Can sitting all day stunt fitness gains/recovery??

<---- sits all freaking day....never found that to be an issue.

Yeah, my knees and quads get kinda stiff and don't want to move initially.  I don't know if it necessarily hinders my run, but the OP poses an interesting question, especially since most people struggle with proper posture (myself included).

Sitting all day is definitely not good for you.

Ever thought about a standing desk?

I am seriously considering putting my desk higher so I have to stand to work.

I read this article in the new York Times a few months back and was surprised by what it had to say, namely that "irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you"

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/

Stunt fitness gains/recovery?  How 'bout something even worse:

http://gothamist.com/2010/07/15/study_sitting_will_kill_you_faster.php

I find these much better than sitting on a chair when at your desk. 

I work at a standing desk.  I lucky enough to be able to telecommute so for my home office I decided to convert my desk to a standing desk.  It took a little to get used to but now I'm pretty used to it.

I guess the logic makes sense to me.  We weren't built to sit at a desk all day and I'm pretty sure I'm burning more calories just by standing.  I'm not really standing but moving around all day.  Shifting weight from leg to leg. Pacing on conference calls. I've also noticed an uptick in productivity as well. 

I'm a big proponent.

I sit on a ball all day.  I work from home now but I use to work in the office and when I first brought the ball in sometimes it would go missing and I'd have to go find the officemates that were playing with it.  Eventually the novelty of it all wore off though and they'd leave it alone.  Funny, only the guys would be the ones playing with it....

I've thought about one of these.  Anyone have experience with this ball chair?

Or is the ball just as good without the chair?

I would think the ball would be better without the chair.  It forces you to use all the small stabilizer muscules in your core and legs to keep it still.

I keep telling my boss I want a treadmill desk and while I wouldn't run most of the time while working a nice stroll to brisk walk pace could be really nice.  She hasn't bought into the idea.  Although this one is cool, it combines a treadmill desk with a stability chair attachment.  http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/11/combatting-sitting-disease-novembers.html

My MIL has one of those ball chairs at work. She had back problems with every $1,000+ chair she tried before she got that. On the ball chair she has no back issues at all. I'm not sure how much of a benefit it is to core muscles as it is planted in the frame and has a backrest. But as far as posture it appears to help.

I always take my shoes off once I get to work. Seems to help loosen up the lower legs to be shoeless all day.

This thread is depressing.

I have the exact opposite problem.

I feel like I spend so much energy at work that it may stunt fitness gains/recovery.  I'm an auto technician, and it seems like if I lift a large set of tires or two, by the end of the day my back doesnt want to do anymore work at all.  I have switched most of my workouts to morning workouts because I am much more likely to skip them after work due to being so tired.

I love working on cars but I cant wait until I'm out of school to have a cushy desk job like you guys... lol, I kid, kinda.

I sit on my butt 6 days a week 8 hours per day. I consider it recovery time. In the morning I'll be a bit stiff and sometimes sore from last nights workout.  At the end of the day I feel recovered enough to do it again.

FYI. I'm often wrong around here.

I'm an IT guy so am sitting down 8-10 hours a day. I often forget to take breaks and move around so I downloaded this little software app that helps me remember.

It will give you a few stretches to do, and you can set the timer to remind you when you should get up and move around. It's really helped me.

http://www.workrave.org/ is the one I use, but there are a bunch of different ones available. That one is free.

cheers.

x2...   I do not sit all day, but in and out of the car and attending meetings is not hard labor either.   I could not imagine having the energy to workout after a day of a physically demanding job.    Impressed by those who can do this.