Off-topic: occupational hazards of a career as a desk-bound software developer
The brutal reality of the physical harm that comes with a desk job and how much active effort it takes to counter it
Disclaimer: I am NOT a health and wellness professional - just an observant desk-job worker trying to learn lessons from the people around me.
Little me, age 10 with little interest in physical activity, happily spending hours drawing mandalas and brainstorming rangoli art in the LOGO programming language and dreaming of a career as a software developer who gets to sit inside all day writing code would never have thought that this career choice comes with physical repercussions that need thoughtful, active effort to counteract.
The harm caused by a sedentary lifestyle is not unknown, so we go on our morning workouts and evening walks and think that staves off the dangers of our sedentary careers, but does it? After all, how can half an hour or an hour of activity a day counteract 8+ hours of little movement, poor posture, and screen time?
I first became exposed to the dangers of this career path through my mother, a yogi and brown belt at karate all the way through college who moved on to a successful software engineering career in the 90s. A few years into her career, despite such a solid physical start, she developed spondylitis and still battles it and the related mobility issues to this day. So when I started my own career, with the access to the internet and popular research that I had, I made sure to include an hour of working out at least 3 times a week. I switched my ergonomic chair for a simple, straight plastic one that forced me to maintain my posture. I made sure to look away from my screen every few minutes. I thought it was working but it turns out that in your early 20s, your body is just better at tolerating a poor lifestyle.
In my late 20s I started monthly sports massage sessions to recover from my strength training, and oh boy, nothing like a veracious masseuse to point out every lifestyle flaw, reading the tension in my musculature like an open book.
It was appointments with her (shoutout to Sapna who continues to save me from my own lifestyle) that made me realize that what I thought was an active lifestyle was nowhere near enough. Every session I went in thinking some muscle I trained recently would hurt the most, and every session I realized how wrong I was. Here’s the laundry list of TODOs I got from our first few sessions, every single one related to lifestyle:
“You have no back muscles! You’ll end up with back pain in future - work on your strength”
“Your hamstrings need more strength”
“Are you sure your knees are okay? Your glutes and IT band are very tight - please start foam rolling after exercising!”
“Your shoulders and elbows are tight because of your job, you can use a tennis ball to release it at home”
“Your right knee is hurting because your quads are weak - you need to build more strength” (I had walked 15K steps on cobblestones in dress shoes. 0/10, would not recommend.)
“You have knots in your neck and shoulders, that’s just an occupational hazard of a desk job, inevitably your posture goes bad, as long as you keep getting it released you’ll be okay” (reader: I skipped only one session and started having shoulder pains almost immediately)
So there you have it - unused muscles were weak, bad posture was causing knots that only my regular massages were keeping at bay, and my workouts were not building muscle in the right places to counteract the hazards of my job. Sapna’s honesty was (and is) keeping me honest.
Anyway, since I started visiting her over a couple of years ago, I’ve seen steady progress (and I think Sapna would agree). I am more aware of the difference between weak and tight muscles. I make sure to foam-roll. I don’t do generic workouts anymore, I’ve slowly built a balanced mix of functional strength, mobility and cardio that actually works for me rather than just working me to exhaustion. I know my lower body is still relatively weak, so I know what to do to prep for a long walk or a run (shoutout to my yoga teacher Deepti - another lifesaver, and lifestyle-saver). I know how to cool down and stretch well (shoutout to Manasa’s cooldown routine that I have memorized over the probably 100+ classes I’ve done with her).
The outcome of this is that I feel stronger, I’ve built a much better mind-muscle connection with my body, and most importantly I feel like I am setting myself up for success for an active 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. I now approach exercise as something to make me steadily, actively stronger and prevent injuries.
If you take away anything from this, let it be to step outside of what is “correct” and pay some attention to what your body needs - everyone is different after all! Finding the problems is half the battle. Take good care of yourself!
Appendix
Several people have asked me for recommendations over the years so I’m putting them all down here. Every single one of these is body-positive, will never shame you for where you are in your fitness journey, and will never promote unhealthy diet culture. Drop your favourite resources in the comments - I’d love to see!
Some of my favourite online resources:
Kaleigh Strength on YouTube: these videos are the first time at-home strength training has been fun for me
Yoga with Adriene kept me going when I was in between offline yoga classes
Manasa is the best pilates instructor I’ve had - she keeps it fun and is genuinely invested in the overall health and well-being of her clients. She’s online-only now 🥲 And the only one in this list who is not free, but is 1000% worth it!
Nike Run Club is my favourite app for guided runs and it’s all free!
Boho Beautiful workouts on YouTube are as beautiful as they are deadly. May I one day have the courage to go back to them.
Some of my favourite offline resources in Bangalore:
Jeevanam (also online) is my happy-place, one of the best places to practice yoga.
Osmosis studio (women-only) was my second happy-place for the few months I did functional training with them - all the women there are an inspiration.
I’ve heard good things about Lateralus studio
Peak Performance is where I get my sports massages with Sapna (enter with courage and exit with tears and renewed resolve to fix your lifestyle, rinse and repeat)