I need to get out of my desk chair more, but lately I’ve been trying to walk my neighborhood since the weather’s nice. What kinds of things do you do to stay active? I’d love some suggestions for good stretches and simple/effective exercises. Thanks!
You can find instructions online for stretches and exercises, but that doesn’t hold my interest. I bit the bullet and joined a gym, going a couple of times a week to keep loose. Maybe I could do the stuff I do there at home (after purchasing some equipment), but I think the environment is worth the expense. I don’t talk to anyone else except to greet the staff, but I like the fact that other people are around and it’s a space dedicated to working out.
Bicycle commuting, but it sounds like you might be WFH. I am a 100% remote worker, but I keep an office and workshop to keep the day job out of my tiny living space. When I still worked from my boat (where I live), I would go for a bike ride through varying loops before and after work just to have that separation of mental states.
When we’re on a passage or anchored out, yoga, calisthenics, dumbbells, TRX (body weight training system), and swimming keep us fit. Among my peers, there is a 1:1 inverse relationship between who does yoga and who has pains of inflexibility.
Another great book for keeping your range and flexibility is “Ten Golden Exercises” by Daniel Philpot.
I’d love to hear more about your (house?)boat! I live near a river and have thought about doing the opposite – using a boat as my office.
My boat is a 1979 Formosa 46, center cockpit cutter-rigged (two headsails) sloop. The design intent was to cross oceans and weather storms, carrying enough provisions for six people for up to six months. This is the sailboat I dreamed of owning since I was a kid. My family were into powerboats, but I hated the noise, stink, and wastefulness. I wanted the freedom from all that. I wanted to just go buy my own small sailboat so I could learn, but my parents wouldn’t let me.
Cut to 30 years later, I finally bought my first sailboat in 2013 and moved aboard shortly thereafter. I had been searching for an F46 for years, but they were all either meticulous and priced ridiculously, or were clapped out and still priced ridiculously. I knew that I would want to make a lot of changes, so I didn’t want to pay the premium on a mint boat. But I wanted a boat that I could still sail and determine what all I want to change.
Cut to 2015. In the same week, my marriage imploded, I spent Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) and my birthday alone, and I was fired from the software company I co-founded in a hostile takeover. I also found my ideal specimen of F46 and it was in the same region, to boot. I’ll take that silver lining.
I’m re-modeling and rearranging the interior, re-powering with electric drive, taking it down to bare glass and refinishing with modern coatings, re-rigging with Dyneema, fixing all of the engineering errors in the boat design, reducing the through-hull count, installing modern wiring and reducing the electronics (while modernizing the electronics I’m keeping). Modernizing the plumbing. Adding systems for longevity and autonomy (in the context of “extending time between having to visit ports”), e.g. solar, dual water makers, recovering dead spaces, shoring up deck durability, moving chainplates…
These following pics are the same place inside the boat:
Regarding using your boat as an office, there are a few caveats I share whenever anyone starts thinking about getting a boat. All boats leak. Everything you do in a boat creates humidity, and that humidity must be managed. The magical numbers are >55F and <55% relative humidity. Anything outside of that is inviting mold. While having your boat in freshwater reduces maintenance costs and lengthens maintenance intervals, owning and maintaining a boat is still at least a half-time job. And you know what they say about guys with big boats? They have big bills. The little-known origin of the word “boat” is actually an acronym: Bust Out Another Thousand. :D You really have to want this life. And the less that this is your life, the greater the overall expense in terms of opportunity and financial costs. It’s crazy hard, but super rewarding.
Oh, and if you have an engine/fuel on your boat, your boat stinks of that. If you have a holding/blackwater tank on your boat, add in those wonderful smells, too. All of these are mitigable, but they are factors. Just a few things to think about…
Thank you for all of this information, I very much appreciate it. And great points about all the gotchas… I suppose it’s like an RV – you have all the problems of a house and all the problems of a vehicle, neatly rolled into one :)
Converting to an electric motor is interesting to me (if I understood correctly). I guess I never thought about that as an option, it makes sense on a sailboat for sure – what kind of battery setup does that require? And if you want to be free of shore power for your other electronics, I suppose that also makes a lot of sense.
I think my boat office will remain a dream, but it’s a fun one to entertain.
Thank you for all of this information, I very much appreciate it. And great points about all the gotchas… I suppose it’s like an RV – you have all the problems of a house and all the problems of a vehicle
Happy to help. And you nailed the simile. Add in: the water is always trying to get in and, in the case of saltwater, always tearing things apart. Also, UV light is constantly attacking everything. UV embrittlement is a tireless enemy.
what kind of battery setup does that require
I did the hull speed and endurance modeling based on a 600Ah 48v nominal LiFePO4 traction bank. The banks that I built are 8 discrete banks of 16s 100Ah LiFePO4 cells (so 800Ah, 48V nominal), each bank with its own BMS and cell-leveling. Each bank has its own charge and discharge contactor (think: relay switch on steroids), with all banks connected to separate charge and discharge common buses. The banks can be charged by solar, regeneration (sailing the boat), and shore power. Shore power is handled by a 4000W inverter-charger + isolation transformer, although I only have it linked up to a 30A shore power inlet. Two banks of bi-facial solar rated for 1800W total feed into two MPPTs connected to the common charge bus.
Ugh I wish I could bike to work when I have to go into the office, but it’s a 18 minute drive and a 1.5hr bike ride.
That’ll wreck anyone’s day. Sounds like multimodal commuting is also a no-go for you? i.e., drive to something like a park-and-ride, then bike the remainder?
Ugh I wishhhhh! No good public transport near here. Park and ride would take me as much time to park as it would to just drive to work when I have to go in. Plus half the time it’s below freezing here (I don’t handle cold well) and almost a quarter of the time it’s above 80°F. I wish things were closer together… and I wish the temp was more … temperate.
Assuming you work from home the real answer is that you just get up every few minutes and move. It doesn’t matter what. Some squats, pullups, pushups. Even a few hundred steps works wonders.
The key is to make the barrier to entry as low as possible. Then you actually do it more often.
Besides that, find a sport you think would be fun. Just try a bunch of trial lessons or join some people you know.
15 minutes a day, the only thing you need is a stopwatch.
I do yoga multiple times a week, use a rowing machine twice a week, and walk/hike my dogs.
Yoga is the best especially if you are sitting all day. And it’s a nice “third space” where you see the same people every class and make weak links with them that aren’t at home or at work.
During lunch at work, I find I usually eat pretty quick and under the required amount of time for my break so after, I just start running. It gives a nice break from staring at the screen and keeps me healthier.
Treadmill desk
I alternate between spin bike and weights 6 days/week throughout the year, but with the weather getting nicer, I’m getting back out on my road bike on weekends and playing tennis with some friends after work. It helps to live in a city with a nice park!
Being active is so important to your health. Take where you’re at and just build on it. One thing I always tell myself is that things won’t get better if I don’t act on it. Yeah, I want to loose 10 lbs so I’ll start exercising and eating less. Tomorrow. Nope, it’s got to start now. And give yourself some grace. Changing habits is hard and you will backslide. Don’t beat yourself up, just awknowledge the slip and say you’ll try to do better.
Lifelong lazy person here. I got a Fitbit. At first I just used it for counting my steps and heart rate, but after a while I decided to I crease my cardio load. Being able to see the data of my progress really helped. The steps goal is a big one too (I also work a desk job). It helped me keep mindful of how much I need to move. After a few months it was so much easier.
I was fortunate enough to get invited to a ballroom dancing class in high school and fell in love with it. It’s exercise and a social experience all in one fairly affordable package. Where I live an hour long group class is $10 a head. I wouldn’t do private lessons for these purposes. And if you like it, there are so many subcultures! There are entire groups dedicated to certain dances like West Coast swing and Argentine tango. Regular social dances on the weekends in addition to classes. YMMV based on where you live, but dancing with the stars has brought ballroom into the mainstream and there are quality studios in most decent sized US cities as far as I know.
Love ballroom dancing, and especially east coast swing is my jam. Unfortunately no regular social dances in my area but I go when there’s one available. It’s really fun and playful, great way to meet new people and good exercise. Equipment cost is basically a pair of shoes. I joke about dressing up in a dress and heels for my workouts.
I ride an electric bike instead of driving, gentle exercise but I’m sure it makes a difference. Pokemon go walks, yoga 4x a week at a group class, weightlifting less than once a week. Yardwork too, hauling things around. I got running shoes but have not deployed them yet, I’d like to run once a week only. I do move around a lot. I read somewhere that if you wanted to be fit after you are 50 you really need to exercise 3 hours a day, and it seems true. Not like lifting for 3 hours every day but if I was retired I’d do cardio every morning, lifting every noon, yoga every evening except one day totally off everything each week.
Also, keep a glass of water at your desk. Get up to fill it, drink, get up to pee, repeat. So that you aren’t sitting for too long.
I’m disabled so I spend like 16 hours a day in my chair, but I try to do 30 minutes on my exercise bike every morning.
my work involves walking and carrying stuff, and i lost weight, eventhough im kinda below normal weight as it is.
Walking my dog, anxiety, pessimism, and existential dread mostly.
