Standing desks and running

5 watchers

Surrey Phil Oct 2018 10:22pm, 23 Oct 2018 2,638 posts	0 Surrey Phil As my commute includes a round trip of a two mile walk plus standing on public transport (I may sit on the final bus journey of the day), I am more than happy to sit at work. Even in the office, I am not sitting for any great length of time. For me, a standing desk would mean being on my feet for about ten hours. I don't think I would be able to put in a decent running performance on the back of that sort of working practice. A physio's take on the idea might be interesting.
Lizzie W Oct 2018 11:13pm, 23 Oct 2018 18,589 posts	0 Lizzie W It would take a while to transition/adapt. I'm sure humans weren't designed to sit around most of the time. Mr W is a teacher, during the school day he only sits down to eat lunch, then a bit of desk work after school. If anything it has a beneficial effect on his fitness!
HappyG(rrr) Oct 2018 11:28am, 24 Oct 2018 29,423 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) But I don't think humans, like most primates, were designed to stand around all day either. Sitting eating, grooming, snoozing etc. are normal behaviour for monkeys and apes, non? So, varicose veins from standing all day? Hmmm, are they dangerous or just look a bit funny? Do they itch? G
J2R Oct 2018 11:44am, 24 Oct 2018 1,471 posts	0 J2R Fortunately I don't need to choose between sitting all day and standing all day. The way I have things set up, I can swap backwards and forwards at will. I have my laptop on my desk, which I can work at sitting in my office chair. But I have an external monitor connected, and a second keyboard and mouse on my standing desk, so I can stand up and work at that when necessary. I intend to do about 60%/40% sitting/standing for a while, and slowly changing to 40%/60% or so in due course.
early bird Feb 2019 8:55pm, 17 Feb 2019 12,416 posts	0 early bird Just saw this thread at the bottom of the page of another thread. I'm currently studying at university to become a nurse associate. We spend two full weeks at the beginning of each semester in university then every two weeks afterwards we go in for two days. I find the days I'm in uni I have plenty of 'leg energy' and I look forward to exercising. My current work based placement allows for frequent and intermittent 'sitting time' I usually feel able to exercise even after a 12 1/2 hour shift. I also do some extra shifts for extra money in the place I used to work before my training. It's a very demanding and extremely busy department with virtually no chance to sit and even if there was there is nowhere to sit. I only do 9 - 9 1/2 hours on these shifts and I can guarantee that by the end of the day the last thing I want to do is exercise. It's a real struggle my feet are pounding, legs aching and my knees actually feel swollen. I don't know how I managed to keep exercising while I worked there doing 48+ hours a week (extra hours on top of 37 1/2 again for extra money) So..... I totally get the tired dead legs thing but also think it might be something you can adjust to. Personally I wouldn't be doing the whole day standing though as from my experience I can definitely see how it impacted myself.
ITG 🇮🇸 Nov 2020 1:31pm, 1 Nov 2020 10,924 posts	0 ITG 🇮🇸 J2R, I recommend sticking with it, especially if you already have back trouble. I had a slipped disc in the lower back and it was agony to sit for more than 15 min. It is more tiring to stand, but I just took that as an excuse to eat more cake as I must be burning more calories. I think interchanging sitting/standing at intervals is a good solution.