Health, Work and Sports
Many of my assignments as Interim CTO are very very demanding and stressful.
That’s cool and I like it that way.
I am also mostly working in an office. Sitting most of the day. In my early 20s I experienced some very severe cases of back pain. And this was not because of my spine - but because my muscles contracted very weirdly causing massive pain. And I am pretty sure this was because I was sitting the whole day without proper workout.
My solution: A small but focused daily workout routine.
My workout consists of three parts:
- Planks
- Push-ups
- Running
My Focused Daily Workout Routine
Planks
Crunches seem to have some health downsides on your back, so I switched to planks many years ago. Planks work for me equally fine.
I started doing Planks via the Plank Challenge of the Plankpad. The Plankpad comes with an app and you can slowly build up your six-pack muscles.
I now switched to my own training and I simply do two rounds of planks every day - except for weekends:
- Round 1: 90 seconds planking
- 20 seconds break
- Round 2: 85 seconds planking
It’s still a challenge, but I can really feel and see that planking works. You really build up a six pack. Amazing.
Push-ups
I started doing push-ups many years ago. And cheated quite a lot at the beginning. The reality is that if you do push-ups properly - then a small number of push-ups is enough.
If you do push-ups - do them sloooooowly and do them fully. Full extension of your arms, and touch the ground with your nose. Then they are challenging and they help your workout. Doing them quickly and not fully will yield large numbers “Wow - I did 100 push-ups”. But these 100 push-ups don’t help with really improving your strength. You simply lie to yourself.
I settled with two rounds of push-ups every day except weekends.
- Round 1: 40 push-ups
- 1 minute break
- Round 2: 30 push-ups
Running
I hate running. But it’s the best way for me to do a cardio workout. Breath some fresh air and train my body. I can also do it on short notice. If I have an hour - I go for a run. No need to go to the gym or plan for a training session at a certain point of time. I just start.
I do running not because I enjoy it, but because of its positive effects on life expectancy, health and general wellbeing. I have to exercise - otherwise I have too much energy - and running gets the job done to calm me down.
But it still sucks. At the same time I can clearly see the benefits. I have multiple times witnessed that I am way less exhausted when carrying around things or lifting something than most other people of my age-group (self high five). I totally think that this is because of my running training.
My workout consists of running 10km (6 miles) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. No running on weekends.
I push myself to run 10 km (6 miles) way below 60 minutes. But I don’t care too much. The mantra is that running slowly is way better than not running at all.
I don’t seem to like any electronic gadgets when running. So I go without any mobile phone. Just me and nature. Breathing and thinking. Potentially boring like hell. But you can let your thoughts wander around. And more often than not I get some really great insights during running. Cool.
Noteworthy
- Running below 50mins for 10km (6 miles) seems to lead to a weight loss. Above 50mins helps me to keep my weight.
- Some years ago I switched to forefoot strike. It seems to be associated with less injuries, but for me I does not make a huge difference. I trained it and now feels normal to me. I could buy one of these nerdy barefoot shoes though. Tempting thought.
- I tried to run 10km (6 miles) every day, but after doing this for more than 2 weeks I felt more pain than anything else. So I switched back to running 10km (6 miles) roughly every second day. Works fine.
Reduced workout
When I don’t have much time I reduce the workout. I still try to do planks and pushups - but I then do my runs on Saturday and Sunday.
In general I don’t take the workout too seriously. I do it quite often and don’t miss it too often. But when I miss it - I don’t feel bad. I am just a human being. And looking back and I can really say that I am very very consistent with my workout.
Final thoughts
Using that training I did not have any problems with my back or health for decades now (I had it before). I am also not sick often (might be a coincidence). It also helps me a lot to keep my weight. I simply like to eat - and not working out would lead me to get bigger and bigger - and this is something I simply don’t like.
More
- I can recommend Peter Attia’s book “Outlive”. Peter is for sure a nerd - but the book contains a lot of scientific information on the benefits of a physical workout.
