Have you heard the expression it’s impossible to out-train a bad diet? Well, the same rule applies to sitting, meaning you cannot out-train prolonged hours of sitting. Have I just left you going, “huh?”. If so, let me explain. While many of us get to the gym regularly or are religious about getting at least 30-60 minutes of activity in everyday, have you ever stopped to think about the other 23 hours of the day? Especially those of us with office jobs or jobs that keep us seated for most of our working day, stop and think for a moment…how many hours a day do you think you spend sitting? I will wait while you mull this over…
Conclusion…it’s a lot! Let me break it out for you, the average day for most of us:
Commute to Work – Sitting while driving or taking public transportation. The average commute is 25 minutes.
Working Hours – Likely sitting for the majority of the day, let’s figure at least 6 1/2 hours spent sitting while working.
Lunch Break – Again, you likely sit while you eat, let’s say 30 minutes spent sitting while enjoying your lunch.
Commute Home – Spent sitting while you drive or take public transportation. At least 25 minutes spent sitting.
Dinner – Arrive home and sit down for dinner, let’s say for at least 30 minutes.
Relaxing After the Work Day – How do most of us kick back after work? We watch TV and relax – again sitting. Let’s say for at least 2 hours we relax on and off at home after work.
Add it up…Through out the day most of us are sitting for at least 10 hours a day. I would argue that this 10 hours is on the conservative side, meaning I would bet the majority of us are sitting far more than this without even realizing it.
Let’s break this down into daily percentages:
42% Time Spent Sitting (At least 10 hrs)
33% Time Spent Sleeping (8 hrs)
4% Working Out (1hr workout)
21% Daily Living Movement
Sitting/Stillness is Erasing Your Workout
What you do for 4% of your entire day cannot compete with how you are using the other 62% of your day. Even if you are getting your sweat session in daily, you are likely undoing many of the benefits of physical activity by spending the majority of your days motionless while sitting.
The Solution
Move more throughout the day! Definitely keep hitting the gym and getting your daily sweat sessions in, but it is a no brainer…move your body more throughout the day, every single day! As a species, we are genetically meant to move. Think back to our ancestors, they spent their day constantly moving, fighting for survival – hunting, gathering, fending off predators, etc. I totally get it, we don’t need to live the life our ancestors once did, but our bodies need that kind daily movement. Don’t allow your hard sweat session to be erased by sitting for the other 60sih% of your day, move it!