How and why to keep fit if you are an IT employee on a remote site

    Large IT companies promote sports among their employees: they install bicycle parking lots, equip halls inside the office and even collect group classes during working hours. On a remote site, the organization of sports activities by the employer is not available. But if a newly-minted remote worker begins to think about arranging a workplace almost before switching to this format, sport in the minds of many remains an optional option — somewhere at the level of the usual “office suite” of a coffee machine, cookies and English classes. And this is a key mistake.

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    Under the cut - about how our employees maintain their physical fitness and why this is needed at all.


    On HR portals, HRs of “office” companies constantly talk about the positive impact of group physical activity on the team. This is the prestige of the company, and team building, and a component of the social package for attracting personnel in one bottle. But sports in the office are not just corporate goals. Regular physical activity helps specialists in mental work maintain their ability to work for long periods of time and are less likely to get sick.

    Doctors complain that with the development of the transport system, communications, and indeed with an increase in the standard of living, we move less and eat more, so gradually mankind is gaining excess weight on average. But when planning work from home, no one wonders how much movement there really is for someone who regularly gets to work for at least an hour one way. Judge for yourself: you need to pack up, get to the stop of public transport, drive (most often standing, periodically straining different muscles, along our roads, so as not to fall on other passengers). Motorists are spared this training, but they must, for example, dig a car in the winter season. Inside the office, you also won’t be able to stay up all day from the chair. Pouring coffee is already a trip to the kitchen or to the coffee maker.
    All this is not at home. On the one hand, this, of course, is a big plus - there is no inappropriate spending of time on the road and meaningless office procedures. And on the other hand, many are faced with the problem of physical inactivity. With full-fledged remote work (full time), this is at least 8 hours a day at the computer in a certain position. Pose is a separate issue, today we will not touch on it. But even if it is perfect, the amount of movement is minimized. For lunch, you can’t go anywhere - the kitchen is at hand, and even products in large cities today can be ordered with delivery, i.e. the chances are good that you don’t leave the apartment for several days.
    Such a radical reduction in physical activity, of course, saves time. But this is not for long. Today it can be used for interesting tasks, but if nothing is done, tomorrow this “reserve” will have to be spent on visits to doctors.

    Common problems


    • Excess weight. In the absence of movement (while maintaining food intake), the muscles are simply replaced by adipose tissue. So much for overweight with attendant problems - ask the doctors, they will give you a very depressing prospect. By the way, eating here doesn’t help either - the brain needs energy, and the rest of the body without nutrients will fail.
    • Amyotrophy. It seems that yesterday you were 20 and atrophy did not threaten? But on a remote site, this is a very real prospect, even if you have never experienced special health problems. Such a diagnosis was received by one of our employees after about a year and a half of work without physical activity control (or rather, in conditions when physical activity was limited to transitions between a bed, a kitchen and a workplace).
    • Diseases of the cardiovascular system. Venous congestion in the legs can lead to thrombosis, and this is not the only problem.
    • Back pain. Sitting in a chair negatively affects the spine. The first guests of a person who is not trying to help his body are osteochondrosis and curvature of the spine. And there it’s not far from headaches (but try to focus on work if your head is unbearably painful).
    • Mood and sleep. Lack of physical activity depresses. And falling asleep after a day behind the monitor is much more difficult.


    The saddest thing is that if you do not catch these problems at an early stage, the body will become worse and worse. And so by the age of 30 you can already get a whole bunch of unpleasant diseases (for detailed diagnoses, we recommend that you contact your doctors).

    How our employees struggle with it


    There are no ardent athletes among us. We are all ordinary people, with or without families, with our hobbies and laziness, who try to weave the sport into everyday life, if possible, without making it an end in itself.
    It’s easier for those who live in their own home - for them, maintenance of the housing itself and the surrounding area is already pouring into certain “exercises”. As our leading expert on automated testing Vladimir Vasyaev correctly noted: “In the summer I mowed the grass on the site, in winter I cleaned the tracks from snow. And the issue of physical activity is removed by itself, while for the benefit of the cause. Moreover, it is not necessary to solve this problem in one approach in the evening after work (or in the morning before it starts). A short “charge with inventory” can be carried out regularly - once every two hours, so as not to stay out without physical activity (this is like a smoke break in the office). ”

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    There are those who prefer to work outside the home (rent a table, office or a place in coworking). Often they use the road to the workplace to ride a bicycle or walk on foot, having received their daily physical activity along with a positive attitude: in the morning, if, of course, the road is fun, there are forces to start the work day, and in the evening work problems remain where something along the way from work to home. But these features are available in office mode. Our conversation is about something else - about those who need to ride in a chair before work ... a couple of meters.

    In many ways, the choice of physical activity that each of our employees prefers depends on the methods of self-motivation that work for him personally and the time available (in fact, on the work schedule).

    Scheduled gym


    A fairly common approach is to take a subscription to the gym and enter it into your own schedule in order to develop a habit. For example, you can go to the gym every evening after work or in the morning, before it starts, several times a week. Moreover, the very fact of having a subscription works as a means of self-motivation: since I bought it, I need to use it.
    To achieve great success in the chosen direction (do everything right) allow classes with a trainer. An agreement with him helps to form a fixed schedule, which must be followed, and additionally motivates not to miss.
    Dmitry Masterov, specialist in automated software testing: “For more than six months now I have been going to the gym stably three times a week. My choice is classic superset workouts. I started with individual lessons with a trainer, since it is very important to put the right technique in order to avoid injuries, but after a while I began to practice on my own. Initially, the goal was to put myself in order, so in parallel I adhere to a diet that was drawn up with the trainer. In four months of regular training, I lost 15 kg. ”

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    The gym does not have to imply very rigid goals and a change in one’s entire life to produce results. You can just remember the goal, acting in pleasure.
    Zoya Mironovich, specialist in attracting talents: “In our region, the weather is such that it is not always comfortable to play sports in the open air, but at home it is inconvenient and there are no simulators, so I work out in the gym. Honestly, the most difficult thing is to get to the hall. But the support of her husband and the availability of a subscription helps not to miss training. An additional incentive to visit is the sauna, where you can remove muscle pain after a workout and relax a bit. Also important for discipline is the goal. In my case, throw off extra pounds and keep the result. ”

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    Fresh air without a schedule


    Not everyone, even at full time in remote mode, can boast of a tight schedule. Someone depends on the client’s schedule, which may be in a different time zone, and someone adjusts the work to other life circumstances, and all other tasks get a place in the schedule according to the residual principle. When it is difficult to establish a clear schedule for visiting the gym, and especially regular trainings, you can bet on the sport that is available 24 hours a day.
    “He was 40 minutes late for the workout - and that’s all, it will not go according to plan. And in my work, schedule changes are a standard thing. Therefore, I chose for myself a quick walk in the park. I chose the optimal route and the duration of the morning walk, so that during the day then I would not feel discomfort, but at the same time have some kind of result. And honestly, it helps. I noticed that if in the morning for some reason I had to skip this training, then drowsiness attacks at lunch - you must sleep 15–20 minutes to restore the ability to think. If the training was, then I can remain creative until the evening. By the way, such activity at the same time reduces the impact of stress at work - walking is much more useful than a variety of “reality compensators” with degrees, ”said Sergey Marina, Operations Director.

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    Walking, by the way, is an excellent prevention of thrombosis. In general, for walking on foot it is not necessary to allocate a special time slot in the busy schedule. You can basically walk, taking children to kindergartens and schools, or get a dog to regularly go to the park (if you can walk dogs there, of course).
    On the street without a schedule, other types of activity are also available. In many cities, street exercise machines are now installed, and in addition, there are platforms for standard physical education classes. On "Habr" already somehow wrote about how to use them to obtain results, working only with its own weight ( link ).

    Activity during the day


    It's great if physical activity can be entered into the daily routine. But this does not mean that the rest of the day you can sit with a clear conscience without moving. The load should be regular, and you should remind yourself of this.
    For example, our talent-raising specialist Anastasia Shatilova installed an application on her phone that reminds me of no activity every hour: “I have dumbbells, a horizontal bar and a folding treadmill. I alternate my activity in order to keep the muscles of my whole body toned, and at the same time give my body cardiac loads. The application on the phone once an hour reminds you to get out of the chair and do a simple exercise that can be performed almost anywhere. I set myself a “brutal” mode, so sometimes the phone uses rather harsh expressions to motivate it. It helps me, and, what’s important, it doesn’t take much time. ”

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    Just before planning such “classes instead of a smoke break”, it is worth exploring the question of how not to harm yourself: ultra-high loads in this mode without “warming up” will not do any good.

    Finding the right motivation


    The most important issue that will have to be solved by building physical activity in your life is motivation. The remote interaction format is best suited for those who are focused on the result, which is why “results” have gathered in our company. However, when it comes to the main working draft, it can be difficult to maintain focus on the goal. And then a variety of pleasant additions to sports activities work as a means of self-motivation.
    It is worthwhile to figure out what you need, which will make you gladly return to physical activity. For some, this is socialization in a sports club, someone needs certain sensations, for example, relaxing the back when swimming. And someone needs to constantly learn and see something new. And this feature also helps not to take off from sports, the main thing is to choose the right occupation. With such a craving for new experiences, it’s hard to pedal on the simulator, looking at the wall or on the TV screen, it’s boring to swim back and forth in the pool. But it will be easier to take a bike and go to the surroundings, trying every time to choose a new route.
    Maxim Prudnikov, web developer: “In my opinion, scheduled sports are a kind of organization. You buy a subscription, then you need to plan visits, enter them into an existing, already tough, schedule. But organized life is not very healthy. You will only be more worried that in the end, somewhere, something will not grow together. I believe that sporting activities should not be when “necessary” on a schedule, but when (and most importantly - because) high. ”

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    As a motivation tool, classes in specific sports, such as a bike trial, skiing, diving, etc. can also work. They are available only in a certain season (or in a certain geographical location), however, dreaming of future arrivals (swims / hikes), in the off-season or between trips, you can enthusiastically train in the gym and at home.

    A little concomitant theory with Habr:


    Unfortunately, the remote format of work does not allow employees to gather in teams, speaking together at competitions, and at the same time strengthening the very team spirit. But this does not mean that sport is not needed. In addition to preventing a whole bunch of diseases, he disciplines and “airs” his head. At the same time, although the company compensates part of the costs of a healthy lifestyle to our employees, no one forces them to engage in the sport that the CEO prefers. Throughout the world, you can see examples of how, after top management, entire teams lose weight, climb mountains, or run. Those who do not participate in the “general fun” feel like outcasts in the team. And some companies even openly admit that sports preferences affect hiring (they say, N took to work after a joint training).
    In a remote format, no one will choose for you. If you want - run or swim, but if you want - take off your office on a hill and every day, regardless of the weather, overcome the rise to sit at the desktop. The main thing is to remember the ultimate goal: on a remote site, physical activity is needed not by the company as a whole, nor by its individual adherents, but by your body, with which you can live!

    PS We publish our articles on several sites of the Runet. Subscribe to our pages in VK , FB or Telegram-channel to learn about all our publications and other Maxilect news.

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