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Ask Slashdot: How To Stay Fit In the Office?

Posted by Soulskill on from the five-pushups-for-every-non-work-related-pageload dept.

Kochnekov writes "This week I started my first co-op job as a chemical engineering student. I work in an R&D lab, but in between daily tasks there is a lot of downtime, which I spend at my desk, staring at my computer. I know Slashdot is used mostly by IT professionals and desk jockeys, so chances are you've all encountered the draining effects of sedentary office life: joint and back pain, weight gain, heart health risks, etc. What are some ways to counteract the negative health effects of a desk job, both during and after work?"

68 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. Stand At Your Desk by Press2ToContinue · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have an expandable lapdesk placed on top of my desk, elevating the laptop about a foot, and I sit on a mid-height stool so that I sit-stand all day. It makes a big difference in my legs and back.

    --
    Sent from my ENIAC
    1. Re:Stand At Your Desk by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I second this. A stand up desk is great for your legs, back and heart. Sitting can kill you. I use a 27" monitor with this arm, suspended from an overhead shelf. I can pivot it between a standing and sitting position. But as my legs and back have strengthened, I spend less and less time sitting. Now I usually only sit for meals and meetings.

      Another advantage to standing, is that when people come into my office, they want to talk to me at eye-to-eye level. So they don't sit down either. This results in short-and-to-the-point conversations.

    2. Re:Stand At Your Desk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      After switching to a stand-up desk, I won't go back. You want the stool though or it might get to be too much. A rubber pad on the floor for your feet can keep you standing comfortably longer.

    3. Re:Stand At Your Desk by 10101001+10101001 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A stand up desk is great for your legs, back and heart. Sitting can kill you.

      From the article: "Analyzing self-reported data from more than 222,000 people aged 45 and older, Australian researchers found that mortality risks spike after 11 hours of total daily sitting but are still 15 percent higher for those sitting between 8 and 11 hours compared to those sitting fewer than 4 hours per day."

      My wild guess? Old people who slowly deteriorate because of old age quickly deteriorate once they reach the point they're confined to a wheel chair. It'd be about as much of a valuable study as noting that eating a significant amount of pureed food shows a mortality risk spike; because once you're at the state that all your food is and will always be pureed without any real hope of going back to solid food, you'll probably lose a lot of will to live, desire to eat, and be by the fact that you're eating puree-only food be in bad shape. By the same token, trying to force a person to stand or eat solid food probably won't do a lot since it's the physical deteriorating that needs fixed and while certain exercise and good food can help, I don't think it'll substantially influence the results.

      Now, if all of this wasn't about a "mortality risk spike"... Besides, today most people *do* sit a lot more than people did two hundred years ago and life expectancy is a lot higher. Still, I do like the tagline, "Sitting: The Silent Killer".

      --
      Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
    4. Re:Stand At Your Desk by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      People do deteriorate when confined to a wheelchair. People who are aware of that fact can do something about it.

      Jim was a UDT/Frogman. (Note, he wasn't a SEAL, they didn't have SEALS when he served.) Long after his discharge, Jim discovered that he was diabetic. Long story short, he lost both legs to diabetes. When his legs were cut off, he woke up in a recovery room with another guy who had the same problem, same amputation.

      Jim resisted efforts to sell him an electrically powered wheelchair. His room mate bought a high dollar powered wheel chair.

      The old sailor lived for decades, powering his own wheelchair with his own arms. His room mate only made it about 7 years. Each year, that room mate gained more weight, grew weaker, got lazier and lazier, and finally died.

      You're right, studies are needed, but you're most certainly on the right track with your guesses.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    5. Re:Stand At Your Desk by dr2chase · · Score: 2

      Better get in touch with those researchers, I'm sure they never considered this possibility.

    6. Re:Stand At Your Desk by Sigg3.net · · Score: 3, Funny

      Variation is key. Sometimes, stand on your desk.

      --
      Defining Statistics and Social Research
  2. Weed by cultiv8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and a bottle of water. Problem solved!

    --
    sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
  3. Excercise and diet by DrLang21 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously. Regardless of what your working situation is, it's as simple exercise and diet. Take your lunch to work and be active on weekends. This makes a huge difference. If you're lucky enough to have a gym at work, use it.

    --
    I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
    1. Re:Excercise and diet by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why do you even need a gym? Or wait for the weekends? Instead of standing around the water cooler, do as many pushups as you can when you have 30 seconds. Do the same before every urination break (you'll work really hard really fast). You will spend literally minutes a day, yet be in better shape than the 99%.

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    2. Re:Excercise and diet by The+Dancing+Panda · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because then you look like a weirdo in your office. Geeks a lot of times have issues feeling awkward. This won't help.

    3. Re:Excercise and diet by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Informative

      Because then you look like a weirdo in your office. Geeks a lot of times have issues feeling awkward. This won't help.

      The flip side of that coin is that if you're a geek, people already think you're weird, so you don't have much to lose there.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    4. Re:Excercise and diet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This. There's no special magic to it - how you keep yourself healthy doesn't change because you sit at a desk - the only thing that changes because of that is how you might accomplish some of these things.

      Here's 10 pretty simple rules that would greatly improve pretty much anybody's health:

      1) Cut out a large amount of the carbs you eat (simple sugars and starches, grains) - especially foods with little to no nutrition OTHER than the carbohydrates (bread, cereal, potatoes, rice, sugar - almost all carbs!)
      2) Eat lots of fresh vegetables and to a lesser extent, fruit, all day, erryday.
      3) Lots of lean protein - chicken, fish, pork, beef.
      4) Keep yourself hydrated with plain old ice water - skip the soda, skip the gatorade, skip the lifewater, it's all bullshit full of sugar and chemicals. Coffee and/or tea sparingly - 1-2 cups a day, and don't overdo the caffeine.
      5) Every couple hours, get up, and take a short walk around the building. 5-10 minutes: pee break, refill your water, stretch your legs, and change your eye focus. Maybe step outside for a breath of fresh air.
      6) Each day, spend at least 30-60 minutes of light-to-moderate exercising. Your choice of activities, but we're talking light-to-medium cardio (nothing too heavy - hard cardio daily will put you at risk eventually of systemic inflammation & overtraining... bad bad bad stuff), some stretching, and a little bit of strength building. Mix it up, so your body doesn't get into a rut and you don't overtrain yourself. Find a buddy or two for the workout, and it'll be a lot more fun.
      7) Get enough sleep. For most people, this is 6-8 hours a night. Plan your schedule around a reasonable bedtime & wake time.
      8) When you get out of work, don't go home and stare at a game screen all night. Go have a drink with some friends, schedule a date, go do some errands... something that'll encourage you to socialize a bit. People with strong "social support networks" (not Facebook... real-life positive interactions with real people) tend to be healthier.
      9) Consider basic vitamin/mineral/omega3/probiotic supplementation, at least occasionally during periods of intense stress.
      10) Have sex. Yes, with a partner.

  4. Nearest Gym by rogueippacket · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ask your colleagues, I bet a good number of them go there during lunch or at some other predetermined hour, several times per week. And don't feel even a little bit bad about leaving your desk - it's a great way to network within the company and develop camaraderie, which can ultimately lead to full-time employment and higher moral.
    Alternatively, if you are working some place fairly isolated, you can bike to/from work one or many days per week, weather permitting.

    1. Re:Nearest Gym by billstewart · · Score: 2

      I picked a gym near the train station, so during the years I was commuting by train it was convenient to go there when I got back from work, before doing other things for the evening. I've been going a lot less frequently since I changed offices.

      --

      Bill Stewart
      New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    2. Re:Nearest Gym by realityimpaired · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem with a gym membership is it takes a lot of willpower. Most people will see it as a chore or a task... I *have* to go to the gym and *exercise*. Ugh.

      Walking/biking to work is what I'd suggest. Move to a place that's a few miles from work and start walking. Or if that's not feasible, move to a place that's 5-10 miles and ride your bike. Or if that's not feasible, get off the bus a few stops earlier, and walk the extra mile to go to work. It makes a huge difference, even though you're only getting an extra 20 minutes of exercise out of it.

  5. Simple exercises by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Informative

    Push-ups, sit-ups, plank, and jogging. There are also lots of stretching exercises that you can do during the day.

    1. Re:Simple exercises by strength_of_10_men · · Score: 2

      ^ what he said. Plus, I'd suggest finding a group to workout with because this will keep you motivated if you know someone's expecting you.

      For quick workouts at work, I've written a script that will pick a bodyweight-only workout and a random number of reps. My deal is that if I want to browse /., I have to do one of these exercises first. You can select a number of workouts that work best for your situation from here.

    2. Re:Simple exercises by SuperTechnoNerd · · Score: 2

      We had this guy in our office who would go jogging every day at lunch. When he would come back he would take of his sweat pants , t-shirt and socks and put on his business clothes back on. Then he put his sweaty stinky clothes in the microwave oven in the break room to dry out.. Oh The Smell...

  6. Doughnuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doughnuts, plenty of doughnuts. They contain all the nutrients you need and help keeping you in shape.

    1. Re:Doughnuts by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, I suppose "round" is a shape.

    2. Re:Doughnuts by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Funny

      It will give you the body of a god! Unfortunately, Buddha.

      --
      Weaselmancer
      rediculous.
    3. Re:Doughnuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That little round-bellied guy that everyone thinks is Buddha is actually a Chinese Buddhist sage. Buddha himself is never depicted that way; he was thin, north Indian not Chinese, and is not traditionally depicted with his stomach hanging out. Not that Buddhists would be easily offended by such a depiction; we tend to just smile.

    4. Re:Doughnuts by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2

      Gautama Buddha

      The Buddha in (Vaishnavism) is viewed as an Avatar of Vishnu.

      Avatar

      In Hinduism, an avatar /ævtr/ (Hindustani: [tar], from Sanskrit avatra "descent") is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being (i.e., Vishnu for Vaishnavites), and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation", but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"

      --
      Weaselmancer
      rediculous.
  7. Passive exercise is effective by Pezbian · · Score: 2, Informative

    Those yoga ball things used as office chairs seem to be effective. After a while, you don't feel like you're making any effort at staying stable.

    I've seen recumbent bicycles used with custom desk solutions as well. Need plenty of cooling for that, though, and fans tend to be noisy.

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
  8. Strength Training, Team Sports, Stand Up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Get strong. There are really good 3x a week strength training programs targeted at beginners. Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 are two of the most widely used and effective examples.

    Join a team sport to keep you motivated about strength gains.

    Switch to a standing desk. At the least, this will prevent slouching and keep your hip flexors more loose than they are right now.

  9. If you have lots of free time... by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... walking believe it or not. Walking steadily for multiple half hour to one hour stints over the entire day adds up. I lost 40lbs walking 4 hours a day/7 days a week for 4 months. It's all about commitment, don't make excuses when it comes to your health. Without your health nothing else matters. Take it from someone fairly aged, as you get older you're not as energetic as when you're younger so get it done ASAP. People tend to under-estimate how important it is to prioritize health over everything else. IMHO health should come even _before_ your job because without it you're just digging yourself a whole that is harder to climb out of as you get older.

    But before you even begin to exercise DO find out how much you are eating or exercise is pointless. A great site is fitday, for the first week or so monitor religiously and input data on everything you eat including days you over-eat.

    http://www.fitday.com/

    In my opinion if you eat a lot of unhealthy foods you should start to remove some of the worst from your life and replace it with something healthy. You don't have to go all health nut but eating better goes a long way when coupled with exercise. Take it from someone who has been there, done that.

  10. build in exercise, mobility by sillivalley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you have a printer in your cube, get rid of it -- use one that makes you get up and walk.

    Use stairs rather than elevators -- use a loo on a different floor to get more use of stairs,

    If you drive to work, don't park next to the building, park where you get to walk some.

    Rather than eating lunch one or more days during the week, take a walk locally instead.

    1. Re:build in exercise, mobility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      A printer? What for?

      How else are you going to fax it if you don't have a printout? For a tech website, you guys sure aren't smart.

  11. Any kind of heart rate raising activity will work. by singingjim1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But that shit is boring. Don't stay up late watching Colbert Report and get up early and ride a bike. And ride it like someone is chasing you that wants to kill you. I've lost 75 lbs and have turned myself into an elite amateur athlete (won a few races here and there on the road bike and mountain bike) by getting up early and riding. It works big time (I'm proof) and it's WAY more fun than calisthenics or going to a gym to work out. I work in front of a computer all day long. Cycling is literally saving my life.

  12. ssh tunnel to a proxy, block images + colors by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Browse Slashdot while you're supposed to be working, use your lunch time to go for a walk.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    1. Re:ssh tunnel to a proxy, block images + colors by ion++ · · Score: 2

      Browse Slashdot while you're supposed to be working, use your lunch time to go for a walk.

      No, RUN during your lunch break.

      You could also just ditch the chair and stand up in front of the computer.

    2. Re:ssh tunnel to a proxy, block images + colors by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Funny

      You could also just ditch the chair and stand up in front of the computer.

      ... or if you want to take that a bit further, there's this.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  13. Enroll in Martial Arts by rwa2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been doing Tae Kwon Do most of my life, and it works pretty well for nerds. I found a school with lots of scientists and engineers, and the emphasis was more on personal growth than competitive sparring.

    There's a lot of geometry and physics to think about while you're practicing your drills, and you spend a lot of time thinking about optimizing the various systems in your body. And you get to collect a lot of tools and hacks, various things you can do with your body and other people. Also, I learned a bit of Korean, and get conditioned with some of the exotic cultural protocol as well.

    So it might be a good option to check into if you find gyms boring and team sports out of your league.

    1. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by evil_aaronm · · Score: 2

      Wrestling's good for all of the above, too, and you can't beat it for core strength training. However, it's hard to find a club. Maybe a local college or a high school.

    2. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by IdolizingStewie · · Score: 4, Informative

      For the record, back when I took it, my TaeKwonDo instructor made it very clear that it was going to be worth very little in a real fight. I'd almost argue it has a negative effect, because you condition yourself to aim for the most ineffective spots. The Jujitsu (weeping style and Brazilian style) he taught us when he got bored might be a little more helpful, but was still conditioned at getting yourself free long enough to run.

    3. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by The+Dancing+Panda · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm an Aikido guy (2nd Degree Black belt). It's fairly useful in a fight (depending on your teacher, I guess). Mostly for teaching you how to get around one, or making it look like all self defense. My Dad (4th Degree, owns his own club) has taught SWAT teams and Police forces, because it's pretty good for subduing attackers without a lot of blood.

    4. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Krav Maga is the only form of self defense that is worth anything in a real fight.

      More useful forms of self-defense (roughly in order of usefulness):

      • Don't be an idiot that starts or otherwise gets into fights for stupid reasons.
      • Avoid situations where fighting might happen.
      • Convince the other guy not to fight.
      • Have pepper spray or similar deterrent.
      • Be able to find law enforcement before the other guy can attack you.
      • Be able to run faster and/or longer than the other guy.
      • Be able to hide.
      • Give the other guy what he wants, memorize his face, license plate number, etc., and let the police handle it.

      All that fails, then physical self defense would be worth it. I probably missed a bunch, but you get the idea.

    5. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by El+Rey · · Score: 2

      It all depends on the focus of your school. If they are not teaching the bunkai as well as the kata / drills / free sparring then yeah, it might not be worth much in a real fight.

      The class I take is primarily TKD but also mixed with JLFS, Aikido, and Army combatives.

      My sensei actually killed a guy in Iraq with TKD, so I wouldn't totally discount it...

    6. Re:Enroll in Martial Arts by El+Rey · · Score: 2

      Yeah, it's not like there is thousands of years of history of Asian martial arts being used in actual wars...

  14. Intermittent Fasting works for me by candeoastrum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Intermittent Fasting has been my savior. Between the commute and spending time with the family I don't have much time for working out so IF (eating every other day) has been a godsend for me. It may not work for you but to each his own.

    1. Re:Intermittent Fasting works for me by candeoastrum · · Score: 2

      This has become quite a craze at the moment - how long have you been doing it and what results are you seeing?

      What would you say your weekly total calorie intake is?

      The days I eat, I just try to be sensible and don't count calories. I have one nice big meal, some cookies (I have a sweet tooth) and a ton of fruit. I have a little soda every now and again but I drink majority water. I literally don't have anything but tea on the days I eat. I don't do it like others who have small meals on the off days. I have tea with some honey and I do not have to think about food at all. My productivity skyrockets and the strange thing is, my thinking is clearer. The way my body works is I lose (roughly) about a pound per day that I fast that doesn't come back. The next day when I have to eat, sometimes I wake up early, sometimes I wake up heavy. There are so many differing opinions up and down about it that I never tell people I am fasting other than my wife.

      I found myself gaining so much weight once I got married and had a daughter and I even signed up for a BJJ (grappling class) but was so bogged down with work that I found myself never going and getting heavier and heavier. Not eating was the easiest thing in the world for me to do once I accepted that I wasn't eating and kept myself busy. At a certain point in the day you start to feel better that you haven't eaten (physically feeling better) and you actually have more energy than less. Like I said, some days are different though and it could be because of the theoretical Herxheimer's reaction based on detox (where toxins stored in fat get released back into the system as fat gets burned) so I just drink more and more water. Again, its extreme, its not for everybody but its the easiest, cheapest way to lose weight and feel incredible when you have a schedule from hell. Hope I answered your question!

  15. easy by knarf · · Score: 2

    Cycle to work. Anything up to ~20 km should be doable. If you can not cycle, try the combination of public transport and inline skates, I did that for years whenI lived 160 km from my job. Skate to station, take train(s) to work, skate from station to office (and through it to my desk :-). In general I tend to combine these things, no sports school or fitness needed that way...

    --
    --frank[at]unternet.org
  16. Risks of Yoga Ball Chairs by billstewart · · Score: 4, Funny

    I used to use a yoga ball as my home office chair. It took a little while to get used to, but my muscles adapted quickly enough.

    Then one day I backed up and scared my cat. He slashed at the ball, claws out, and I started sinking slowly to the floor as it deflated.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  17. High Fat/Low Carb diet and Slow Burn 30min/week by hsthompson69 · · Score: 2

    http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358019060&sr=1-1&keywords=art+of+low+carbohydrate+living

    http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Burn-Fitness-Revolution-Exercise/dp/0767913868

    I pretty much do nothing but sit all day, but I continue to get fitter, and healthier, with essentially a diet based on nutritional ketosis, and 30 minutes of slow strength training a week.

    Learn how the human body works, and you can optimize.

  18. Martial Arts by drkstr1 · · Score: 2

    Martial Arts has been the greatest thing I've done for myself (other than learning to program of course). Being a typical nerd, I have never been interested in sports or exercise. It's not that I am lazy, I just get board really easy unless my mind is engaged. What I like about martial arts is that it is challenging in a way that is engaging for me, as it requires focus, concentration, and knowledge. I end up approaching martial arts in the same way I approach any technical challenge, I grind away at the problem until I can do whatever it is I am trying to do (EG. practice). Not only is it fun, it also has the added bennifits of being extremely beneficial to your body (especially the joints). While I am at work, I will get up every hour or two (about the frequency of someone's smoke break) and go find a nice quite place outside to practice for about 10 minutes. After work I go to the dojo for about an hour. Despite being at the age where my "best years" are behind me, I have never felt better or been more productive as I am now. I strongly recommend it.

    --
    Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
  19. Re:Round by PT_1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    most slashdotters are round in shape asking them for fitness advice is a horrible idea.

    I'm sure lots are, but I'd be surprised if there is a significantly larger proportion of overweight Slashdotters than in the general population. Staying healthy and being a geek aren't mutually exclusive.

  20. Cycling to and from work by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's tons of fun and it's healthy. Best of all, the time you spend on your bike going to and from work, is your own time, you don't feel like it's yet more of your life sacrificed on the altar of your employer.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  21. Water by locopuyo · · Score: 2

    Drink a lot of water so you have to get up and go to the bathroom and refill your water container. This keeps you from sitting for too long and lowering your metabolism.

    --
    The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
  22. Ask at your workplace for teammates for a sport by Luckyo · · Score: 2

    Ask at your workplace for people who play grassroots ball sports. Pretty much any decent team sport will do. Football, basketball and so on.

    This gives you several advantages:

    1. Better social links at workplace - a lot of stuff about your workplace that you'll never hear about at work you'll hear during and after practice and games. You'll also form friendships including those with bosses if they're into the same sport.
    2. It creates a great group activity and it keeps you doing it due to peer pressure, even when going gets tough. Quitting solo activity is easy. Quitting group activity is much harder. Your body will thank you when you're close to retirement age.
    3. You can usually choose how hard you want to practice. No one will demand a lot from a newbie, especially in a grassroots team. But you can push yourself and get better if you want too, becoming one of the people "carrying" the team. Or you can be one of the back benchers just showing up for fun time and staying in shape.

  23. For me it was easier than I thought by bjdevil66 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bottom line for many of us: 1) Cut back on the sugar and 2) take breaks from sitting. It really is that simple.

    I'm a developer chained to a computer screen most of the day. Until early last year I was 220-225 lbs. (at 5'11"-6') - your stereotypical, middle-aged, pot-bellied developer dad.

    Then one day last spring, I stopped eating the leftover junk on the snack table at work. Then I started eating eggs for breakfast sometimes, instead of a large bowl of "healthy" cereal. Jerky replaced a crappy hamburger when I didn't pack a lunch. Then I cut way back on the 9PM donut and diet soda runs to Circle K and the 11PM chips and salsa fests. If I had a sweet snack like ice cream, it'd be a scoop or two - not a full bowl of it.

    That's all I changed. No crazy, expensive exercise DVD sets, gym memberships, or "chicken and leaves" diet torture. I just took a little more responsibility for what and how much junk I was eating.

    I was genuinely surprised to see that over the next 3-4 months I dropped to 200-205 lbs, and I've stayed there, ever since. It's a sustainable change that has helped my belly size (I look better and feel a lot better) AND my wallet.

    I also get up and walk around a few times a day. Instead of cigarette breaks, it's walking breaks. I can still think about what I'm working on, and my back and legs feel much better afterwards.

  24. Run or bike to work by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Live close enough to work that you can run or bike to and from work. If it snows or gets icy where you live, get Microspikes for your shoes so you can keep running in the winter. Problem solved!

    --
    Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
  25. Running, tennis, weights, stretching by movdqa · · Score: 2

    Plan is to run 1,000 miles this year. I do weights a few times a week and extended stretching a few times a week. Also 1.5 to 2.5 hours of tennis one to two times a week. It helps to have a fitness center at the office. I also use a fairly low-carb diet. The LiveStrong website has a good calorie tracker - diet is more important than exercise in losing fat. Avoid sugar. Watch the YouTube videos from Lustig on this. Join a support group. The hierarchy of fat loss: Intervals Strength-Training High-intensity cardio Low-intensity cardio The earlier ones are more efficient for fat loss. BTW, you can't out-train a crappy diet.

  26. Join the SCA by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2

    Seriously. Join the SCA.

    About half of us are IT nerds of one stripe or another. We are a society of aging nerds that have to keep in shape to keep doing what we do - swordfighting is very physically taxing. So we have a fairly large support community that works hard to solve this very problem. A good place to start is the Armour Archive. Search the forums for fitness tips, you'll find plenty.

    And if you have motivation problems (we all do somewhat), this SCA is great for fixing that. Nothing in the world will motivate you to get up off the couch and do some situps like knowing Duke So-and-so next weekend is going to pound the ever living crap out of you if you aren't prepared.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  27. Masturbate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Masturbate at work, often. It's good cardio, keeps your arms limber (switch up from time to time), and keeps your hand-shaking grip good and firm for those office meetings.

    It's also very good for your morale and overall calmness, which will spread to your co-workers around you and create a feedback loop of contentedness. You will seem to everyone to have it together, you'll get raises and promotions. You'll be great at racket-ball with the execs due to exercising your grip and pump. Eventually you will be made President of the company.

    That's right: Chronic Masturbation will make you the President. That's how I became the President of the Hair Club for Men.
     

  28. Downtime in lab? Find something useful to do by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I work in an R&D lab, but in between daily tasks there is a lot of downtime, which I spend at my desk, staring at my computer.

    I say this as a manager in an R&D lab:

    I want to hire self motivated people. And co-ops are a great way to end up with a full time position. But I will avoid like the plague people who sit staring at their computer because they weren't told what to do. If you weren't told what to do, ask what to do. If you get no guidance, suggest a side project of your own to work when you don't have other tasks. Failing that, if you're a scientist, find some journal articles and get smarter.

    I wholeheartedly support the effort to get in shape, but I wouldn't start treating on-the-job downtime as an opportunity to engage in extracurricular activity. It might suggest you're not serious about your co-op. I realize you're probably young and think you're doing enough if you're doing what you told, but the people who get ahead are those who motivate themselves.

    Best of luck in your co-op.

  29. Cycling and stretching. by DaveSlash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bike to work, take stretching brakes.

    --
    Burn FAT not OIL
    1. Re:Cycling and stretching. by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bike to work, take stretching brakes.

      Stretching brakes sound very dangerous. What if you need to stop suddenly? I'd rather have normal brakes on my bike.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    2. Re:Cycling and stretching. by pioneerX · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Some V-brakes come with power modulators to stop inexperienced rides from locking the wheels. It's like having stretchy brake cables.

    3. Re:Cycling and stretching. by datavirtue · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The 30-30 rule: After 30 minutes of sitting you must get up for at least 30 seconds and stretch. Look up ergonomics for the office and practice good eating habits. I recently sat with an ergonomics expert and nutritionist. I was feeling dead at the end of the day--taking naps when I got home--and generally run down and old. At 34 I knew this wasn't right so I brought it up to him. He said I was running out of gas because I wasn't eating enough! I was essentially starving myself by only eating twice a day which was preventing me from losing weight (I work out at the gym 2-3 times a week) and it was making me feel dead. As soon as I started eating small protein rich meals every two hours with a cutoff of 7pm per his recommendations I came to life instantly. He said It would make me feel like crap the first week or two but it didn't. I started dropping weight immediately, visiting the restroom more often and I felt like and still feel like a warrior. Complete change. He told me that everyone who works in an office sits wrong, far too long, and they eat horrible diets. Stay away from fast food and heavy meals all together. Don't forget to hit the gym or strap on the running shoes a few times a week!

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    4. Re:Cycling and stretching. by TClevenger · · Score: 2

      As soon as I started eating small protein rich meals every two hours with a cutoff of 7pm per his recommendations I came to life instantly.

      Can you give me an example of what a day's worth of meals would be like for you?

    5. Re:Cycling and stretching. by odysseus_complex · · Score: 2

      I agree that biking to work is a great way to wake up in the morning and the endorphins and adrenalin from riding home is a great stress reliever in the evening (you can also use it as an excuse if you don't want to stay late in the day for a meeting if you don't want to drive home in the dark).

      Additionally I've started doing push-ups every hour on the hour that I'm at work; it's a good complement to the bike riding (works your upper body), it gets you off your butt for a minute or two and exercises the core muscles.

  30. take the stairs by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    I live excuse me, work, in the top floor of my building. I try to take the stairs whenever I need to go up any floors. (Up only. Not down, because it hurts my knees.) I also have a hand exerciser on my desk that I use if my hands aren't occupied (on the phone, etc). It serves double duty as an exercise tool and stress reducer. When the weather is good I take walks at lunch, and when it's bad there's always walks around the building.

    I had back trouble a few years ago. I set my watch to beep once an hour, which was my signal to get up and stretch and walk around a bit. It really helped.

    And, I have a dog, so I'm obligated to go for walks when I get home, which is also a stress reducer.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  31. Step 1, measure by swillden · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since you're worried about losing fitness, gaining weight, etc., -- which is great, most people don't start to think about it until after it becomes a problem -- and since you're an engineer, I suggest the first thing you should do is to begin measuring and tracking relevant stats. Anything worth doing is worth quantifying and plotting on graphs, of course :-)

    Read (or skim) The Hacker's Diet. Whether or not you agree with its particular approach to weight management, it does a good job of instilling the idea that your body is just another piece of equipment that you can engineer. You can't redesign it, but you can set up negative feedback control loops that keep it in the configuration that you want it to be, and the first step is to measure and track so you have hard numbers that represent your state and trend.

    This doesn't have to be difficult. In fact there are a lot of free on-line resources to make it very easy. Google will find you plenty more, but I'll give you the ones I use.

    For overall weight and activity tracking I use http://fitbit.com/ It works best if you buy the $100 Fitbit pedometer/activity tracker and the $130 Aria Wifi-enabled scale (see how the website can be free, without ads?) but you can do it just by entering your numbers daily. Just weigh yourself every morning and take 15 seconds to record it (or if you have the Aria, just weigh yourself and the numbers show up on the web site). You can also track your exercise activities, your measurements (e.g. chest, belly, biceps, etc.) and whatever else you want, and the web site will give you nice graphs. If you get the Fitbit, or another pedometer whose measurements you'll have to enter manually, you'll have that measure of your activity level as well.

    If you run, or cycle, etc., http://endomondo.com/ is a great tool for tracking those. Endomondo provides iOS and Android apps for your phone, and you can connect your Endomondo and Fitbit accounts, so when you go out for a run or a ride and track it with your phone, the activity automatically shows up on your Fitbit log. If you like you can also get a bluetooth heart rate monitor which the Endomondo app will use to log your heart rate.

    Another key metric is food intake, but that's a lot more work. Fitbit provides food logging, but it sucks because it has a lousy food database. However http://myfitnesspal/ provides an excellent database which makes it easy to find whatever you eat, and the phone app includes a barcode scanner which makes it even easier for packaged foods. Oh and myfitnesspal integrates with Fitbit, too. Honestly, though, unless you're working towards a specific weight gain/loss goal, and you are pretty dedicated about it, logging your food is too much work.

    Anyway, armed with measurements, plotted on charts, with trendlines you can see where you're at and where you're going, which enables you to see if there's something you need to be concerned about and to take charge if there is. If you want to make a change, just decide what you think would help and start doing it, then monitor your trends over a few weeks to see if it does. If not, or if not enough, tweak a bit more. Continue adjusting whatever knobs seem appropriate and observing the results until you are where you want to be -- or if maintaining is your goal, just keep doing what you're doing unless the trend lines show movement that you don't want.

    The key to making the "measured lifestyle" work is making the measurements easy, automatic and habitual.

    Oh, one other tool I've found helpful for goal achievement is http://beeminder.com./ It integrates with fitbit.com (and some other sites) and also provides SMS and/or e-mail reminders, as well as pretty graphs. Most importantly, though, Beeminder provides incentive. You can make a "pledge" to achieve a parti

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  32. True Story time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Around two years ago I worked in a remote field office of a big company. Alongside me were hundreds of engineers, technicians, electricians, mechanical guys, you name it. Most of the time everything was just fine, with no real issues.

    One day a new electrical engineer arrived on the scene. He was maybe 6' (give or take an inch) and lean and mean. He was an Aikido guy, and soon began teaching people after hours.

    The guy had kind of a douchey attitude, always stalking the halls like the Terminator hunting for Sarah Connor. He scowled a lot and generally played the Hard Man routine for all it was worth.

    One day he cornered me in the work canteen. I stand a hair over 6' 4 1/2" and weigh ~270 lb. He seemed to be offended by this, even though I'm not in any way a fighter, and I don't work out or train in anything.

    He demanded to know if I did any of that martial arts shit, so I told him I had a black belt in running away. That offended him even more, and from then on he sneered and smirked whenever he saw me.

    Like I gave a fuck.

    Anyhoo, one night a couple months later I was in a local bar having a quiet drink. Actually, quite a lot of them, because I drink too much. Nevertheless, I was happy, when in walked Mr. Aikido and his Dojo Posse. Some of them were guys I was formerly friendly with, but had now assumed the Hard Man mantle of their sensei.

    Still, I minded my own business like always, reading a magazine and drinking some more, but - you guessed this was coming, right - Mr. Aikido stomped up and snatched the magazine away, throwing it across the room. He shoved his face close to mine and said "Run away."

    So I stood up and made to leave, because I'd drunk too much already and it was past my bedtime.

    This caused Mr. Aikido no end of amusement and also disgust, so he pushed me into a table. When I regained my balance and turned to face him, he punched me really fucking hard in the guys.

    Christ it hurt, and I doubled over, winded. Then I puked all over him, because, you know, it's never a great idea to punch a fully-laden drunk in the guts at the end of the night.

    As you can imagine, this did not please Mr. Aikido, so he gave me a smack in the head that was so hard it made me remember where I'd left my spare car key back in 1998, the one I'd not been able to find.

    So my gut feels like it's been ruptured and I'm sure my brain is falling out through the new hole in the side of my skull, so I did the only thing I could do. I fell on him.

    And he was fucked, because as fast and strong and honed and skilled as he was, all of that shit, I weighed half as much again as he did, and I squashed him to the floor.

    While we're down there he starts trying to knee me in the nuts, and I realized that if he was successful I'd be in big trouble, so I did the only other thing I could do. I smashed my forehead down on his nose as hard as I could. I pretended his face was a pillow and I was about to go to sleep.

    It hurt me, but it hurt him way more. I felt the bones in his nose crush and I think I heard his cheekbone crack, but then again I was pretty fucked up myself at this point.

    But that was the end of that. He was out for the night.

    The bar owner came and helped me up, because I was a good customer who'd probably paid off his boat for him, and he shoved me out the front door and into the back seat of a truck. Next thing I know I wake up on my kitchen floor at home and it's morning.

    Mr. Aikido spent a couple days in hospital and was away from work for a few weeks. When he came back he avoided me, then after a while he was gone. Transferred out, I was told.

    The first moral of this True Story is that it doesn't fucking matter how 1337 are your m4d sk1llz if a huge vomiting drunk falls and pins you to the floor and smashes your fucking face in. The second moral is don't be a fucking douche.

    1. Re:True Story time. by El+Rey · · Score: 2

      Doesn't sound like an Aikido guy. Aikido is not a percussive art. There are no punches or kicks in Aikido.

      Also, Ueshiba was all about peace and harmony, not about being a douche like this guy.

    2. Re:True Story time. by El+Rey · · Score: 2

      When I was in middle school I studied with Aikido guys who traced their lineage back to Koichi Tohei. Those guys were the totally hippie peace and harmony guys. The post-WWII styles of Aikido reflect the spiritual awakening Ueshiba had during the war.

      The pre-WWII styles of Aikido were "rougher" but any Japanese art that pays attention to bushido
      should be teaching the morality of using these arts for other than defense. Unfortunately too many folks these days seem to think morality doesn't exist anymore.

      Maybe there are just some bad dojos where you are at. If my sensei heard about any of his students doing shit like that he would kick them out of the school, but we are a very traditional school in that respect.

      Sorry to hear you have had such bad experiences with Aikido practitioners who don't understand the spirit of the art or the spirit of bushido in general.

  33. The benefits of eating well by jandersen · · Score: 2

    About the good eating habits - they will also help you get up more often to breathe, especially if your diet is heavy on beans ... it will certainly give you an incentive to get outside often, and your colleagues will help reminding you too.