Friday, May 20, 2011

Standing Desks- other advantages

So I am on my third day with a standing desk. (Actually, it takes me about a minute to convert back so it is actually a standing/sitting dual desk (SSDD- NASA background- can’t resist). I do have a low level of fatigue and my run last night felt like I was dragging a car behind me. Of course, I have stood now about 12 hours in the last two days when I would have sat. There is no question that standing burns more calories or works my leg muscles more. Anyway, I have been thinking about the ancillary advantages to standing desks other than the health benefits. Here are my ideas on how offices may/should change in the future.



Sitting is awkward and not just for people. The design of a sitting desk wastes a lot of space. Convert to a standing desk and there is storage space available under the desk. Eliminate cube walls and most office chairs. Yes, sorry cube wall and office chair industry but you are useless. (Send your robot ninja assassins anytime.) And of course office chairs do have some use- so it should probably just be a smaller industry. That eliminates two hardware costs and frees up floor space.

The main problem is an adjustable desk height (a function now preformed by adjustable chairs). One easy solution for desks along walls is to use adjustable rail shelves. Actually there would be a difference between fixed (static) adjustable and dynamic adjustable, but it certainly is not a difficult design issue.



I was thinking about this overnight and just wanted to put this out there since most of the discussions about standing desks are about the health benefits. So in summary standing desks versus sitting desks:

-Remove cube walls – completely useless other than a place for me to push pin papers too

-remove most office chairs

-increase storage space since your legs are no under the desk



On day three and I am definitely feeling the effects of the extra standing. From what I understand it takes a few weeks to adjust and this is not something I am doing with the expectation of increasing my weight loss. Weight loss is more affected by high intensity cardio and resistance training and mostly by eating the right foods. Please let me know what you think.



I am the talk of the office since I am the only person standing all day. Someone just said I remind them of “Star Trek” where people in the background on the bridge are at the equivalent of standing desks. HahaHA! Excelsior!!

3 comments:

GTS said...

You always were a stand-up kinda guy 8-)

Jeff King said...

Building leg muscles is the fastest way to burn calories, and increase your metabolism… since they are the largest muscles in the body. I applauded your dedication, and think once you are capable you could do a few squats throughout the day.

I wish you the best of luck, and as long as you don’t quit trying you’ll never fail.

rocketsciencesense said...

Thanks for the encouragement gentlemen.

Jeff- that is actually a part of Tim Ferris "4 hour body" before cheat or large meals to jump the metabolism up. Thanks again and I will keep at it!