What Nine Years of Strength Coaching Has Taught Me About Sitting
I used to sit a lot.
I had a desk job for years, and I am a writer. I can think about a play while walking, but I pretty much need to sit to write it. Yes, I can and have written plays at a standing desk. But mostly, I sit.
How often do you sit?
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
This is just between us. You can be honest.
Working on your computer.
Scrolling on your phone.
Talking on your phone.
Hobbies.
Meals.
TV.
Watching sports.
Movies.
Theatre.
Concerts.
Car rides.
Plane rides.
There are so many reasons to sit, and for most of those reasons, sitting works better than doing the same thing while walking around.
Talking on the phone is an exception.
And I am the one strolling up and down the aisle on the airplane.
Before we go any further, let's distinguish between people who are able to move and people who have limitations that require them to sit or make standing and walking difficult. This article is about what those of us who can interrupt our sitting.
Is Sitting the New Smoking?
You've probably heard the phrase "sitting is the new smoking."
I don't love the comparison.
Smoking is a behavior. Sitting isn't. Most of us need to sit sometimes, and sitting itself isn't inherently bad.
The concern is prolonged sedentary behavior—spending long stretches of the day sitting or reclining with very little energy expenditure.
Research has associated high levels of sedentary behavior with a number of health risks, including:
Cardiovascular disease
Type 2 diabetes
Metabolic syndrome
Weight gain and obesity
Blood clots
Some cancers
Depression and anxiety
Cognitive decline
Increased risk of premature death
One meta-analysis found a substantially higher relative risk of type 2 diabetes among people with high levels of sedentary behavior.
That's not because sitting in a chair is somehow toxic. When we're inactive for long periods, our muscles aren't doing much work, and that affects processes involved in blood sugar and fat metabolism.
There is also a separate musculoskeletal issue.
Sitting in one position for a long time can contribute to stiffness and discomfort. If you're already dealing with back pain, arthritis, or other joint issues, hours without changing position may not feel very good.
But sitting with beautiful posture doesn't cancel out the effects of being sedentary.
These are two different things.
How Much You Sit Matters
The risks of sedentary behavior depend on more than whether you sit.
They include:
How many hours you spend sedentary.
How long you stay sedentary without getting up and moving.
How physically active you are during the rest of your day.
This third point is important.
Regular exercise can mitigate some of the risks associated with sedentary behavior. So yes, your walks, cardio, yoga, Pilates, strength training, and other physical activity absolutely matter.
But doing a workout doesn't necessarily mean that what you do during the rest of your waking hours is irrelevant.
That's where things got interesting for me.
Every 30 Minutes? Seriously?
I was thunderstruck by research from Columbia University looking at different combinations of sitting and movement.
The researchers tested brief walking breaks at different intervals and found that five minutes of walking every 30 minutes produced particularly meaningful improvements in blood sugar and blood pressure.
Every 30 minutes?
I am a playwright.
It feels virtually impossible for me to get up every 30 minutes when I'm writing a play. When I'm deep into a scene, the last thing I want to do is interrupt it because a timer tells me I've been sitting too long.
I don't even want to get up while writing this article.
I just stood up and did 10 Frankensteins.
Get that in your head.
You don't have to go to the gym every 30 minutes.
You just have to move.
Strategies to Break Up Your Sitting
Awareness is a pretty good place to start.
If you know you sit for hours at a time, you can make choices that add movement back into your day.
Set a timer. Experiment with a reminder every 30 minutes. Stand up. Walk across the room. Get some water. Go to the bathroom. Stretch. Do a few squats. Then go back to whatever you were doing.
Pair movement with something you already do. Stand or walk when you're talking on the phone. Get up during television commercials or between episodes. Walk around while you're thinking through a problem.
Try a standing desk. You don't have to stand all day. Alternating between sitting and standing gives you another option. A treadmill or biking desk may work for some people too.
Pay attention to how you sit. This isn't going to solve the metabolic problem of prolonged sitting, but it may help you feel better while you're there.
Try sitting tall on your sit bones. Allow your core to support your torso. Lift through your chest without thrusting your ribs forward. Let your shoulders settle down and back. Lengthen across your collarbones and through the back of your neck so your head floats above your shoulders.
And then change position.
There is no prize for holding "perfect posture" all day.
Build more movement into your day. Walk when you can. Take the stairs when that makes sense for you. Schedule a walking conversation instead of another seated meeting.
Use exercise snacks. This may be my favorite strategy. (My Skool community has a handy exercise snack guide.)
One of your movement breaks can become a tiny workout.
Ten squats.
Ten wall push-ups.
A minute of marching.
A few balance exercises.
Ten Frankensteins.
It doesn't need to exhaust you. You're simply reminding your body that it was designed to do more than sit.
And Yes, Exercise Still Matters
Breaking up sedentary time doesn't replace exercise.
We still need aerobic activity. We still need resistance training. We still need to challenge our muscles, bones, heart, lungs, balance, and coordination.
Aim for regular cardiovascular activity appropriate for you, and resistance training that works your major muscle groups at least twice a week.
If you're currently less active, start smaller.
Light-intensity physical activity counts.
Stand. Sit. Do it again.
Walk around your home.
Do some gentle mobility.
Carry something.
Put something away.
The goal isn't to turn every moment of your day into exercise.
It's to stop treating exercise and sitting as the only two choices.
Sitting Isn't the Problem
I am not going to stop sitting.
I'm a writer. I write plays. I coach people on Zoom. I eat meals. I watch television. I go to the theatre.
Sitting is part of my life, and probably yours.
What nine years of strength coaching has taught me is that the problem isn't sitting.
The problem is staying still for too long.
Our bodies respond to what we ask of them.
Sit for hours without moving, and your body gets very good at sitting.
Ask it regularly to stand, walk, reach, bend, squat, lift, push, pull, and carry, and it adapts to those demands too.
That doesn't mean every break from your chair needs to become a workout.
I don't want to spend my life worrying about how much I sit.
I want to make sure sitting doesn't become the thing my body does best.
Strength creates choices.
So does movement.
Now excuse me. I've been sitting too long.
The truth I'm training for is that sitting is part of life. Staying still is a choice.