Stand Up and Work Challenge: Day 2
It’s Day 2 of your 28-day transition to a standing desk.
Today’s assignment
Stand for 24 minutes.
Still seems pretty easy, right? That’s a good thing.
When you’re trying to make a permanent change, your biggest hurdles are mental, not physical. Starting easy reduces those mental blocks and gives your body time to adapt to the new routine you’re creating.
How’d it go?
Leave a comment below when you finish your allotted standing time for the day.
Anything goes here. (Well, within reason.) Was it easier than you thought? Harder? Did you feel silly, or get mocked by your coworkers?
Not signed up for the challenge yet?
This challenge will help you make the transition to a standing desk, but only if you participate every day. If you’re ready to make the switch, drop your email address in the box below.
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I sense i’m going to have trouble at a later time due to time zones. I get these updates around lunch. That means I have about 4-5 hours to stand in. This is going to be a problem in the later days I suppose. I guess I could carry it over to the next day. And that is probably what I am going to do.
That’s a good solution, Chris. I am sending out email reminders in the morning (U.S. time, anyway), and I’m going to try to get them queued up a little early so that everyone gets them around 8-9 a.m. local time.
24 minutes is long enough for me to start to feel it a little bit in my feet and back. I ran this morning, so I’m already a little tired. Aching feet killed my last attempt at using my standing desk, so I’ll need to find a solution to this one. I plan to experiment with wearing shoes and maybe even standing on a mat. Right now I’m just wearing socks on a soft carpet.
…and you’re going to come into work on Saturdays so you can try and make the previous day challenge? 🙂 I think it would be better if I would get the email as early as possible…
Yeah, less than ideal. 🙂 I have the rest of this week’s emails set up to go out around 9 a.m. local time, so hopefully that’ll help!
Friday remainings will go to mondays and so on. I would have to finish the “28 day challenge” on day 29, but I guess when I reach that point most of the day will be spend standing anyways. If all mails were sent at the same time and I was to get my email at morning here in denmark it would be late night in east coast US, I guess people could “save” the email for the next morning, but I figured I was in the minority and had to come up with a solution. But if the newsletter software they use supports syncing to local time zones that would be the best solution.
24 minutes went pretty easily, I’m wearing more supportive athletic shoes today. I guess it helps that I’ve been biking to work, because I feel alert and motivated. It’s a lot easier to have a standing desk when you have your own office, it doesn’t feel so awkward for me.
24 wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I’m at a laptop so I’m definitely straining my neck and shoulders more than my feet and knees so I need to find a solution before the time gets too long.
My biggest issue was trying to figure out where to put my weight. I tended to lean from side to side, but I wanted to be able to just stand firm, heh.
We have a short bar table here, which works as a great impromptu standing desk 🙂 24 mins don’t seem that much at all and it’s nice to dance while listening to techno 😉
24 minutes went by faster than I thought it would. I still don’t have my monitor adjusted where I want it yet but it is getting closer.
Trying a different hacked stand up desk today. Still experimenting to find what I like best.
Found a counter in the office that is the right height, not to bad so far just difficult leaving behind my multi-monitor setup. Today I used my tablet as a second monitor.
24 minutes did seem to go fast. I’m liking this so far. I think it’s going to work out very well for me and help me lose a few pounds in the process.
Ordered a manually-operated (I think with a crank!) standing desk that’s slowly making it’s way through my company’s purchasing labyrinth. I’m getting ready for it with the 28-day challenge. Here’s a photo of my temporary standing desk hack. It involves three boxes: a moving box, a hatbox and a box from a desk lamp. Cardboard classy!
Might I recommend FocusAtWill.com for your timer. It is an ambient music service aimed at productivity and you can set the timer for however many minutes you’d like. You can even use it sitting down!
I’m using one of these. http://lifehacker.com/5919778/build-your-own-sturdy-good+looking-standing-desk-for-less-than-25 Fairly effective and worse case scenario I get a side table out of it.
Figured out a temporary setup today so I was able to get started with
this challenge. I can already feel that my feet will be the biggest
weak point. Does anyone have recommendations on a mat to stand on? Our
office floors are just thin carpet over concrete.
Here’s my standing desk hack — A couple reinforced 24″ banker’s boxes and an interior door from Lowe’s, cut to fit my desktop footprint. Sturdier than I expected it to be. And best of all, I can double-deck my clutter now! Total cost, about 50 bucks. http://instagram.com/p/bR6abcO3Jn/#
I did 24 minutes easy. i spent most of the time trying to get the “Sitting Is Killing You” poster to print properly so I can put it up on my wall. So I can’t say I’m getting a “productivity gain” out of the deal so far .
The email arrives at a pretty pointless time, before I’ve even left the house for the day. Standing was fine though.
24 minutes was a breeze 🙂
though I must find something better than a keyboard tray on stacked TP and a monitor on two boxes on a laptop stand that’s half against the corner wall…
24 minutes was okay for me. A good second day 🙂
Done the 24 minutes, today. I think I am going to write to Fitbit and ask them to consider somehow giving credit for standing vs. sitting. I need to get up to “speed” before it counts my steps, even though I am moving around quite a bit. I want to avoid the locked-knee syndrome some people encounter when standing; it’s still the right thing to do, I just wish I got “credit” for it.
Yeah, this really bugs me, too. On my treadmill desk, I have to get it up to almost 2 mph before it’ll register on my Fitbit. Took a while to adjust to that speed, but it’s no problem now. 🙂
I’ve started the 28-Day Standing Desk Challenge without an actual office…
I’m starting a PhD for the next three years and I’m keen not to be sitting at my computer desk all the time! I am having trouble with pain in my right knee when I sit for protracted periods of time so standing provides a less strenuous alternative.
My university computer suites are for the most part of the sitting variety. I have found a number of computers at standing height, and a good height at that.
However they’re in a public environment and I’m feeling a bit self conscious! But. I have stood for 30 minutes today no problem and they’re near good coffee!
Way to go, Richard. That takes guts. 🙂
Today went well. Sneakers aren’t allowed under our dress code, but I wore solid black New Balance shoes with slacks and no one noticed. During a period when I was working sitting down, a coworker came by and commented that I should be standing up. She should be minding her own business, she isn’t the exercise boss.
24 minutes was pretty easy. I have shoe inserts and a standing pad, which make it a lot easier to handle. A note on the shoe inserts: one pair had arch supports that actually hurt my feet, another pair made my toes too cramped, so I have had to experiment with different ones. It’s like Goldilocks.
I also need to find a solution to the challenge of the standing pad being where my chair is when I transition back to sitting. The chair doesn’t roll very well on it.
Shoe inserts usually hurt my arches, too. I stand in my socks on a SmartCells mat—that’s the most comfortable.
I looked at the SmartCells mat and they really look like the ticket. My current mat is an industrial marble-patterned mat that is pretty thin. I’m going to have to think about sizing, however, as I still use my chair when I alternate sitting and standing. I keep my shoes on for now, as I haven’t thought of moving in that direction in my office but I may come over to the Dark Side and start wearing loafers instead of lace-ups.
Thanks again for your site and challenge.
Day 2 done.
Very easy to go 24 minutes and didn’t want to stop when the alarm went off.
Having two monitors at an angle helps in weight shifting and movements
Today went smoothly! I was busy so the timer beeping to signal the end of my 24 minutes seemed to come too soon and I had to make myself sit down.! I noticed myself moving around instead of standing stock still… that has to be a plus as far as activity!
Day 2 completed. Loving it! Ready for day 3.
Pretty good – 24min flew for me.
I’m off work Thursday and Friday of this week…should I just resume what would be Thursday on Monday?
Day 2 is in the books! Not bad at all.
Done. Time goes really fast.
Went through without any issue, my hacky desk is only available at home while I wait for my actual desk.
pretty ouchy in the back today but I made it the 24 minutes, lots of shifting around though. I find myself wanting to stand on my “better” leg though. Looking of a foot rest that will work both sitting and standing.
Dealing with some back problems for the past few weeks, but was able to make it through 24 minutes without much struggle. I did a lot of shifting weight from foot to foot, but didn’t want to sit down yet!
I finished day 2! I am actually feeling ready to stand more. Hopefully this keeps up. 🙂
Day 2 went well. I brought in a mat today and that helps. I need to find something to use for a foot rest though. I get antsy standing on both feet for that amount of time.
It helps to do just the lower half of “Tree Pose” to keep my weight shifting while I enter data standing. Tried it in bare feet and it seemed better than using my flats.
I’ve been using a standing desk for awhile and just tuned in to see if there were some tips to pick up on. I shift quite a bit, one leg then the other every few minutes. My pedometer unfortunately doesn’t pick up my steps when I walk in place. Here’s a tip for some of you, get an exercise ball (the big ones) and occasionally rest one of your knees on it, then switch after a bit. I also use a foot rest and switch up my feet.
My eggtimer malfunctioned so it was probably a bit longer than 24 minutes, maybe half an hour. I’m standing in bare feet (I wear slip on shoes to work) on a mat and I have a small footrest that tips back and forth ($14 from Amazon). I find myself shifting and moving my foot on the footrest quite a bit. I assume that’s a good thing.
OK, I did what I wasn’t’ suppose to do and jump right in. I was switching every 30 minutes. This was not a smart move and now I am starting over again. My wonderful boss approved the expense for me to get a desk converter and it is awesome! Yesterday I did the 12 minute which was no problem at all. Looking forward to doing the 24 minute today.
It gets easier the 24 mins today was a breeze
Day 2 went by smoothly! Had to leave my desk to answer a few questions, but I remained standing. Can’t wait for Day 3! loving this progression 🙂
I was sick yesterday and just not up to it, but I just stood for an hour! A coworker loaned me his gel mat while I get used to standing – our carpet is paper thin, with cement underneath. Not great for bare/sock feet.
It went great today. My feet got a little sore though.
Day two was fine. Using a really large screen and a regular size screen. A bit crowded. Thinking about making one monitor available for sitting and another for standing desk
24 minutes in the bag. In between some running around the office, of course.
Same as yesterday was ok but again need to try and be mindful of correct posture ☺
Took me 3 attempts to complete 24 minutes in one time! I find that if I have something that I have to focus on I want to sit, lol