Why exercising correctly at the gym can help counteract too much sitting
Most people find themselves at a desk or computer in the workplace. Technology has made this hard to avoid and those that endure it spend roughly seven to eight hours a day sitting at work. Add in the time spent sitting driving on the way to work (or taking the bus, bicycling), eating meals and enjoying leisure time like watching TV, then the hourly total can easily reach double-digits.
The all-too-common approach that many computer workers take is to implement a weekly gym schedule. A good idea, but there is research out there that says hitting the gym isn’t enough to overcome the effects of too much sitting. Are these opinions and research not looking deeply enough into the issue? Are they not considering what exercises and routines people are actually putting themselves through at the gym? More importantly, which exercises they should be doing.
Understanding how your body reacts while you sit all day and what exercises should be done to counteract it make the gym a place with great benefit for anyone stuck sitting at a computer. Everyone should take the time to learn and understand our body patterns and how it wants to move so you don’t further harm yourself at the gym when you think you are doing yourself a favor.
You should know what computer posture looks like because you do it everyday while you sit for hours. I’m talking about those rounded shoulders, forward head/flexed neck, rounded back and extended arms.
Don't forget about sitting on your gluteus maximus all day, which deactivates one of the strongest muscles of the body, causing you all that low back pain. Get your gluteus maximus (ASS) in the gym!
Except, according to the Mayo Clinic, “Spending a few hours a week at the gym or otherwise engaged in moderate or vigorous activity doesn’t seem to significantly offset the risk (of too much sitting).” They advise tips that we have all heard of hundreds of times like get up every thirty minutes, take breaks, try a standing desk, etc. It’s not that tips like these are useless, they’re definitely something you should do, but they totally bypass the exercise component and don’t go into the depth it deserves. Not only is this misleading, but it could potentially direct people away from the gym.
Similarly, there is a great infographic out there done by Medical Billing and Coding called, “Sitting is killing you.”
This is scary stuff.
Who would of thought sitting so much could cause symptoms like increased rate of cardiovascular disease. The infographic also states, “Sitting six+ hours a day makes you up to 40% likelier to die within 15 years than someone who sits less than three. Even if you exercise.”
Trainers Tony Gentilcore and Jimmy Smith wrote a fantastic part 1 and part 2 article in 2007 called “(De)-Constructing Computer Guy.” The article explains the flaws that the “computer guy” makes at the gym in his training. This consists of doing exercises that promote the same posture that you are in all day at work.
So guys, lose the testosterone factor because you wont help yourself out by performing ample amounts of bicep curls, bench press, crunches and lat pulldowns. The key to a successful gym routine that will help combat all that time sitting at the computer can be broken down into three areas:
- Scapular Stability: You’re typing all day which means your arms are extended and your chest is tight. Your elbows are also flexed calling for tight biceps. Now is it pretty easy to see why bench press and bicep curls on the regular are not a good idea? Instead, you need to perform exercises to strengthen the shoulder blades. They work to stabilize your shoulders when you perform overhead movements and are the key component to a healthy shoulder. It would be silly for you to sit all day long typing then head to the gym to perform overhead shoulder presses. Gentilcore and Smith also say you need to do a lot of pulling exercises and rowing movements, which are a great way to improve posture and pull back your shoulder blades to strengthen the upper back. They also provide a more functional way to work the biceps without dramatic elbow flexion.
- Posterior Chain: Your posterior chain is a fancy way of saying the back of your body. This was already addressed with the shoulder blades and upper back, but for the lower body you need to focus on the hamstrings and glutes and less on the quads because they are tighter from so much sitting. You’ll want to avoid leg curls and leg press because neither is a functional exercise (you do not perform these moves in any real life movement or sport) and leg press puts a lot of pressure on the lower back, which a computer worker needs no more of. Using exercises that train the glutes and hamstrings together with hip extension is ideal.
- Correct Abdominal Training: The number one exercise I see at the gym is crunches, endless amounts of crunches. Crunches put a lot of stress on the lower back and are the best example of an exercise that promotes the same postural pattern in sitting at a desk. You’re doing this all day so why in hell what you want to exaggerate that even further by pulling your chest down towards your hips . What most people will find shocking (I was included in this) is that the function of your abs is not to promote flexion. According to Gentilcore and Smith, “the main function of the rectus abdominis is not trunk flexion, but rather to PREVENT rotational forces and provide stability.” Exercises that force you to resist rotation is what the computer worker needs to be performing, and don't worry because these can still build a six-pack.
I can’t be adamant enough in encouraging you to read through Gentilcore and Smith’s two-part article to learn more about this problem the computer worker faces. They provide video examples of all the exercises you need to be doing in the areas described above. Being a frequent visitor to the gym and former athlete myself who now is a full-time student (computer worker in a sense), I cant put into words how much this information has helped me battle this issue. Along with the gym exercises, they also provide cues and tips to work on while you’re at the computer. Making these changes will help to counteract all the sitting done at work throughout the day and make you feel better, regardless of what the research says. They should have talked to more people like Gentilcore and Smith.
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