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Is too much sitting down negatively impacting your workout recovery? New study

Small changes can make a big difference over time.

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Man sitting on couch wearing headphones relaxing on phone
Thirdman / Pexels

I didn’t realize how much I was sitting down until I started thinking about it. I’ve never been a completely sedentary person, but when I considered the amount of hours I was on my butt, I figured I could do better, and I’ve improved a ton since then. 

Previous research reveals that sitting on your butt and being sedentary increases the risk of the most prevalent types of heart disease. Researchers also reported a significant 40-60% bigger risk of heart failure when sedentary behavior was longer than 10.6 hours per day, not including time sleeping. For that study, researchers defined sedentary behavior as any waking activity with low expenditure while lying down, sitting, or reclining.

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Are we sitting too much?

Small changes can make a big difference over time
Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

More recently, researchers wanted to understand if too much sitting negatively impacts workout recovery. Are we sitting too much on those days when we aren’t working out? Here at The Manual, when something is impeding our gains and hampering our fitness goals, we want to know about it. Let’s look at the research. 

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The study

A male athlete doing leg extensions on a machine in a gym.
Antonio Diaz / Shutterstock

In a pilot study released in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, participants performed an intense lower-body workout specifically designed to push them to the max. Researchers tracked their recovery over several days and measured various markers, including perceived exertion, muscle soreness, and strength retention. Participants reported their daily sitting time and took blood samples to measure markers of muscle inflammation. Peak torque tests were used to determine muscle function and force. 

The results

A large clock on the wall and a couch with pillows inside a home
Engin Akyurt / Pixabay

When compared to the participants who were more active throughout the day, participants who spent more time sitting:

  • Had higher levels of muscle soreness
  • Perceived their workouts to be more challenging
  • Took longer to regain their strength

The researchers theorized that being sedentary for a longer time period restricted blood flow and limited the amount of nutrients and oxygen being delivered to the muscles. Less nutrients and oxygen slows the process of muscle repair and recovery. 

The takeaway

Man drinking coffee sitting relaxing on couch with cat
Pexels / Pixabay

It’s important to keep the oxygen, nutrients, and blood flowing to help your muscles recover on those days when you’re less active and you aren’t working out. Small changes can make a big difference over time, and you can try using a standing desk, stretching regularly, and getting up to walk and move around throughout the day. I remember when I was a kid; I would randomly do a bunch of jumping jacks or start jumping around and waving my arms about dancing and singing. 

Our bodies are designed to move, and if we want to improve our workout recovery and continue powering through to our fitness goals, we probably need to be a little more mindful of how much we sit down. Time to get up off my butt.

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Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…
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