in front of you if it is too easy.
To stop slouching and peering forwards with your neck, you need to consciously adopt the correct posture until it becomes an unconscious habit. Oh, and get your eyes fixed. In the meantime, you can perform some strengthening exercises for your upper back and neck muscles. For this, there is nothing better than rowing exercises. Try the various machines row or go free weight with barbell rows and T-bar rows.
Overall fitness
What about your general level of fitness? Can you run after a bus for more than 1 minute? Can you climb 2 flights of stairs without stopping for breath and hold a conversation at the same time? Sitting all day won’t help you achieve all this nor will the exercises described above.
Your best bet to reverse the sedentary effect of office work is to pick up a physical activity which you like, be it football, basketball, cycling, skating or ballet. Whatever interests you. That way, you will have more motivation to get fit and stay that way over the long term.
If you enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights, you could incorporate a few more exercises to those described here to turn your time at the gym into a full body workout. Throw in some compound exercises like squats and benchpress and some shoulder and arm exercises if you have time. Mix in a few sets at high reps and perform everything with minimum rest and that should really get you out of your comfort zone and fighting for breath. Exactly what you need if you have been sitting all day.
Wrapping up
These exercises should fire you up a bit if you have been moulded to that chair for a while now. Stretch these hamstrings, strengthen your lower back and correct your posture. Find a sport you enjoy or add some more exercises to your gym routine for a full-body workout performed with minimum rest and your fitness level should go up. Sitting all day is no excuse to being unfit. On the other hand, if you blog about sports and practice what you preach, you probably won’t need to read this.
Over to you, what techniques do you use to get fit?
Iron Simba blogs about building muscles and getting fit. He has been lifting weights for years and still enjoys the feel and challenge of iron. Get some real tips on his site ironsimba.co.uk.
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Great Post. This is something that I struggle with. I usually workout 2-3 times per week but if I sit at home in front of my computer all of the other 160+ hours per week then the workouts dont really put much of a dent in my health. I usually do lots of squats and leg lefts for my core and I do tons of cardio (running, stairmaster etc) Thanks for the info. I will certainly check out these workouts.
The good news with muscle-building exercises like squats is that they raise your metabolic rate which means in plain English that you keep burning calories after your workout.
However, who wants to be full of muscles and be unable to run after the bus? This is why cardio is still important.
This is a good one. Sitting all day in the same posture tires the back and then back problems pop up.. One should sit in a proper porture.
I agree with you Iron, staying in a seated position for 8 hours a day cause a lot of problems on your body. But not only your body but your health as well. Just a few weeks ago I was having some back pain and I could hardly get out the bed. Thank you for sharing these tips I think I can use the rowing exercises to strengthen my back.
Glad to help and hopefully get more people out of bed.
Hi Iron
I have noticed that since I have been blogging seriously I have to make a concerted effort to exercise as before I know it, I have been sitting in front of the screen for hours!
Thanks for the reminder. I have been trying to take more breaks and exercise regularly throughout the day.
Patricia Perth Australia
Yes, sometimes it’s a question of priority. Blogging is your highest priority so everything else takes the back seat.
Maybe you can try dedicating a specific time for exercising – first thing in the morning or every evening straight after work. If you have a fixed schedule, it’s harder to skip it.
Thank you, thank you. This one will be printed and kept at my desk!
Oh, sorry … I have no tips to share at this time.
I really have problems at this department, I spend most of my days working at the desk and better yet, working at home, at my own desk.
I get a little to no exercise and I start to feel the effects on my body, I’m becoming weaker every day…
Thanks for this article, for months now I was looking to start a daily fitness program to get me back in shape.
Great advice for computer users, I think that a having at least some kind of fitness regime is a must, special when you are stuck in a chair in front a computer for a prolonged amount of time 😉
This is a very good post and reminder for people who spend a large portion of the day sitting. Often this is forgotten about or overlooked, until some pain reminds you. 🙂
I move around quite a bit during the day to avoid this, taking breaks and stretching. But there are times when we get caught up in what we are doing and many hours have past.
Thanks for the post!
Good post Ileane.
I started having some lower back pain about 7 month ago, mainly due to slouching.
So I invested a good $250 in a really good ergonomic computer chair. I know that’s quite some cash, but I know that lower back pain could cause some serious problems when one gets older, so I preferred to stay on the safe side.
For those with physical issues possibly preventing you from gyms, or machines of any kind and such, like me, consult an orthopedist..there are plenty of exercises you can do right in your bed.
Hi Ileane
Why not do what I do?
I bought a bench, weight stand and some weights.
I exercise 5 nights a week and in between sets… I do my blogging.
A one off expense to buy the equipment and no expensive gym fees.
I answer emails, reply to comments, comment on other blogs.
And… weight training is also good for the ladies.
Don’t worry you won’t build bulging biceps, you’ll just tone up, look great and feel fantastic.
BTW – thanks for using my photo in the post. LOL
A blogger getting fit is something to be proud of, it’s really cool. I strongly recommend everyone in the online environment do sports, get fit and eat healthy. Great idea of yours – reminding the people to get/keep fit. Thanks in the name of everybody for sharing. Have a great day, Maria.
haha .. you are absolutely right, we often underestimate our sitting position, let alone the will for hours in front of the computer. notice it.
Too bad, I had Carpal Tunnel Syndrone (CTS) because of wrong hand posture. Had braces on my left hand for more than a month.
To everyone – this seems to have touched a raw nerve judging by the amount of comments about how so many of us spend all day in front of the PC.
Yes indeed, as Maria Pavel put it, a blogger getting fit is something to be proud of – enough dedication to stick to cardio or exercises.
Maybe someone could post about avoiding Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This used to afflict only typists in the past but we now all have a keyboard and mouse. I myself feel my wrist a bit painful at the end of a long day at the computer so I would really welcome an article on that. Perhaps I’d better start doing the research on that myself…
Thanks for all the comments.
Every blogger should be physically fit at sometimes it demands much more from the body
I agree with you totally, I see quite a few long hour desk workers that really end up with back/spine issues. One of the best things I stress is to get up and walk around a bit more often. You can always stand up and stretch while you are reading if you are in a time crunch. Great overall post, it is a situation that seems to be getting worse and should be addressed.
This is actually one of my new year resolutions to vamp up my fitness plans. I’m not a full time blogger but you know… ‘healthy body, healthy mind’.
I have ignored all these tips while sitting consistently before the computer from 10 to 12 hours.Without regular exercise I am facing some problems at beginning level.You have suggested remedy for my problems. Thanks
There’s another blog I read recently about exercises you can do at your desk- using your chair, desk and space around you. It’s really interesting, but I just forget where the heck I found it. It’s amazing the physical toll your body takes from sitting all day. I felt less tense when I stood on my feet all day. When do you think we’ll learn?
A small abnormality in foot function can have a large impact on joints higher up in the body, causing pain and discomfort to your knees,hips and lower back.
Okay this has encouraged me to get off my butt. I admit since getting laid off I started focusing my attention on my blog 100% and I let my fitness slide.
Exercises are nice, but doing it at home gets boring really fast.
What i did was buy a bike, and now i go to the park once or twice a week with a friend.
While reading this, on my 5th straight hour of blogging, I straightened my hunched back. I’m a little paranoid now about my lack of fitness, due to computer allegiances. But, thank you for bringing this to my awareness. Any suggestions on palm exercises to ward off the dreaded carpal tunnel?
I find that about 40 minutes of brisk walking (20 minutes out and 20 minutes back)each day is great. Gets me away from my computer and gives me a chance to catch up on podcasts as I walk.
A small abnormality in foot function can have a large impact on jointshigher up in the body, causing pain and discomfort to your knees,hips and lower back.
wow!
Great info.
Just imagine malpositioning yourself for 8 hours a day over the next 3 years??
That would be one straight year of being in that position.
You make some goot points here. I have been a personal trainer for 14 years and see this all the time. Ive found working on strengthening the abdominals and low back to be effective as a way to combat these problems.
Also, working on upper traps, rhombiods, and rear delts helps with posture
Good point. Sometimes working the abs helps the lower back. It’s a question of muscular balance.
Despite I’m a blogger for few years and a computer geek for 15 years, I was very active at sports in school, and now I’m used to do 30 min work-out and 30 min on threadmill every day.
It helps me sleep well and I can wake up without any problem. Altough I have some extra weight I am very active and I don’t feel that I’m tired very often, which happens when for some reasons I fail to do the exercises ( when I’m away ).
There are many advantages to stay fit, even if all your work is computer-based.
Yeah, a good workout helps you sleep well because you are physically tired. But you wake up the next day refreshed and ready for more challenges. There’s another reason to work out.
Well I found myself sitting up straight as I was reading your article. 🙂 I still consider myself active even though I am one of these people who spends all day in front of the computer, but I defintly feel the effect on my body after long periods. For me, if I am super busy, and no time for anything else, I force myself to go for a walk. It helps enormously if I do it regularly.
It helps to prioritise tasks as well. Depending on how important fitness is to you, you could put it somewhere higher on your list at the expense of other tasks. Time is limited in a day so we need to decide what to do first.
Very well….This post is full of motivation, motivating me for better workouts
I can’t agree more on the slouching back part. I work out very faithfully at the gym at least 3x a week and play football during the weekend but I know I do slouch while I am at work. I have been leaving out Stiff-leg deadlifts from my workout as of late, it is high time to bring it back.
At least you are doing plenty of physical activities. Better do something you enjoy for a long time than something you don’t like for a short time.
Having workouts is really important in order to maintain the fitness in your body. I do love exercise because it makes me alive all day and it makes me healthy and strong.