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Comment by theprop | Hacker News Reader

Great suggestions -- the fire hydrant is a great exercise.

More simple exercises are one leg squats -- if you use a desk to keep your balance, they're not that difficult to do and a great exercise you can do anywhere. Also, you can drop down and do 5, 10, 20 pushups anywhere. While on the phone you could put it on speakerphone and drop down and try to hold the plank position for the length of the call -- I've seen some Scrum meetings have everyone do the plank (shortens the meeting much more than just standing up).

A few more ideas :-D!

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I call this Office Calisthenics. It really throws people off. Nothing bad, but they're confused. I've tried to convince some that it's fun. Even did it with a tie on. Didn't get any takers.

Try having a contest or competition. See who can hold the plank the longest or stand on one foot the longest. That makes it fun.

Or it may make people detest your management style even more. I belong to those who cannot stand being coerced into doing some "fun group activity" (whether in office or in a hotel). And when people want to take care of my health in office, why not start with the obvious:

* Don't give me a car - give me a bicycle and tickets for public transport.

* Give me a shower in office or a membership in a gym nearby.

* Invest in good chairs and tables (yes, yes, you all do - until I arrive with my 190cm and suddenly it's .. "we could place some books under the legs of your table!")

Completely agree about detesting the management style. It's not even actually health focused, it's just showing off like you're at a frat house.

190cm isn't that tall, really. (I'm short). Do you normally have trouble with the standard 30-inch (76-ish cm) desk?

It's tall enough that I can neither bend me legs to 90 degrees nor use a regular office chair.

While 190cm is not this tall, it's just too tall to fit into most industry norms: Beds, bikes, desk & chairs are all made for "slightly smaller" people. The 3cm my armrests are missing in height are exactly those 3cm that my whole upper body will gravitate down so that my arms can rest. 2h later I have a stiff neck, 8h later a sore back.

I'm all for the desk excercises and fitness in general, but if anyone ever suggested we all plank during scrum I would immediately quit.

It seems like they would also be looking at a massive discrimination suit as soon as they had an employee with any kind of injury, and potentially a lesser one simply because there would be otherwise healthy employees who felt uncomfortable about it.

I really don't think someone just said "hey everyone we're all gonna plan during our SCRUM meeting today." My guess is everyone in the group already participated in some exercises (maybe the group has an "exercise" time when everyone does some basic working out which is optional but everyone has been participating). Then during one of the exercises (with everyone participating), someone throws out "let's all plank tomorrow during our meeting." If anyone just moans or says "nah" they scrub the idea.

Once we did a "hike" during our work meeting (this was my last job at a swimming pool so everyone besides the cashiers was very athletic) and everyone loved it.

That may be how the idea came up, but it also may not be. No matter how the idea came up they still don't sound like any kind of place I would ever want to work and are still vulnerable to said lawsuits.

its important to hold the posture during the plank or it will have no effect or even the opposit effect. A good goal is 3 to 6 seconds. When you get stronger make it harder by lifting one leg, put the support leg on a ball, and do it sideways.

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