(AP) — As a citizen of both France and America, Margaux Lantelme has noticed a difference in how store cashiers work in the two countries: in France, they do their jobs sitting down. In the U.S., where Lantelme works a register at REI, cashiers typically spend eight hours a day on their feet.
For Lantelme, a former kayaking instructor, prolonged standing can trigger flare-ups of chronic pain that limit her mobility. She requested a chair to use during her shift and got one. However, after a change in management, she had to fill out paperwork to keep the chair, which required multiple doctor visits and insurance co-payments over months. She’s still waiting for final approval.
“Not having access to a chair without approval from a doctor, which costs money and time and energy, is really ridiculous,” Lantelme said. “I personally think that people should be able to have access to seating at work anytime they need it.”
Aches, pains , and complications
Standing for long periods can lead to lower back pain, fatigue, muscle pain, and leg swelling, and it can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and pregnancy complications, according to a review conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Researchers there concluded that movement, whether walking or shifting from a standing to a seated or leaning position, appeared to be the best way of reducing those health hazards.
Being on one’s feet for an extended time also can lead to chronic venous insufficiency, a disease in which damaged veins impact blood circulation, according to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, which represents operating room nurses.
The association recommends trying “fatigue-reducing techniques such as alternate propping one foot on a footstool, the use of anti-fatigue mats, using a sit-stand stool, and wearing supportive footwear,” said Lisa Spruce, senior director of evidence-based perioperative practices at AORN.
The right to sit down
Many jobs besides nursing require extended standing: department store sales clerks, hairdressers, surgeons, restaurant cooks, and airport workers are just some of the people who perform their roles on their feet.
Cecilia Ortiz, 43, used to work as an airport wheelchair attendant in Phoenix. “It takes a really hard toll on the knees,” she said. The break room had three or four chairs, which wasn’t enough for everyone, so workers often went to the hallway and sat on the floor, Ortiz said.
She said she once got written up by her boss for sitting down at an electronic device charging station for 15 minutes after she’d been on her feet for five hours without a break.
Ortiz now works for a warehouse that provides supplies to the airport, and when she needs to sit, she can.
“It’s not so strict over there. If we needed to sit down for any reason there wouldn’t be a problem,” Ortiz said.
Her former employer, Prospect Airport Services, said it adheres to all local, state, and federal labor regulations regarding breaks. “Our employees are welcome to take their breaks and meals in our designated break room or in any common-use space throughout the airport,” company spokesperson Jackie Reedy said. “This policy allows our employees to choose the location that best suits their needs.”
Unionized workers at the Barnes & Noble store in Manhattan’s Union Square have made access to chairs and the right to sit down under certain conditions a part of their negotiations for their first contract.
“The longer I’ve been at the job, I’ve started noticing knee issues, especially because we do a lot of bending down and standing back up when we’re shelving books and showing customers things and creating displays,” bookseller Bear Spiegel, 28, said. “Being able to have a stool available would be really useful just so I could rest my knees for a couple of minutes throughout the day while I’m doing things on the computer while I’m at the registers.”
Spiegel’s coworkers suggested wearing a knee brace and athletic tape, and those solutions have helped, but it’s hard for him to predict what days he’ll need the extra support because his symptoms vary each day, he said.
“There have been days that I’ve requested a stool and thankfully my managers have allowed me to take them out and use them when needed,” Spiegel said.
Barnes & Noble uses chairs or stools routinely for those working off the sales floor when it’s sensible to do so, but a lot of a bookseller’s work is done on the move, including unpacking, sorting, and shelving books, a company spokesperson said.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents about 100,000 workers, has been pushing to include in the contracts it negotiates, including at Barnes & Noble, a guaranteed right to sit during work that can be done seated, said Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president.
During one bargaining session, an employer objected to the demand. Union negotiators used a break that emptied the conference room to underline their position. “The employer came back and saw we had removed all chairs from the negotiating table,” Appelbaum said. “I think the point was made.”
In the end, the union got the chairs it wanted written into the contract, he said.
Sitting once was a protected right
Around the turn of the 20th century, most states in the U.S. had laws requiring seating for female workers. Women were increasingly entering the workforce, and there was a fear that if their jobs were too physically taxing, they might not become pregnant, said Eileen Boris, a labor historian and professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Women were seen as the “mothers of the human race, and thus we have to protect motherhood,” Boris added. “Almost every state had laws, but they weren’t enforced.”
Those laws were repealed over time because they applied only to women. One reason was that the women’s movement was pushing for equal rights, rather than special treatment, Boris said.
Labor movements in other countries were more successful in establishing requirements for seating. “The English shop movement was much stronger and had more men in it than the U.S.,” Boris said.
In 1964, the International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency, adopted workplace standards requiring employers to furnish sufficient and suitable seats, as well as reasonable opportunities for workers to use them. More than 50 countries ratified the agreement, but the U.S. was not one of them.
Today, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Wisconsin are among the states with “right to sit” laws that obligate employers to provide suitable seating for all workers, regardless of gender, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, approved an ordinance in October that requires manufacturers, retail stores, laundromats, hotels, restaurants, hairdressers, barbers, and skin care professionals to let workers sit down as long as sitting doesn’t interfere with their duties. A statewide bill also was introduced in Michigan last fall.
If you ever turned on the TV in the 2000s after midnight, you might have seen an infomercial for P90X.
The exercise program promised shredded abs and bulging biceps for anyone who pushed themselves to their limits for 90 days of 90-minute workouts. So it may come as a surprise that its creator, Tony Horton, now preaches the benefits of rest and warns against overtraining.
“I didn’t know then what I know now,” said Horton, who had spent the ’90s training celebrities. “Back then it was all about warm-ups and cool-downs, and telling them to eat better and get off the hooch.”
His evolution reflects a broader shift in the exercise industry away from a “no pain, no gain” mentality that once dominated but often led to injury. Instead, the current buzzword in fitness is “recovery.”
Horton — who at 66 still exudes a boyish exuberance — noted that P90X did include recovery days with stretching and low-impact movement such as yoga. But these days, he prioritizes mindfulness as much as exercise, and the time between workouts is filled with plenty of good sleep, plunges in frigid water baths, using foam rollers on tight muscles, relaxing in a sauna, and other activities in the name of recovery.
“If you don’t get the recovery and the rest part right, then you’re never going to be able to be consistent with the fitness end of things,” Horton said.
A more holistic approach to exercise
Before Horton, Jane Fonda had pushed home exercisers to “feel the burn,” while bodybuilders lifted weights to the point of muscle failure. Now, the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Academy of Sports Medicine, two of the largest organizations certifying personal trainers, emphasize recovery methods.
NASM’s “Fitness and Wellness” certification includes training in “holistic health and wellness including physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.”
The industry has learned from research that shows the benefit of proper rest, said Stan Kravchenko, founder of the OneFit personal training platform. During deep sleep, the body repairs muscle tissue, and studies show that well-rested people perform better and are less likely to get injured.
But rest is only part of recovery. Kravchenko said personal trainers used to focus only on specific exercises a client could do during their workout. Now, they’re more like life coaches who also give exercise advice.
“It’s more about your lifestyle, how you eat, how you sleep,” he said. “Are you stressed? What do you do for living? Are you working from a desk? So it’s taking a little bit more like a broad approach.”
Discomfort — but not pain — still has a place
The “no pain, no gain” motto is great for athletes who can handle intense workouts and are looking to get stronger, but not everyone needs to push themselves that hard, Horton said. It depends on the goal.
Michael Zourdos, chair of exercise science and health promotion at Florida Atlantic University, said lifting weights “until failure” may build bigger muscles, but isn’t needed to increase strength. “There is a difference between training for health and training for elite performance benefits,” he said.
To realize the health benefits of a workout, it’s still necessary to push yourself, Horton said: “In the muscles, the lungs, your heart, there’s gotta be a certain amount of strain.”
There is a big difference, however, between discomfort and acute pain. If discomfort crosses into sharp pain in joints, tendons, or muscles, stop that movement.
How long do muscles need to rest after a workout?
People’s needs vary depending on their goals and bodies. But Kravchencko offered a few general guidelines:
For lifting weights, he recommends allowing 48 hours of recovery time per muscle group and doing a maximum of 10 sets per muscle group per week. During the workout, he said, it’s best to rest for two to three minutes between sets, as opposed to other ld advice to wait only a minute before exercising the same muscles.
In between workouts, it’s not necessary to stay still.
“You’re welcome to do walking, jogging, very light yoga, stretching, pilates, core exercises,” Kravchencko said. “That’s all fine because it’s not specifically targeting the areas you’ve targeted before.”
Mindfulness as an exercise recovery
Horton and Kravchencko both mentioned a recovery practice not typically associated with weightlifting — meditation. Taking a few quiet minutes every morning helps you deal with the physical and emotional stress of life that can get in the way of wanting to exercise, they said.
Horton recommends establishing a mindfulness routine even before formalizing an exercise plan because it will lay the groundwork to be consistent.
“What is your strategy to get to get healthy and to get fit and to stay that way?” he said. “A lot of it has to do with letting the pendulum swing the other way.”