Introducing Don’t Just Sit There!

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Today’s an exciting day for me. One of those jump out of bed early in anticipation of what’s to come days. Today is the day I get to announce the launch of Primal Blueprint’s Don’t Just Sit There program, packaged and perfected with my friend and world-renowned biomechanist Katy Bowman. But before I gush over Katy and the program, let me first set the stage.

The Problem with Sitting

You’ve probably heard that sitting is bad for your health. Shocker. Research is showing that prolonged sitting increases your risk for chronic disease—cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer…and on and on.

But Mark’s Daily Apple folks are health conscious, active, hit the gym five times a week, sweat it out in CrossFit, so the sedentary scare doesn’t really apply to us. Oh, but yes it does!

If you spend most of your time behind a desk (researchers clock it in at 8+ hours), then your hour-long exercise session isn’t protecting you from the disease risk of sedentary living. That’s because our bodies evolved to participate in varied physical movement throughout the day—the key word being varied. So even those who participate in active jobs that have us on our feet—nurses, contractors, teachers—aren’t truly protected. They’re just engaging in repetitive tasks that utilize only a fraction of their joints and muscles, which puts them at risk for overuse injuries and assorted health problems over the long haul.

The Solution to the Sitting Scare

Many of you have probably been proactive and are already happily reading this behind a standup desk or a treadmill desk, logging in several miles a day as you work. This is commendable, but ultimately not the healthiest solution. The problem goes back not to sitting per se but to unvaried physical movement. So if you trade eight hours of sitting with all day standing marathons in pretty much one position you’ll be no better off, and more tired, stiff and sore.

Anytime you have prolonged stillness (be it sitting or standing), you are putting undesirable “loads” upon certain parts of your body that can lead to pain, dysfunction, and disease.

As I did more and more research on the sitting epidemic, and the subsequent standup desk revolution, I realized that finding the best solution is more physiologically nuanced than just standing up or taking an extra walk around the block every day (although these things don’t hurt). So I reached out to Katy Bowman, because who better to answer all my body alignment questions than an expert on the structure of the human body?

In case you aren’t already familiar with her work, Katy is Director of the Restorative Exercise Institute, which offers science-based educational and movement courses for groups, individuals, and online. Katy is also a popular blogger at KatySays.com, and the best-selling author of one of my favorite books, Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement.

When I asked Katy for her perspective on the sitting problem she explained:

I’d break the problem of sitting into two categories. On one hand, there is the stillness. You are not moving so all of the systems in your body that depend on movement and the gravitational load to get things flowing aren’t happening.

But then there is the second piece that I like to call the geometrical problem. So it is not just that you are still; it is that when you are still, you are always assuming exactly the same position. You adapt to what you do most frequently and so you have all these changes in your physical structure like the length of your muscles, some getting longer, some getting shorter. You have lower input of what your weight is as far as your bones are concerned, so your bone density adjusts accordingly.

One of the reasons that “Sitting Kills” is not one of my favorite headlines is because the natural solution is “Great. I’ll stand up. Awesome. Problem solved.” But what happens when you take your poor geometry that has adapted to sitting—which includes the effects of shoes and belts and wallets—and put it under a greater load standing?

She answers that question and many more in the Don’t Just Sit There program.

So I partnered with Katy to develop the Don’t Just Sit There program, an online multimedia course full of expert solutions for curing chronic pain and reversing the damage done from decades of sitting.

Here’s what Katy and I cover in the program:

• How to build the perfect workstation with respect to budgetary concerns
• The ultimate sitting makeover to align your spine and alleviate chronic pain and discomfort
• How to stand better, including a 8-point alignment check
• How to “work out” on company time

You’ll learn how to boost productivity and get back in alignment with the:

• Don’t Just Sit There eBook written by movement master Katy Bowman
• Audiobook of the Don’t Just Sit There eBook for listening on the go
• 10 instructional videos to guide you through optimal body alignment—including a yoga tune up ball therapy video from Dr. Dawn McCrory and Coach Kimmie Smith that will help you calm inflammation, eliminate tension, and increase mobility
• Detailed video discussion between Katy and me
• Don’t Just Sit There Shopping Guide eBook to help you build the perfect workstation

We’re also throwing in several complementary bonus items, most of which are only available through September 2, including:

• Amazing Feets! to guide you on a more barefoot-dominated journey
• Isometrics Strength eBook, Workout Plan, Training Logs and Videos by Todd Kuslikis
• Exuberant Animal: The Power of Health, Play and Joyful Movement eBook by Frank Forencich
• Exuberant Animal Play Book: Secret Moves and Games of the Play Masters eBook by Frank Forencich

The complete program retails for $37, but in honor of the launch we’re giving it away at the discounted price of $27—and a risk-free money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied.

Click here to take advantage of this limited-time offer. And in the mean time, sit down, stand up…vary your position all day long, every day.

Filed under: Fitness