Sign in Subscribe
health

Move your body!

Gabor Javorszky

• 2 min read
Move your body!

If you're someone who spends a lot of time at the computer, you might develop a bunch of physical ailments particularly around your muscles, and joints. In addition to that, I've started to take up the shape of the chair I'm sitting in (read: getting fat).

So I’ve implemented the following regime:

  • every 15 minutes I take 15 seconds of break to stand up, look in the distance, walk around, do a few neck turns, touch my toes, that sort of thing
  • every hour I take 10 minutes to do a more proper stretch / exercise
  • every 2 hours I have 30 minutes of standing desk time

I use an app called Time Out – Break Reminders and bought the 3-month supporter package, as it gets progressively more expensive the longer you want to pay for it.

Exercise break

In the exercise break I go through this set of hand stretches:

Then I use a wide spikey foam roller on my back to release my back muscles a bit.

Then 10 push ups.

Then 10 sit-ups.

This usually takes up my 10 minutes of break time.

Standing desk time

I got myself an Autonomous sit-stand desk, the business version. I got one with a maple top, but if you want to save some money, get a desk top from IKEA, like a 200x60cm LINNMON, and buy a DIY Autonomous kit. The screws in the kit are sharp enough that you can just create the holes in the desk top by simply screwing it in.

Difference between the home and the business version of the desk:

  • business version has higher range of height
  • business version has more load capacity (can lift heavier stuff)
  • business version travels faster between heights
  • business version gets to you faster

I also have an ErgoChair2, which I'm not using when standing. I have an inflatable cushion to stand on which also forces me to balance a bit so my leg muscles ar constantly in motion.

Other gear

Got a roost to get my laptop to be at eye level.

Got an AOC 27" full hd monitor (bracing for the "y not 4k?" questions).

And a monitor arm so I can easily adjust monitor tilt, horizontal position, and orientation. Reading code on a portrait 16:9 monitor is awesome!

And a Logitech MX Master 2S.

And an Apple Magic Keyboard (the smaller one).

Thanks :)

This all started with a tweet:

Thank you all for getting back to me, shout out to everyone in that thread! I appreciate it!

Photo by Autumn Goodman on Unsplash

Sign up for more like this.

Enter your email
Subscribe