Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Standing desk and MOBs for time on your feet

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    • 03/28/2015 at 2:00 pm #71312
      AvatarCole Atkins
      Participant

      Any other desk jockets in MWOD world using a standing desk? After reading both of Kelly’s books (and seeing the cover photo for his upcoming release) I made the switch to a standing desk to minimize my daily time sitting. Overall I love it, both for mobility reasons and for productivity. But a month or so into the change, I’m realizing that by the end of the day my feet and legs are tired! I’m wondering if any other standing desk users have suggestions for MOBs to do throughout the day or at the end of the work day that help compensate for being on your feet for hours on end.

      Thanks!

    • 04/06/2015 at 10:37 pm #75904
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Definitely something you will need to build time into doing the whole day.
      Taking breaks walking around could help. Small breaks through out the day.
      How is your standing position?
      Torque and trunk stablity

    • 04/09/2015 at 10:29 am #75920
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      some further thoughts – definitely watch that video that Kaitlin suggests:

      standing takes practice and you should even think of it as an all day workout.
      as Kaitlin suggests, you could be standing wrong or poorly (just like if you were squatting for years every time in the gym, and then some coach walks over to you and says, uh dude you are squatting totally wrong). i find that video, selfies, and mirrors help a lot in fixing this.
      one of the biggest problems to solve is to learn how to be stacked on your bones, from heels up to the head. it takes a lot of practice to figure that out especially if you have bad posture and have become accustomed to a poor position.  generally i like rocking back and forth until i perceive the least amount of muscle tension anywhere in my body to hold that position. however, that is not enough because you could be hanging on your bones, so watch MWOD videos to help you figure out some of that.
      one problem could be is that you are actually pushing your hips forward as you fatigue. this does help your torso – well poorly – because you start hanging on your bones. but it also creates uneven tension in the legs and feet because your hips are leaning forward and you are using muscle strength in your legs to hold you up. thus it is better to pull the hips back and get them under your spine, and feel the leg bones line up all the way to your heels. 
      i like to run my hand down my lower torso and pelvis. it should feel very flat, almost concave if correct. then i lean back on my heels until i almost feel like i will fall over. then i lean fwd just a tiny bit to take the weight off my heels and move it just a little bit forward where Kstarr has talked about where balance should be. but not too much forward – you just need to be a tiny bit forward from totally on your heels. then your bones should be lined up at least from your hips down to feet.
      this should take pressure off the leg muscles and feet too in their attempt to hold you up in poor position…
      lastly dont forget the head and neck! work the t-spine to help stop any forward head on neck problems. practice remaining tall through the top of the head and keeping it balanced on the neck bones and spine.
      and take the monitor all the way up to slightly below eye level, and drop that keyboard down to where the elbows hang at about 90 deg.
      there is a cool setup a buddy of mine showed me that elevates the keyboard/monitor/mouse from sitting to standing. you may try to find one of those to vary your position during the day.
      good luck!
    • 04/10/2015 at 1:26 pm #75923
      AvatarCole Atkins
      Participant

      Thanks Kaitlin and David! This is good stuff. Appreciate the help!

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