Right on the heels of reporting in to you about my new standing work station at my home studio, along comes Julianne with an inspirational story of her own.
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My Transition to a Standing Workstation

How Julianne made a standing work station and sneaks fitness in with Fit Quickies
by guest blogger Julianne Rowland

I am a translator by profession and for years spent long hours sitting at my desk. By the end of the day, I would always feel totally lethargic and drained,  and my legs and “toosh” would feel like mush. But I just figured that sitting was one of those unavoidable “occupational hazards”, so for a long time, I just resigned myself to feeling yucky after a day’s work.

Then, about 18 months ago, there was talk among some of my fellow translators of the “treadmill desk,” a tall desk that fits over a standard treadmill, allowing people to walk at a very slow pace while working on their computers or talking on the phone. I was intrigued by the whole idea of not having to sit while working and looked into the treadmill desk.

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Julianne’s standing workstation innovation

At the time, I had two reservations about investing in the desk (and the treadmill).  First, it meant a relatively significant outlay of cash, and I wanted to make sure it would really work for me before taking the leap.  And second, I do an enormous amount of keyboarding and was not sure that I would be able to keep my level of output up while walking, even slowly. So I put the treadmill desk idea on ice.

I was still extremely unsatisfied with my work arrangement, however, and was determined to find at least a temporary fix that would give me relief while allowing me to continue “earning my bread and butter.” So I talked to my husband and gave him an ultimatum: either I had to find a way to stand up while working or I was going to cut back on my hours accordingly.

As you can imagine, that elicited quite a reaction from him – and he immediately agreed to help me rig something up, despite his skepticism and belief that standing up would only limit my productivity, not enhance it. After a quick trip down to the basement, he emerged with an old coffee table and an end table, which he set up on top of my existing desk. I have to mention that my work space is quite elaborate, with two computers and four large monitors, so I needed to have two tables on top of my desk in order to accommodate it all.

So that was my arrangement. The tables were a little bit too tall, so I scrounged up one of my kids’ old step stools to give me a little bit more height, and added a tall stool with a yoga block on top for the occasional “booty rest” on extremely long workdays.

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Julianne llikes to sneak fitness in with Fit Quickies – right at her workstation

I have been working this way since around December 2011, and I would never go back to a conventional setup. I must add that working from home has given me the freedom to arrange my workstation in the way that best supports my well-being, but I understand that employers these days are increasingly willing to provide alternative workstation arrangements to employees, with the goal of improving their health and the company’s bottom line along with it.

I now typically stand at least 45 minutes of every hour, punctuated by brief intervals of sitting on my stool. In addition,  several times a week, I wear a weighted vest while standing at my computer, which gives my abs, legs, and postural muscles a fantastic workout. And even though I stand to work now, I am much more mindful of taking breaks to run downstairs and make myself a cup of herbal tea or get a drink of water, so I also get a stair workout in during the day. And since I am already standing, it’s that much easier to sneak in a little Fit Quickie break or two throughout the day, my favorites being Fit Quickie #10,  “Legs into Play” with my feet balancing on the edge of my stool for an added challenge, and Fit Quickie #9, “Higher Assets.” And of course, Fit Quickie #1, “7 Seconds to a Flat Belly!”

I can’t stress enough how great this arrangement has been for me, as it has greatly improved my level of fitness and my productivity at work. I now actually enjoy reporting for work, knowing that I won’t be subjecting myself to the drudgery of sitting for long hours and feeling terrible afterward. And when I heard recently from Lani about the latest research on the dangers of sitting for long periods, I knew I had been right to trust my instinct and listen to my body!

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