I find it interesting how topics of conversation at the gym seem to come in waves.
Last week numerous people told me that they had recently had a couple of days heavy with meetings. In some cases, walking from one conference room to another was their only form of movement for most of the day. In other cases, even less movement occurred: they basically sat at their desks and “moved” from one Zoom meeting to another for 4-6 hours straight.
Particularly for future occurrences of the latter cases, I suggested at least standing up between (or during) meetings and perhaps doing a set of ten (or twenty) body weight squats. Then I joked that body-weight-squats-between-or-during-work-meetings would probably be all the rage in a couple of years and that everyone should remember that it was my idea.
It has since occurred to me that this should actually be a current trend and that I could prompt its beginning.
Why should it be a current trend? Well, because it could have a profound impact on your health and that of society at-large.
At first blush, that might seem like a tall claim. But it really isn’t.
First, it’s no secret that, on average, we’re not very healthy. So anything that improves our health, if even a tiny amount, would be a good thing. And even if you’re relatively healthy already, doing something to actively involve others is often more effective than simply setting an example.
Second, some recent studies found that implementing brief periods of activity throughout the day positively affects blood pressure and insulin sensitivity even more than completing a longer training session only once during the day. While walks as brief as three minutes were shown to be effective, performing 10-20 body weight squats (which takes about 30 seconds and disproportionately targets the quads and glutes) was even more effective.
Of course, it’s not always the easiest thing to convince others (and sometimes ourselves) to be more active. Which is why I came up with a cool name for this trend that I’m asking you to help create…
Invincibility Squats
That’s right… Invincibility Squats!
They’re kind of like the exercise form of Bulletproof Coffee (e.g. butter, MCT oil, coffee) in that they’ll make you feel more energized, even if they won’t technically make you invincible or bulletproof.
The guidelines are simple:
- Any time you have a meeting, do 20 seconds of body weight squats beforehand.
- Optimally, do them as an icebreaker for the meeting. (i.e. Invite everyone to participate. Twenty seconds instead of a specified number of reps means that everyone can move at a pace conducive to their current fitness level without feeling singled out. If anyone is unable to do squats for whatever reason, suggest any other form of movement that is doable. Squats are arguably best, but let’s not miss out on progress for the sake of “perfection”.)
- If necessary, do them on your own.
With only twenty seconds of effort, a cool name, and (maybe surprisingly) mental- and physical-energizing benefits, Invincibility Squats are sure to be the next workplace trend you didn’t know you were missing!
Putting it into practice
OK, so I’m obviously being a little silly here. But I’m also being serious… about the benefits of doing a few squats (or kettlebell swings or push-ups or a brief walk or whatever) throughout the day and about starting a workplace trend.
If you still think I’m crazy, (a) you’re probably right and (b) let me close with a personal story to hopefully sway you to participate in this new trend… 😉
At my last I.T. job before starting the gym, I swapped my office chair for an anti-burst stability ball. You know, one of these things:
I did it for two reasons: First, to force me to sit up straight instead of slouching like I had a tendency to do. Second, because occasionally bouncing on it was fun and counted as a little bit of exercise if I had to be sitting most of the day.
At first, I got a bunch of questions about it and more than a few “that’s weird” comments. But I didn’t really care because I was doing it for my own benefit.
Then a curious thing happened. After a couple of months of people walking past my cube and seeing me happily bouncing away on my stability-ball-office-chair while writing computer code, a couple of other people swapped out their chairs for stability balls too.
While I can’t say that it started a trend that swept through the entire office, a solid handful of people eventually followed my lead and were happier (I can only assume) and stronger and more stable (I’m sure of it) for having done so.
In any case, what started off as something a bit weird eventually became a semi-normal sight in that area of the office. And all it took was one person to begin the trend.
I wonder what ripple effects might occur if even a few of us started squatting before all of our meetings simply because doing so made us feel better…