Nobody warns you that a 55-hour week is a physical job

Not in the way a warehouse job is, but sit still for nine hours, shoulders forward, hips at 90 degrees, neck pushed toward a screen, and the body adapts to it exactly like it adapts to training. It gets very good at being folded up.

Then you are 38, you pick something up off the floor, and your lower back tells you about it for four days.

Four things are usually going on:

1. The hip flexors have tightened up. Nine hours at 90 degrees, five days a week. When you stand up, the pelvis gets pulled forward and the lower back carries it.

2. The upper back has stopped moving. The thoracic spine is built to rotate and extend. It does neither at a desk, so the shoulders and neck do that work instead.

3. The glutes have gone quiet. Not weak, just not switching on as they should. You sat on them all day.

4. Neck and jaw. Screen slightly too low, chin slightly forward, held for hours.

The fix isn’t an hour in the gym. It’s about eight minutes, and the variable that decides everything is when.

Do it on your lunch break, or at 16:30 at the office before you go home. Not at home at 21:00. The one you plan for 21:00 does not happen, and that’s not a discipline problem, it’s a scheduling problem.

Eight minutes:

Hip flexor stretch, half-kneeling, back knee down. 90 seconds per side. Squeeze the glute on the kneeling side. That squeeze is the part everyone skips, and it’s the part that works.

Thoracic extension over the back of your chair. Lean back over the edge, 10 slow reps, breathe out at the top.

Glute bridge, 2 × 15, two-second pause at the top. Yes, on the office floor. Yes, people will look. They’ll be doing it with you within a week.

Wall slides, back flat against a wall, arms up and down, 2 × 12. Feels absurdly hard the first time.

Chin tucks, 10 × 5 seconds. Pull the chin straight back, not down.

Three times this week. Not five. Three is a number you’ll actually hit, and the gap between three and zero is much bigger than the gap between three and five.

Many people find the neck eases within a couple of weeks. The hips usually take longer, they’ve had years to get like this.

The eight minutes is gold, and you get a long way with 3 times a week.
If you want more, if you want to build more strength, more resilience, then personal training can be your next move.
With personal training you can get the full package, where you and your coach can work on everything from building long-lasting strength built around your life, training that takes old injuries into account, diet and daily activities… and the best part: You have someone holding you accountable every week.
Dealing with an injury or ongoing pain? We’ll go through it properly at the free consultation.