Daily Extras:
Double the burpees called for above.
Workout Notes:
- Do NOT partition the burpees.
- Feel free to jump around this workout and complete it in any order you like.
All the newest science (OK, it's really NOT all that new) is saying that SITTING WRECKS YOUR BODY.
Some of us are sitting as much as 15 hours per day, between the office and the couch! Now, do some math with me. Some of us sit for 15 hours per day. Then we lie down for 8 hrs (sleep). That gives us a grand total of ONE hour per day that we are doing anything. This is counting things like walking to the car, walking to the office, brushing our teeth and etc.
Your body was made to be active. Not moving around is ROUGH on it. But scientists say that sitting is ROUGHEST of all. Did you know that people with sitting jobs have TWICE THE RATE of cardiovascular disease vs. people with standing jobs?
As soon as you sit down -
- Electrical activity to the leg muscles shuts off. Forget about the fact that you're not getting any exercise once electrical activity of the legs ceases, think about your heart. Without the muscular contractions from your legs, blood, oxygen and waste products become harder to circulate, placing MUCH more stress on your heart.
- Calorie burning slows to less than 1 calorie per min. Yep, you just wasted half of the value of that ROUGH GPP workout. One of the secrets to working out like WE do is the continued effects of EPOC. The EPOC effect of GPP workouts keeps your metabolism stoked for 15 - 30 hours after one of our workouts. Sitting can stop this effect dead in it's tracks.
- Enzymes that help break down fat drop by up to 90% when you sit for longer than 15 mins at a time. This can add to your struggles with weight loss.
- HDL cholesterol (the good one) drops 20% within 2 hours of sitting.
These maladies are just the tip of the iceberg. If you sit more than 6 hours per day, you have lower bone mass #morelikelytogetosteoporosis. After 2 weeks of sitting 6 hours per day, you have higher insulin resistance #diabetesanyone?. After 10-20 years of sitting more than 6 hours per day, you increase your risk of dying of heart disease by 64%. You also increase your risk of prostate and breast cancer.
The solution?
Don't sit so much. Reversing the affects of having a sitting job can be as easy as getting up and walking around for 5 mins of each hour. Yes, it's better to exercise during those 5 mins. Yes, it's better to go longer than 5 min, but let's not get greedy. How about we just start by deliberately getting up and moving around and/or purposefully moving (walking, stairs, stretching, squats, pushups) for 5 min per hour?
Hashed out solutions (you've heard ALL of these before - but they still work)
- Park near the back of your parking lot
- Take the stairs
- Walk over and INTERACT with co-workers instead of emailing/texting
- Take the long way to the bathroom.
- Get up and walk around during commercials (if you are listening to the radio)
Tech solutions
Technically you don't have to move. Just stand up. To remind yourself to do this, set an alarm.
- On your Windows computer try Workrave to set up automated alerts. On your Mac try Time Out. Both are FREE.
- For your smartphone, get an app. I like StandApp (it's FREE, but I think it's only for iOS. I hear the Android App is coming soon, though.
Bottom line, sitting is bad for you and I've only touched on the reasons why. I was listening to a book today where the author was talking about how sitting changes your entire molecular structure. She (prominent exercise physiologist) claimed that sitting reduces your ability to stand and that if you sit for too long, there would be NO amount of exercise that will undo the damage it can cause to your bones, tendons and ligaments.
Sitting is bad stuff. So, stand up more!
What are your tips and tricks for reminding yourself to stand up more often?
I sniped this from Kym Mudrow's FB page. Beautiful, inspiring example of using her fitness!