All of my work (and studying) is done sitting or laying down by the computer. Aside from grocery shopping and the like, I don’t regularly move much at all, unless I’m lifting, of course. (I try to complete two cardio sessions per week as well. I don’t always comply with this part of my training. And even when I do, it amounts to very little time actually moving around each week). I frequently sit for a couple of hours straight, neither leaving the room nor chair.
So my question is: would it be at all useful1 to ingrain in myself the habit of grinding out e.g. 10 quick bodyweight squats, or pushups, each time I stand up to get a drink or something? I mean, even on the most sedentary day, one would as a metabolic being have to stand up from the chair a handful of times. Movement is supposed to be good for you… The recommended weekly doses of resistance and endurance training are referenced in Your articles, and I have it all written down somewhere. But the reason why I didn’t look it up is that I’m not sure if those refer to the minimum recommended doses in the case that one just lies motionless on a bed for every other moment of that week; or if they are accurate only when one also does their 10k steps a day or something similar, only when one has “an active lifestyle”.
1 By ‘useful’ I suppose I mean ‘health-promoting’ (and if it’d be useful in any other sense of the term, then please let me know).
I think it would be more useful to work towards meeting or exceeding the conditioning recommendations each week, which are recommended in addition to individual’s normal non-exercise activity. 10k steps per day would be a reasonable goal, as most people take ~5000 to 6000 steps per day during non exercise activity and so, an additional 4000 to 5000 steps per day would represent an extra 40 to 50 minutes of exercise per day.
Sorry, but to be clear: did You mean that those recommendations (e.g.the “The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans”) are meant precisely for individuals who already take ~5-6000 steps a day outside of exercise, while 10k steps would be a reasonable minimum when accounting for every step taken during the day?
The thing is that, as I said, my days are generally very sedentary. I don’t think that my non-exercise steps amount to the average 5-6k per day (a wild estimate would be 2000 on a busy day). So I’d have to make an active effort to start walking ~80 minutes every day, “for its own sake” as it were. And tbh, I’m concerned about my own compliance.
The thing about the spontaneous squats, pushups, and pullups, is that they wouldn’t feel like active exercise. Even on the most inactive days, I’ll obviously leave my desk a couple of dozen of times most likely, and doing 10 quick squats each time I do won’t feel like work. It’d be better, of course, to just take the 10k steps. But, I’m wondering, would e.g. 150 bw squats per day even be worth the non-effort? I have no idea how many calories it burns or what adaptations it would drive if any.
And not to turn this into a question about bs “mobility work”, but it (probably irrationally) feels like it’s good to move around / through some common patterns a little bit, in addition to actual workouts, when one spends more time sitting down than Manuel Uribe…
In an attempt to be clear, the guidelines are meant for EVERYONE, including you.
10k steps would be a reasonable goal if ~2500 to 5000 were taken during exercise.
I don’t think the spontaneous squats, pushups, and pullups would be a good replacement for the conditioning work you’re not currently doing. Further, they would likely produce fatigue you’re not accounting for- especially at the volumes you’re describing. You’re free to do what you want, but I stand by my recommendations.
It was the sense of not having to make a conscious effort to do the work – the ‘spontaneity’ – that was alluring to me. But I’ll just have to do some actual, and regular, conditioning.