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I'm horrified. This has very high potential to be harmful. The defacto nerd position is seated and hunched. Developing the pectorals will only exacerbate thi

I'm horrified. This has very high potential to be harmful. The defacto nerd position is seated and hunched. Developing the pectorals will only exacerbate this. If you want to engage in group exercise, find a routine which is more balanced, or at least balanced against what you do the rest of the day. Just do some calisthenics and stretch out those tight chests.

joelrunyon 15y ago
You're kidding, right?
- joelrunyon 15y ago
  No response? Just downvotes? Neat trick.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  Absolutely not. I cannot express to you how much pain can come from this. I'm talking about career-ruining, debilitating problems. You're not in the Army. You aren't going to balance out your strength training with a long day of running, climbing, etc. You're going to get your chest good and pumped, then plop right back down and hunch.
  - joelrunyon 15y ago
    1. 10 pushups a day will not debilitate anyone. 2. You don't have to hunch. You can practice good posture at your desk. 3. If you're really worried about this, take 5 minutes to stretch out your pectoral muscles before/after doing this. I would love to see some medical studies of people who've been seriously debilitated by doing pushups throughout the day. There's a difference between being in pain (sore) and being hurt. If you're doing enough pushups at the office to get hurt, you might be taking the team-building exercise a little too seriously.
    - georgieporgie 15y ago
      You are utterly wrong about this. If you were so inclined, you could find all the information you desire about injuries caused by unbalanced musculature. But you seem like the invincible type who's going to ignore caution, so good luck to you.
      - joelrunyon 15y ago
        Wrong about what? You don't HAVE to hunch, you can stretch, and I said I would like to see studies of people hurt from ten pushups a day. If you have them, please share. If not, I'll keep listening to my body, doing pushups, and properly stretching safely. Have a good day!
        georgieporgie 15y ago
        You are wrong about your ridiculous universal assertions. Ten pushups a day never hurt anybody? What basis do you have for this, other than ignorance? Even in the case of minimal physical exertion, neglecting muscular balance will lead to injury. Stretching, while good, will not overcome muscular imbalance. How many people do you know who do any back-specific exercise? As for posture, look at any of the photos that make it up on HN, such as photos of new startup locations. I haven't seen a single person in any of the photos sitting with proper posture. In over a decade of professional work experience, I have only ever seen one person sitting with correct posture, and he was an ex-Olympic athlete. Are you aware, by the way, that shirts are cut differently now than in the past? The shoulders are rotated forward, because that's how people carry themselves now. People, on average, simply do not maintain proper posture. It requires concerted effort, stretching, and, usually, focused weight training.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  Not at all. Look up kyphosis and upper cross syndrome. Any time you're doing strength training, you want to balance your movements. If you're doing push (presses, push-ups), do pulls (rows, pull-ups, inverted pull-ups). Work your legs and your upper body. Do bilateral and unilateral movements (single arm or leg). Do strength and cardio. Mind your exercise and your diet. Oh: and rest and recovery are also key. For many people in tech, sitting at desks, hunched in front of a screen, you're chronically tight on the anterior (front) of your body, and loose on the posterior (backside). If you look up exercise/fitness literature, you'll find a lot of reference to "posterior chain activation" or related terms, and exercises like deadlifts, power cleans, pull-ups, rows variations, kettlebell swings, etc. All work part or all of your backside, and can really help balance our your body (it's done amazing things for me, reducing back pain and other issues). I don't know that doing 10 push-ups every day or two is going to cripple anyone, but if that's the only resistance work that's being done, it's certainly not going to help. Which is where a not of strength-training / fitness newbies get things horribly, horribly wrong: they come up with some half-assed, imbalanced, inappropriate training program / routine without understanding what they're doing or why. Fitness activities, like technical problems, should be goal oriented. Identify your objectives, determine your resources, construct a program, execute on it, assess, modify, and iterate. It's really not all that difficult, but it does require a modicum of thought.
  - tjogin 15y ago
    That might have been a risk if the team were doing bench presses, but pushups is not going to build any significant amount of muscle.
    - georgieporgie 15y ago
      Pushups most certainly will build significant muscle. The point, however, isn't the muscle size. It's the imbalance in muscular strength and tightness. Yes, stretching will help, but given that the majority of people do nothing to strengthen their upper back, they will develop a significant muscular imbalance from doing mere pushups.

joelrunyon 15y ago

You're kidding, right?

joelrunyon 15y ago
No response? Just downvotes? Neat trick.
georgieporgie 15y ago
Absolutely not. I cannot express to you how much pain can come from this. I'm talking about career-ruining, debilitating problems. You're not in the Army. You aren't going to balance out your strength training with a long day of running, climbing, etc. You're going to get your chest good and pumped, then plop right back down and hunch.
- joelrunyon 15y ago
  1. 10 pushups a day will not debilitate anyone. 2. You don't have to hunch. You can practice good posture at your desk. 3. If you're really worried about this, take 5 minutes to stretch out your pectoral muscles before/after doing this. I would love to see some medical studies of people who've been seriously debilitated by doing pushups throughout the day. There's a difference between being in pain (sore) and being hurt. If you're doing enough pushups at the office to get hurt, you might be taking the team-building exercise a little too seriously.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    You are utterly wrong about this. If you were so inclined, you could find all the information you desire about injuries caused by unbalanced musculature. But you seem like the invincible type who's going to ignore caution, so good luck to you.
    - joelrunyon 15y ago
      Wrong about what? You don't HAVE to hunch, you can stretch, and I said I would like to see studies of people hurt from ten pushups a day. If you have them, please share. If not, I'll keep listening to my body, doing pushups, and properly stretching safely. Have a good day!
      - georgieporgie 15y ago
        You are wrong about your ridiculous universal assertions. Ten pushups a day never hurt anybody? What basis do you have for this, other than ignorance? Even in the case of minimal physical exertion, neglecting muscular balance will lead to injury. Stretching, while good, will not overcome muscular imbalance. How many people do you know who do any back-specific exercise? As for posture, look at any of the photos that make it up on HN, such as photos of new startup locations. I haven't seen a single person in any of the photos sitting with proper posture. In over a decade of professional work experience, I have only ever seen one person sitting with correct posture, and he was an ex-Olympic athlete. Are you aware, by the way, that shirts are cut differently now than in the past? The shoulders are rotated forward, because that's how people carry themselves now. People, on average, simply do not maintain proper posture. It requires concerted effort, stretching, and, usually, focused weight training.
dredmorbius 15y ago
Not at all. Look up kyphosis and upper cross syndrome. Any time you're doing strength training, you want to balance your movements. If you're doing push (presses, push-ups), do pulls (rows, pull-ups, inverted pull-ups). Work your legs and your upper body. Do bilateral and unilateral movements (single arm or leg). Do strength and cardio. Mind your exercise and your diet. Oh: and rest and recovery are also key. For many people in tech, sitting at desks, hunched in front of a screen, you're chronically tight on the anterior (front) of your body, and loose on the posterior (backside). If you look up exercise/fitness literature, you'll find a lot of reference to "posterior chain activation" or related terms, and exercises like deadlifts, power cleans, pull-ups, rows variations, kettlebell swings, etc. All work part or all of your backside, and can really help balance our your body (it's done amazing things for me, reducing back pain and other issues). I don't know that doing 10 push-ups every day or two is going to cripple anyone, but if that's the only resistance work that's being done, it's certainly not going to help. Which is where a not of strength-training / fitness newbies get things horribly, horribly wrong: they come up with some half-assed, imbalanced, inappropriate training program / routine without understanding what they're doing or why. Fitness activities, like technical problems, should be goal oriented. Identify your objectives, determine your resources, construct a program, execute on it, assess, modify, and iterate. It's really not all that difficult, but it does require a modicum of thought.
- tjogin 15y ago
  That might have been a risk if the team were doing bench presses, but pushups is not going to build any significant amount of muscle.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    Pushups most certainly will build significant muscle. The point, however, isn't the muscle size. It's the imbalance in muscular strength and tightness. Yes, stretching will help, but given that the majority of people do nothing to strengthen their upper back, they will develop a significant muscular imbalance from doing mere pushups.