Brock Armstrong

Frozen Puck

Brock is a musician, web developer and digital media instructor turned marathon and triathlon coach.

He is certified by Team in Training (running), AFLCA (Group Fitness / Portable Equipment) & NCCP CAC (Triathlon “Coach in Training”). You can hear Brock every week on the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast (found on iTunes). To fund his racing habit, Brock takes well planned designs and turns them into clean and consistent HTML and CSS code. Find out more by going to www.frozenpuck.com and/or www.skywalkerfitness.ca.

Talk

How Our Jobs Are Killing Us and What We Can Do About It – Fitness for Software Nerds

The average American works more than 47 hours a week and as software developers we are sitting in front of a computer for most – if not all – of that time. In fact, we techie humans are sitting more than ever before in history: 9.3 hours a day! That’s more time than we spend sleeping (7.7 hours). Only 18% of us get the total amount of physical activity recommended by our doctors for “good health”. To make matters worse, 40% of us get no physical activity at all. Sitting for 6+ hours per day makes us up to 40% more likely to die within 15 years than someone who sits less than 3 hours per day. And here’s the kicker – this is true even if we get regular exercise. Bluntly put… our jobs are killing us! As a Web Developer turned Marathon/Triathlon coach, I have decided to do something about it. I want to teach my fellow engineers how to improve and manage their diet (starting by eating only real food, not drinking their calories and snacking strategically). I also want to show them how they can build exercise into their day without hitting the gym for hours on end (by changing their chair or getting rid of their chair, taking frequent breaks and setting “exercise alarms” during the workday). Between 1980 and 2000 exercise rates stayed the same but sitting increased by 8% and obesity doubled. It’s time to bring this fight to the workplace!