How Fitness Refactored My Remote Engineering Lifestyle

Before I became an engineer I was working in retail as a Sales Manager. I would spend the vast majority of my day walking throughout my store assisting customers, building displays, restocking product, guiding my team, and ringing up sales. On average I would get anywhere between 8k and 14k steps just during a shift. When I made the jump to becoming a Software Engineer, I was overjoyed to be challenged in new and exciting ways.

However, as time passed my daily steps and overall fitness took a huge dip. Not long afterwards my energy levels, mental health, and cognitive abilities started to waver a bit as well. Luckily, because my team is remote I was able to fit a workout plan into my schedule easily. I continued to stay accountable to my program and I found huge improvements in my mood, energy, and sleep. All of this cascaded across my work improving output and engagement as well. By making my health a priority I was able to level up my skills and my impact.

I’m going to present a lightweight home workout program for folks to get started if you do not own any specific equipment. To start off, it would probably be best to do this workout 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) to allow for appropriate recovery. You can add additional sets (4 or 5 sets within a workout) if you feel as though you can do more.

Morning Walk/Run

Each morning I typically go for a 45 minute to 1 hour walk or run. Time boxing this experience has allowed me to easily track my performance increase. The more I can run the better. I do not focus on the length of time that I run. I only try to spend the entire hour moving.

Starting out, running long distances proved difficult, so I would jog for as long as I felt comfortable, then walk until I could run again. This is great for raising your heart-rate and encouraging aerobic strength. Pepper in sprints of 15 second intervals to spike your heart-rate between bouts of walking for 5 minute intervals. Over time you will find it easier to run longer distances.

Body Weight Exercises

Carve out a 30 minute period of your day for this body weight exercise circuit. Do each exercise in succession and then take a 2 minute rest after each round. Try to do 3 rounds at first and if that proves to be easy increase to 4 or 5 rounds.

Air Squats or Lunges — 3 sets of 10

Pushups — 3 sets of 10

Sit Ups or Leg Raises — 3 sets of 10

Dips — 3 sets of 10

5 x 5 Barbell Workout Routine

In the event that you do have access to a gym with a barbell, here is an effective full body workout. You can do the 5x5 workout that will slowly encourage full body muscle growth with less focus on muscle fatigue and more focus on training proper form. In terms of scheduling and progression this program is extremely simple. You will alternate between workout A and workout B each time you visit the gym. You will do 5 sets of 5 repetitions and increase the weight by 5 lbs (10 lbs for deadlift) each time you attempt the exercise.

As an example on Monday you would start with workout A, then Wednesday you would do workout B, and then Friday return to workout A. The following Monday you would do workout B, and so forth. In the event that you are unable to finish an entire set, you will take additional time in between sets to recover (3–4 minutes instead of the usual 2 minutes).

Take off 10–15 lbs if you failed while performing an exercise on a prior day and the next time you attempt said exercise work back up. As the weight starts to increase, start to incorporate 2 warmup sets of 50% and then 75% of the target weight.

Back Squat — 5 sets of 5

Shoulder Press — 5 sets of 5

Deadlift — 5 sets of 5

Bench Press — 5 sets of 5

Bent Over Row — 5 sets of 5

Day A Exercises

Squat — Overhead Press — Deadlift

Day B Exercises

Squat — Bench Press — Bent Over Row

Conclusion

Any amount of effort put towards your physical health will cause a meaningful increase in your impact at work. Starting out at a new job or after a number or years, it is very easy to think that the volume of time in the chair defines your impact and output.

However, the value that you bring is greatly improved by your quality of mind and body. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my axe.” Get your body in a great place and your mind will follow!