Fitness in the Workplace, Part 2: The Challenges
Okay, we are going to continue with our interactive article here, so be prepared to participate. First, let’s define the physical demands of different work situations, and some of the challenges that are connected to the level of activity required.
Ready? Okay, stand up if your work environment requires to you sit at a desk for most of the work day. See the irony here? I knew you’d appreciate it! Join the standing gang if your career involves a lot of driving. In either case, you tend to be Sedentary at work. In a recent lecture on this topic, about 85% our sample group of about 130 business women responded by standing!
The main challenge associated with having a sedentary type of work is that there is too little activity during the day to keep the body strong, alert and healthy. Symptoms like poor circulation and muscle stiffness are common, and lack of caloric burn can make you feel dragged out and tired during the day!
If you are still seated, relax for a moment, and consider whether either of these statements ring true for you: “I am on feet all day at work,” or “my career involves repetitive activity like lifting, or working with my hands.” Examples of the latter would be a massage therapist, construction worker or chef. In our sample audience, there were far fewer people for whom these Active jobs were the standard situation.
Those with active jobs can suffer from muscle strain, imbalances of strength, and a feeling of exhaustion due to repetitive activity and overexertion. It is certainly possible to experience a combination of Active and Sedentary activity demands within one workplace, too, and the challenges associated with this can be a combination of the ones described.
Now that we have discovered whether your work requires you to be Active or Sedentary, or possibly a combination of both - and what challenges each of these can present, let’s move forward with some solutions!
Tips for the sedentary category:
1. Sit on a fitness ball instead of a chair. You’ll add caloric burn and work your core muscles! If a fitness ball is not practical in your workplace, try one of the flatter, air filled seat cushions designed for active sitting for a similar result.
2. Stand up while conversing on the telephone. Not only will you burn more calories, but with a hands-free device you’ll be more expressive when talking, and avoid the pain associated with “phone neck”.
3. Try working at a raised work surface like a kitchen island or a high drafting table. This will reduce the stiffness and pain associated with shortening of sitting muscles and increase circulation as well as upping that caloric burn! This is something I do in my home office for filing and sorting tasks.
4. Plan an active meeting for staff or with a client at the indoor track, around the block, or a treadmill meeting at your favourite fitness facility. A food and beverage manager I know conducts the pre-shift staff updates during a walk around the hotel grounds.
Tips for the active category:
1. Take breaks at regular intervals by setting an alarm for stretch/movement breaks. Or associate your break with a regularly occurring event at work. For example, do a 3 minute stretch break when the mail comes at 10:30 every morning; go for a walk for the first 15 minutes of lunch and at afternoon break.
2. Define your specific overuse challenges with the help of a health or fitness professional, and perform adequate stretching and strengthening activities to support those requirements.
Finally, planned activity (exercise for the purpose of exercise) is very important for both workplace categories. To stay healthy and productive we must make up for the down time of sedentary jobs - our bodies are simply not designed to be inactive. Planned workouts are essential to those with active jobs too, in order to support the body systems that are required to remain fit and injury free with the demands of your job!
Next time we will chat about the final challenge (that 4-letter word - TIME) and check out some workplace workouts that can work for you!
We’ll talk soon!
Coming Soon: Fitness in the Workplace, Part 3: Making Workouts work at work!
