Why sitting at a desk all day is giving you a gut — and how to fix it

As a working person in 2017, almost the entirety of my job involves sitting in front of a computer. It’s likely yours does too — on average, we spend about 80% of our working hours sitting in some form or another.

Sitting and and not moving for 6+ hours per day is bad for you for a whole host of reasons, but one of the most visible is its effect on your posture. When you spend a lot of time sitting, the muscles in your hips (the hip flexors and iliopsoas complex, for my anatomy nerds) tighten and shorten. At the same time, the weight of your torso is bearing down your butt, gluing all of that tissue together.

The result is lumbar hyperlordosis, where your pelvis is locked forward and your lower back is excessively curved. And when your pelvis is forward and your lower back is extra-curved, your gut sticks out. Try it: stand up, stick your butt out, and put as much curve as possible in your lower back. It should look something like this:

Lordosis on the left, normal curvature on the right.

Sitting all day is causing you to carry your weight worse than you could. But there are three simple stretches (that you can do at home, without getting off your couch) to fix it.

Three stretches to fix computer gut:

Knee-to-chest

This is a simple stretch to get warmed up and stretch your lower back.

• Lay flat on your back.
• Pull your left knee to your chest, and wrap your arms around your thigh and shin.
• Let your right leg relax downward as much as possible.
• Pull in with your arms to make the stretch more intense.
• Hold for one minute, then switch legs and repeat.

“Eye of the needle”

This is an adapted yoga pose that’s great for stretching your glutes (butt) and lower back.

• Lay flat on your back
• Pull your knees to your chest
• Cross your left foot across your body, so that your ankle is resting on top for your right thigh
• Wrap your arms around your right leg. Your left arm should be through the hole between your legs.
• Let your left knee rise and push out while you pull in with your arms.
• Hold for one minute, and then switch legs and repeat.

Couch stretch

This is probably my favorite stretch in the entire world. It’s an excellent hip opener that will loosen up all of the glued together tissue in the front of your hips.

• Take a knee on the ground in front of your couch, left knee on the ground.
• Take your left leg and place your foot on top of the couch, so that your shin is close to the front of the couch.
• Make sure to keep your abs and butt tight. Don’t allow your lower back to curve and take up the slack.
• Flex your thigh and bring your upper body as vertical as possible. Take it slow, though — if you haven’t done this before, it might be a pretty rough experience.
• Hold for one minute, then switch legs and repeat.
• If you’re too tight to get in this position comfortably, you can do a deep lunge on the ground as a less-intense version of the stretch

Do these stretches at home, while you’re watching TV or otherwise hanging out on the couch, to help flatten your belly (they also help with lower back pain). Hold each side of each stretch for a minute — so six minutes total.

You can find six minutes, right?

(A note for pedants: I know that this isn’t the 100% most efficient set of exercises for fixing hip tightness. But it’s a set of exercises that people will actually do, and isn’t that really the point?)

When it comes to health and fitness advice, it’s a lot easier to read it than it is to put it in practice. That’s why I wrote a little booklet to help you get to the gym and follow through on your goals:

If this helped you, do me a favor and hit the 💚 below so it can help other people too.