v-Fluence Blog

A Way to Exercise and Work?

There are a great many advantages to v-Fluence's flexible work environment, as you can read about at length on this blog. However, there are challenges as well.

I'm reminded of the pros and cons of our work setting in this season of New Year's resolutions, where several people have probably already attempted and abandoned the requisite "this year, I'm going to lose weight/get healthy/eat better/exercise more/ etc, etc."

So there's Secretary Spread (when your backside takes the shape and width of your office chair) and being a Mouse Potato (think couch potato but replace the TV with your computer), not to mention carpal tunnel and other repetitive motion afflictions.

All of these physical issues apply in traditional work settings, but they can be especially difficult to combat when you do most or all of your work online and physically solo from a home office, as we do at v-Fluence. Our computers become not just our closest companions but extensions of our bodies and lives. Add on looming deadlines, bosses three time zones away, and other factors that can lead to workdays of 10 - 22 hours (that was a bad couple of weeks for me), it's hard to find time to go to the gym or to make a healthy meal.

When there is work to be done, that takes first priority, not my ever-widening derriere.

Routines are difficult as work can be unpredictable. Despite our work setting, we still have clients expecting deliverables and deadlines to meet. No time for the grocery store or more than five spare minutes for lunch means that Ramen soup may be on the menu instead of a carefully planned and healthy meal. Even though we have a flexible schedule (a huge perk that means we work during traditional office hours, and sometimes before and after, but can also take time to attend to personal matters) and the gym is far less crowded midday, it is hard to break away. There is no official lunch time and no one to say "hey, want to take a walk at lunch?" or "let's try that salad bar."

Even the lack of a commute-one of the greatest parts of this job-is a bit of a drawback when it comes to calorie-burning. There is no walk to and from the subway or the garage every day.

I've found that the struggle to stay fit and healthy in our flexible work environment is an extension of the work/life balance quandary. Just as I have to say "okay, it's time to call it a day and have dinner with my husband", I also have to say "okay, this work can wait until after a half-hour walk around the park." Easier said than done, but true nonetheless. No matter the cons, the pros still outweigh them. So long as I make time for it, the flexible schedule means I can go to the gym or take a walk during daylight. I can also make my own lunch and breakfast rather than eating prepackaged or fast food meals while at work.

Still, the greatest challenge is finding or making time for fitness during the workday. If only there were a way to join my work and my workout.

Luckily, US News and World Report has shown me a way: a treadmill/laptop combo. The article highlights a trend of walking while you work and quotes James Levine, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, and Joe Stirt, an anesthesiologist in Charlottesville, VA, who has documented his three-year working and walking journey, among other things, on his blog, Book Of Joe. The article also links to Walking While Working blog for tips-like going slow so you can actually type on your computer.

Dr. Levine says you don't need the $4000 workstation from Steelcase to join this workout-while-you-work bandwagon. Instead, build your own with a $300 treadmill from Sears. Upper body ergonomics still apply, just as they do when you are sitting at a desk, namely screen height and arm position. Levine suggests that a key difference between those who struggle with weight issues and those who don't is the level of non-purposeful exercise they get during the day. Non-purposeful exercise is still calorie-burning, but it is not intentional exercise like running or biking.

This is starting to sound like something that may be a solution for me. I think I'll hit up Craig's List for a secondhand treadmill and Home Depot for some two-by-fours this weekend.

Obviously, the new active work system would take some getting used to, but how cool is that?

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