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8 Hour a Day Office Job, 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day Not Enough
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Don't ever listen to those kind of studies. Most of them are done by people that don't even know how to properly train. 30 minutes 3 times a week with a healthy meal plan will yield great results. It's all about training with high intensity, not length of time. I also have an 8 hour day, a wife, 4 kids and in my 30's AND don't use any supplements of any kind or crazy diet and I'm in great shape. I also train about 30-45 minutes a day max a few days a week.0
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sbubenchik wrote: »Don't ever listen to those kind of studies. Most of them are done by people that don't even know how to properly train. 30 minutes 3 times a week with a healthy meal plan will yield great results. It's all about training with high intensity, not length of time. I also have an 8 hour day, a wife, 4 kids and in my 30's AND don't use any supplements of any kind or crazy diet and I'm in great shape. I also train about 30-45 minutes a day max a few days a week.
The individual quoted in the article is a university professor of sports science.
What education/background do you have that makes your advice better?1 -
I have a sit/stand desk, and take a few minutes every day to walk the stairs (my work building is 5 floors).
Just like everything else, if we want the results, we make the time.1 -
My employer has been spending a little money each month giving us desk-jockeys a choice. We can get a third monitor or we can get a standing desk. Most of us have gotten the standing desk. With my weight loss, sitting in my chair became painful. I jumped to the front of the line and begged for a standing desk. They readily agreed.
With curiosity, I googled for calories burned using a standing desk. Standing is actually a MET 2 exercise. In 8 hours of standing at my desk, I burn over 400 calories. That's more than I can burn in 30 minutes of bucket-sweating treadmill work. That's one way to double your 30 minutes of exercise.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »
The individual quoted in the article is a university professor of sports science.
What education/background do you have that makes your advice better?
Have you seen how "sports science" studies are done? All too typically it's utterly untrained people doing badly-defined silly *kitten* and drawing wide-swath conclusions that read: Must be studied further.
Simply because it's from a professor doesn't make it inherently valuable.1 -
CipherZero wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »
The individual quoted in the article is a university professor of sports science.
What education/background do you have that makes your advice better?
Have you seen how "sports science" studies are done? All too typically it's utterly untrained people doing badly-defined silly *kitten* and drawing wide-swath conclusions that read: Must be studied further.
Simply because it's from a professor doesn't make it inherently valuable.
The study linked looked at outcomes for a million people. Yes, I agree some studies are questionable and to be informed one must review counter opinions. However I'm paying more attention to something put together by a professor of sports science than a random person on an internet forum saying "Don't ever listen to those kind of studies. Most of them are done by people that don't even know how to properly train.",
Do you have a background in research methods to be able to determine what is silly *kitten*?0 -
I feel like I am fortunate in this. Yes, I have a desk job, 8 hours a day, but the company I work for has made it very possible and really quite easy for their employees to get exercise during the day, if they so choose. We have three different designated walking trails outside, ranging from 3/10th of a mile up to just over 1.5 miles, as well as plenty of flexibility to modify as needed. We also have a 1/2-mile-round-trip inside walking area for those days when weather is less than ideal, a gym that is free to use for all associates, plus a health team to help answer any questions we may have. I wish all of you could come work with me...I think we would be the healthiest group of desk job employees ever!
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Packerjohn wrote: »New study out saying the 30 minutes of moderate exercise recommended per day is not enough if you sit 8 hours in an office/car, etc.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/07/27/study-suggests-new-formula-for-physical-activity-8-hours-of-sitting-means-1-hour-of-exercise/
From the article:
“The current public health recommendations for physical activity are based on very solid evidence and our data support these. … However, if you sit for many hours a day (i.e. > 8 hours) you need to do at least one hour of moderate activity every day to offset the association between sitting time and mortality,” Ekelund wrote."
Sitting time and mortality0 -
CipherZero wrote: »"Can't do more" is a matter of prioritization.
i love it when people say stuff like this . . . not
i'm lucky. i ride to work and so far i've been able to find something that makes that possible, every time. and that isn't really just a matter of 'prioritization'. it's luck that i've had options that lined up with priorities. but if i were working 8.5 hours a day, driving or bussing it for two to get to and from that job, and then trying to get that mandatory 8 hours of sleep every day too . . . i would be clinically depressed within two months if yet another hour was spoken for by yet another mandatory 'must' out of the 5 and a half hours left for myself in a day. there is just no. zarking. way i'd maintain it; i'd crack. so yeah; i'd be prioritizing mental health over the physical kind, probably.
i get that a lot of people don't get that. but to me every time someone comes up with yet another prescription and yet another mark that you have to hit in the modern world in order to make yourself 'viable', and then talks glibly about 'priorities' i want to smack them. it's just like that 'tax free day' thing, where the point where you're finally getting to keep all the money you earn keeps moving deeper and deeper with every year.
this kind of thing is the same, to me. the point where you have any actual free time, yours to spend any actual way that you want, just moves later and later into the day all the time.
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stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »I'd tackle the issue of a job where you take 2 hours of travel each way while working 10 hours. That can't be healthy psychologically.
Some of us work FT jobs with less commute (and average more like 9-9.5 hrs. / day) and are also full time grad students. Or work more than 1 job.
In that case I'd tell you I'm envious of your schedule because when I was a student my classes were all over the place and could start anywhere from 8 am to 6 pm, impossible to have a full time job with that.
Not impossible. Just complicated. I managed a group home fulltime + OT for a year and carried a full load of classes. My job was at night and my classes during the day.0 -
I had it all working nicely as I worked from home. I used to work out at lunchtime in the gym
Now am commuting everyday working in an office. I am so tired when I get home.
My fitbit is so under worked right now.
I am week 4 now so hoping I just get used to it and get my myself together.
when I do start up again it will only be 30 mins max but I will be making sure am working hard1 -
canadianlbs wrote: »CipherZero wrote: »"Can't do more" is a matter of prioritization.
i love it when people say stuff like this . . . not
i'm lucky. i ride to work and so far i've been able to find something that makes that possible, every time. and that isn't really just a matter of 'prioritization'. it's luck that i've had options that lined up with priorities. but if i were working 8.5 hours a day, driving or bussing it for two to get to and from that job, and then trying to get that mandatory 8 hours of sleep every day too . . . i would be clinically depressed within two months if yet another hour was spoken for by yet another mandatory 'must' out of the 5 and a half hours left for myself in a day. there is just no. zarking. way i'd maintain it; i'd crack. so yeah; i'd be prioritizing mental health over the physical kind, probably.
i get that a lot of people don't get that. but to me every time someone comes up with yet another prescription and yet another mark that you have to hit in the modern world in order to make yourself 'viable', and then talks glibly about 'priorities' i want to smack them. it's just like that 'tax free day' thing, where the point where you're finally getting to keep all the money you earn keeps moving deeper and deeper with every year.
this kind of thing is the same, to me. the point where you have any actual free time, yours to spend any actual way that you want, just moves later and later into the day all the time.
Take a careful look at how much time you spend watching TV, social media, etc and say you don't have time to move.0 -
Big5BigChange wrote: »There has been a lot of interest in this in recent years. However, many studies say that no amount of additional exercise can offset the damaging impact of sitting for extended periods because this isn't a matter of just trying to outrun sedentary habits. There is obviously a calories in vs. calories out argument to sitting too much, but there is also an argument that sitting for prolonged periods is bad for you in other ways. It's a bit like saying somebody in solitary confinement for a year, will be totally OK after a 2-day chat with a friend. The idea is (and I am no scientist, so am not arguing for or against) is that sitting down for long periods of times is damaging IN ITSELF and has poor impact on the way the body metabolises energy as well as forces the body to unnaturally hold unnatural positions. It's like subjecting yourself to stress positions as done in torture and interrogations, wreaking havoc on muscles! In this respect, many offices are now encouraging standing desks (where you can heighten your desk and stand at it for the majority of the day rather than sit). Other options are to stand up every time you're taking a telephone call (it makes you sound more assertive too BTW) or maybe everytime you need to read something in hard copy. Depending on your job - try to find habitual things that are easy to do while standing and then become ONLY things you do standing. Point is that being less sedentary is one thing and can be offset by more exercise later. However, regardless of the amount of exercise you do later, it doesn't offset the OTHER damaging effects of sitting for long periods without a break.
On that note - I am going to get up from my desk and make myself a cup of tea. A brief "stretch of my legs" will do me the world of good!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/sitting-too-long-death_n_884152.html
PS and by the way - just because people sit for long periods of time - doesn't mean they are "lazy". I used to work 14-15 hour days in a high pressure job where I was literally GLUED to my computer screen for the entire day and barely even stopped for lunch, if at all. Ironically I was at my skinniest then, as I didn't eat and was so stressed, the weight fell off. I wasn't healthy though!!
WOW, what type of field was this job in?!0 -
melaniedscott wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »I'd tackle the issue of a job where you take 2 hours of travel each way while working 10 hours. That can't be healthy psychologically.
Some of us work FT jobs with less commute (and average more like 9-9.5 hrs. / day) and are also full time grad students. Or work more than 1 job.
In that case I'd tell you I'm envious of your schedule because when I was a student my classes were all over the place and could start anywhere from 8 am to 6 pm, impossible to have a full time job with that.
Not impossible. Just complicated. I managed a group home fulltime + OT for a year and carried a full load of classes. My job was at night and my classes during the day.
I'm no longer a grad student (finished my last class 10/16/16 - yay!), but it was all online. So the working hours had some flexibility. There were deadlines to do all of the assignments, view videos of lectures (if any), read textbooks, articles, etc. and to write our various assignments and such. But it could be done any hour of the day as long as it was done by the deadline. Of course, there are so many hours in the day. If I was just a student, no problem. Since I also worked, and there was only so much time, I actually took vacation on some days when I knew a big assignment was coming due soon. For my final research paper, I took several days off from work. I really started my weight loss journey on 1/1/14 and started my degree program in the same month. I did exercise on occasion while working on the degree, but not every single day or even every week.
Now that I've graduated, I've worked on putting together a daily exercise plan and started yesterday. I put a lot of thought into the the plan I put together and it is designed to be safe and effective for my long-term goals. In the 2 weeks while putting that together, I did some hiking and running outside of the plan. So no, I didn't really have the time to exercise consistently. And now that I have the time, I am exercising consistently.1 -
Reading this at the office just made me look at the clock, realize I haven't been on my feet in almost 2 hours, and now I'm typing this while standing up, shifting in place
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DetroitDarin wrote: »Everyone is born with knowledge and folks need to make better choices based on instinct.
Most people who base their eating patter on "instincts" are on here because they are now overweight.6 -
trigden1991 wrote: »DetroitDarin wrote: »Everyone is born with knowledge and folks need to make better choices based on instinct.
Most people who base their eating patter on "instincts" are on here because they are now overweight.
But i bet in the back of their mind and tummy they know they shouldn't be eating that extra donut or polishing off the family size bag of chips every night They just choose to ignore that instinct/thought/feeling. 0 -
This is actually really good news. I remember the initial report was basically that working out wouldn't help you at all, you would have to actually get up every few hours. I can extend my workout before I can remember to get up at work, sadly.1
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Packerjohn wrote: »Take a careful look at how much time you spend watching TV, social media, etc and say you don't have time to move.
not precisely my point.
or maybe it is, precisely, my point. tv and social media aren't my own personal thing; i'm not into either of them. but maybe what gets to me about this kind of prescriptiveness can be expressed by using the 'macro' model.
food's easy. there's 30 grammes of protein in a measured portion of foodstuff x. everyone gets that 30 grammes from that food, unless they're medically anomalous. that makes it easy to preach and prescribe for the whole world about food.
but psychological and mental macros do count. and those are not standard at all. so for some people, when you're being lofty about prioritization, i feel you're oblivious to the fact that yes, some people do prioritize personally essential macros over exercise time . . . and a lot of the time their priority stacking is more right for them that you might think.
i get *kitten*-all from tv and social media, personally in fact they leach something out of my mind - but maybe for someone else that isn't true. my own essential nutrient that i can't get without being parked on my butt is reading, but i don't swan around dictating everyone else in the world has to read two or three works of real literature every week - not just crap, the real stuff - or else their priorities are faintly contemptible. 2 -
canadianlbs wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Take a careful look at how much time you spend watching TV, social media, etc and say you don't have time to move.
not precisely my point.
or maybe it is, precisely, my point. tv and social media aren't my own personal thing; i'm not into either of them. but maybe what gets to me about this kind of prescriptiveness can be expressed by using the 'macro' model.
food's easy. there's 30 grammes of protein in a measured portion of foodstuff x. everyone gets that 30 grammes from that food, unless they're medically anomalous. that makes it easy to preach and prescribe for the whole world about food.
but psychological and mental macros do count. and those are not standard at all. so for some people, when you're being lofty about prioritization, i feel you're oblivious to the fact that yes, some people do prioritize personally essential macros over exercise time . . . and a lot of the time their priority stacking is more right for them that you might think.
i get *kitten*-all from tv and social media, personally in fact they leach something out of my mind - but maybe for someone else that isn't true. my own essential nutrient that i can't get without being parked on my butt is reading, but i don't swan around dictating everyone else in the world has to read two or three works of real literature every week - not just crap, the real stuff - or else their priorities are faintly contemptible.
Well if someone's "personal macros" involve sitting on their *kitten* (TV, reading or whatever) guess it's up to them. Research is showing though that if people don't get some movement their physical quality and length of live will be reduced.
My point is "I don't have time to exercise", for the vast majority saying it is really translated as "I don't prioritize it".1
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