So Many Activities! Raise Your Standing Game This Summer With a Standing Desk

Summer is upon us here in Austin. We are finally into the sweltering mid 90s, but there are so many activities and community events to cure those summertime blues. My personal favorites are the free summer concerts.

Austin offers several great free concert series of varying sizes and music tastes around town. A couple that I frequent are Blues On The Green at Zilker Park, which can attract thousands of concert-goers, and the much smaller and more intimate Unplugged at the Grove, hosted at the Shady Grove restaurant on Barton Springs Road.

While it's tempting to try to attend every free concert in Austin, it would be nearly impossible. Austin is "The Live Music Capitol of the World" after all. I have however found that I have been training myself for the upcoming concert season.

Now, you may be asking, "How is that you train yourself to go see a concert, Derek? Isn't that kind of ridiculous?" First of all, no! Do I put music on at home and stand directly in front of my speakers on full blast for a couple of hours a night, gathering neighbors to stand much too close and bump into me and turn off the air conditioning in my house to simulate the hot Texas summer weather? No, I "train" myself at work, in the cool air conditioned office. I use a standing desk.

I am fortunate enough to work at Human Solution, where you could say we practice what we preach. We all use standing desks (and desk treadmills) here at the office and just another added benefit that I have found is that standing for large chunks of my day at work on a consistent basis has strengthened my back. It's given me the energy to stand and be more active outside of work, even after a long day at the office.

I love going to see live music and like to try and get as close as possible to the stage and the band as I can. There’s no sitting down in front of the stage and the possibility of standing for three hours or more is entirely possible at any given show. Combine that with the walking that you have to do just to get to the concert location after parking far away and that can be quite a feat for your feet if you aren’t used to it. Fortunately, I am, but my standing desk has really helped to build my endurance and allow me to get the most out of live shows.

It’s just like any exercise. Unless your name is Forrest Gump, you can’t just walk out your front door and run a complete marathon without ever having trained for it. So in the same respect, you can’t expect to be able to stand for hours at a time without first taking it slow and building up your endurance to standing.

Training yourself to stand is simple. Take it light at first, alternating between sitting and standing fifteen minutes at a time. Increase your standing time by what you are comfortable with. Take a quick walk around the office to stretch your legs every now and then. There's no need to over-do it and immediately stand for eight straight hours a day. That's not easy or recommended.

Once you do get used to it though, it becomes second nature. I find myself standing all the time when not at work. People say on the weekends, "Hey Derek, don't you want to sit down and relax? Here's a chair," but I politely decline. Really. I honestly just feel great standing.

Train your body to withstand more standing! TheHumanSolution.com has a standing desk for everyone.