One of the "big picture" ideas from the book Ready to Run (that I have been reviewing) is that the average person sits way too much.
Dr. Kelly Starrett says:
"If there's one critical takeaway from this book, it's that every minute you spend sitting is a minute spent with your hips turned off and positioned in a state of lazy flexion. Your hip flexors shorten as a result, and all that tremendous power that you should be funneling into your running gets diminished to a trickle."
"I want you to adopt a warrior stance when it comes to the amount of time you spend sitting each day. Cultivate an awareness that each minute you tick off sitting is doing damage to your body and your running."
I know I sit too much. I sit whenever I can. As a teacher, I do have to stand and walk around the classroom a lot, but I must admit, if there is a class that doesn't require as much... should I say, proximity, I will sit on my chair in the front of my room. Just to give myself a break when I can.
When I am at home, I of course stand and walk around when I'm doing housework. But when I'm teaching piano lessons, on my computer, or watching TV, I am either sitting or laying down. I convinced myself this was a good thing. I was letting my body rest by staying off my feet.
Wrong.
I decided to do an experiment this two Saturdays ago. I wanted to try to sit as little as possible! So here is more detail than you ever wanted to know about my day, and whether I was sitting or standing/walking around for it...
8:20- Got up, said hello to the kitties, ran the dishwasher, ran a load of wash, made my coffee.
8:32- Ready to sit down at the island to fiddle around on the computer, but I decided to stand instead. Normally, I would sit during this time.
8:51- Sat down to use the toilet. Does that count? Probably not. I will no longer tell you when I take a bathroom break.
8:52- Back at my computer, standing. My legs felt stiff so I did a little walk around the house and said hello to the kitties again. I would normally be sitting during this time.
9:52- Sat on the couch for 92 minutes watching Survivor.
11:24- Up and at 'em... getting ready for my run, doing some warm ups, etc. Then I ran, showered, stretched, foam rolled... didn't sit down the whole time.
1:36- Couch and more Survivor!
2:32- Up and at 'em again... blogging, getting ready to go run errands, etc.
6:34- Home to relax. I tried standing at my computer but just wanted to SIT so I did! I got up once in awhile throughout the night to do various things, (maybe a total of 30 minutes) but I was sitting on the couch the entire rest of the time until I went to bed at 11:00!
Overview:
Time spent sitting: 7 hours and 15 minutes!
Time I WOULD have spend sitting if I hadn't consciously tried not to: 9 hours and 15 minutes!
So I only eliminated about 2 hours of sitting but consciously trying not to. Not that great.
How often do you sit?
Do you ever purposefully try to sit less?
WOW! I really want to track my sitting time and see how bad it is on weekdays vs. weekends, etc. On weekdays my sitting must be atrocious .... 8 hours at work, 2 hours commuting in the car and then whatever sitting I do at home before bed! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteIt does add up! I would have never guessed I would sit for 7 hours that day!
DeleteI am almost afraid to add up my sitting time. (maybe I should stand while typing this???) When I trained for my 32 miler, one of the things I did was not let myself sit down during the day--It does make you significantly more tired! (It also makes you fall asleep on the couch extra early at night!
ReplyDeleteWas that part of your training strategy? Interesting idea!
DeleteI know I sit WAY too much. When I was having hip pain I made an effort to get up more frequently! We recently got new living room furniture and the couch is like heaven so now I even want to sit when I am not working at my desk...lol
ReplyDeleteOh no! I guess that is one of the drawbacks of having comfy furniture. ;)
DeleteDays that I work at the venue and iron I stand all day. But other days I have to make a conscience effort to stand - part of why I got a standing desk!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to get a standing desk for at home AND for at work! You have it made!
DeleteThat's really interesting! I want to track how much I sit each day and see if I can cut back. At work I don't really have a choice most of the day, but I do get up frequently. Actually, I get up and down so much that it would be really hard to keep track of. I think its so good to be aware of it and stand whenever we can!
ReplyDeleteI know you read the same book and the author is a big proponent of standing up and walking around throughout the day if you have a desk job. If you think it would be hard to keep track of, then you're probably doing something right. :)
DeleteYeah, I have to sit all day for work. I've seen the overpopulation of articles lately about how sitting too much is shortening my life. It seems like these days, you can't win for losing. If you sit too much, you're killing yourself. If you have a job where you're on your feet all day, well, good luck with those knees and joints later in life! If you run, you're hurting your knees, if you don't exercise, well, you're not getting your knees strong enough.
ReplyDeleteIronically enough, the one job I've had where I was active and on my feet a lot, I gained more weight than I've ever gained before.
Wow that is interesting! Do you have any idea why?
DeleteI really want to track how much I sit on a work day. Since I teach, it is probably less... except for the piano lesson factor. Some nights I sit for 3.5 hours teaching piano lessons!
ReplyDeleteI can sit or stand at my job and do a bit of both. :) Often when I am using the computer at home, I try to stand to use it, or stand when I am doing a puzzle. I definitely have lazy, sitting time though :) I have never felt sore from it, or like it affects my running though. It DOES help me recover after a long run, if I stand around (I try to).
ReplyDeleteI think I feel better after a long run if I go walk around too!
DeleteI have to sit for at least 3 hours a day at school and on Thursday's I'm in class for 6 hours straight! My body hates sitting for long periods of time so I always get up every once in a while and go to the bathroom or get a drink to stretch my legs.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good strategy. Does anyone ever get up and stand during class? I don't remember people doing that in college but now as a teacher, when we have really long district meetings, people get up and stand from time to time.
DeleteI stand for probably 5 hours at work. But I am constantly sitting at home. It bet it's terrible on the weekends when all I want to do is sit.
ReplyDeleteI'm with ya! Sit, veg, and relax!
DeleteI want to clock my sitting time!! I think it would vary from day to day, but would probably average around 7 hours. My coach actually told me that sitting or laying down is good for my body and allows it to rest/recover. I do a lot of stairs because I must walk up and down the stairs in my house at least 30 times a day.
ReplyDeleteWow why do you have to go up and down so much? hehe. My classroom at work is downstairs, so I probably walk up and down like 5 times a day. But they are big stairs!
DeleteI feel lucky that I have a job that requires me to stand and walk constantly. I sit for 27 minutes for lunch, 20 minutes for "reading challenge" and 45 minutes for my planning period (usually). I sit a LOT when I get home though. I know if I had an office job I'd be sitting like 24 hours a day!
ReplyDelete