Scared Sitless: The Office Fitness Book

"Studies of the ills of prolonged sitting have mushroomed in the last three years. Yet office work that for most of us takes up a good part of the day has barely been touched. Larry tackles this vacuum in his book. He does this effectively, comprehensively, and with humor." - from the foreword to the book by former NASA Life Sciences Director Joan Vernikos and author of "Sitting Kills, Moving Heals."

"Scared Sitless" offers an antidote to "sitting disease," that surprising new affliction which results when we plop down on our derrieres for hours on end. It may not actually be "the new smoking," as so many headlines claim, but the consequences of our sedentary ways are definitely catching up with us. Fortunately, the remedy is straightforward: Develop better office fitness habits to sit less and move more.

This book sets out the science behind "sitting disease" and shows you how to fight it. It also helps you cope with the muscle aches and pains and other discomfort that can result from a poor ergonomics set-up and sub-optimal posture. Ergonomics is all too often an annual ritual visit from someone in HR, or a one-time intervention when you get a new desk. Taking charge of your own ergonomics situation can help keep you comfortable and productive every day, not just in the few days after you get your new keyboard. Likewise, cultivating a little more postural awareness at work can keep you from curling up into that pillbug posture that so often comes with desk work.

Naturally, exercise and movement are an important component of office fitness. The book shows you how to add more routine movement to your work day and how to do "no-sweat workouts" right at your desk, as well as home and gym workouts tailored to your unique needs as an office worker.

Ideally, you want your new office fitness behaviors to become automatic, so there's a whole chapter that shows you how to turn them into habits. Like all of the book, the habit chapter draws on the latest research and best practices to give you an evidence-based action plan for staying fit and healthy at work.