Let’s Get FIZZICAL
Exercise? Is it really even needed after a long day of work? Why should we even bother…aren’t we tired enough as it is?
These were the questions that we at Fizzbuzz wrestled with. With our jobs requiring us to be clacking away on our computers and sitting glued to our desks for the majority of our day, you can say that we are, at best, sedentary in our activity level.
In general, we all know exercise is essential. A healthy body, after all, makes a healthy mind. And having the latter makes us more productive in our daily tasks.
However, more often than not, we find ourselves to be too busy…too tired to even get a consistent routine going. We tell ourselves that there are not enough hours in a day and inserting another strenuous task of an exercise is quite too much.
But is it, really?
That’s what we at Fizzbuzz tried to find out for ourselves.
And that’s how Fizzbuzz got FIZZICAL (we love our puns, okay?).
Let’s Get FIZZICAL is our Tech Talks installment for the month of September, with the agenda of jump-starting our collective effort of achieving health and wellness for the Fizzbuzz Team.
For this particular format, instead of the usual “talk”, a bulk of the activity was all about getting us moving and sweating. We invited Licensed Physio-Therapist (also our Expert Punisher) Coach Julius to lead us in a two-part activity. The first being a short talk on the challenges of the team in maintaining an exercise routine.
We learned that while yes, real life is demanding, consistent exercise is not really as demanding as we think it is. On average, exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes a day will already bring about significant benefits to our body, our mind, and eventually, in our productivity at work. So yeah there goes our excuse for not having “enough time”.
Then came second part, which was the most awaited — ergo, dreaded, part of the event: the relaxing and easy-going world of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session.
No, we’re just kidding. What followed was a pure cardio hell for us sedentary creatures.
The workout consisted of two 7-minute sets in a Tabata format. That is, 30 seconds of maximum, non-stop effort and then followed by 30 seconds of rest. Rinse and repeat until 7 minutes expires.
2 SETS at 7minutes per set
SET A
Partner Shoulder Taps
Alternating Jumping Lunges
SET B
Modified (slow-mo) mountain climbers
Squat Jumps
Despite the mammoth task that lay before us, we managed to plod through, one rep at a time. With a little encouragement, a dose of humor, and support that went around the room, we came out of the entire process with all smiles — lives and limbs still intact.
And after all the sweat, the struggle and the collective agony we endured…was it all worth it? But most importantly, did we learn anything about ourselves?
We’d like to think that we learned that we could do what we initially thought was impossible: and that is to make time in our busy lives for the improvement of our wellness and our health.
We learned that even the toughest, most arduous of tasks seem a little less impossible, less difficult, when you know you have a team supporting you all throughout the process.
We sure hope that we all learned that work and wellness need not compete with one another. Both are equally important and should be treated as such.
We don’t see this as an isolated, single attempt but as the first of many. Work and wellness should go hand-in-hand in the pursuit of a life of fulfillment and promise.
And Fizzbuzz is glad to have taken the first step towards that pursuit.