The Wall Sit: Who in Their Right Mind Invented This Thing?

Exercising is good. I’ve always loved to exercise. In my teens and 20s, I typically exercised five or six days a week, several hours a day. I was one of those young moms who would plop my baby across my shins and ankles while lying on my back to do leg lifts, or chat and giggle with my toddlers as they played on blankets while I hopped around to my daily dose of aerobics music and videos in our living room. Those were good times. Those were fun times. I was strong and healthy and fit.

I’m still strong and healthy and fit, 10 kids and several decades later. I still exercise. I still enjoy exercising. I have learned new styles of exercise from my teen-athlete children. These new fitness trends are known as core exercises and they strategically focus on various body parts with isometric style movements to build strength, endurance and muscle. Then, there are power sessions. This is where you go through repetitions of several challenging movements for 30 seconds to a minute each in order to get your heart rate up and build strength.

Nowadays, I have a basic exercise schedule that varies somewhat from day-to-day although the overall exercises I do in a typical week remain the same. It only takes me a half hour or so (not counting running, which I try to do a few days a week as well) and it helps energize me for my day ahead and keeps me feeling fit.

There’s one little exercise in this modern routine, however, that is pretty much the bane of my existence.

Have you ever used a product or witnessed a device or program or system that left you wanting to meet its designer in order to give an in-person shout out and thank him or her for a fabulous invention? Yeah, well, with this little exercise, I feel exactly opposite. I’d like to meet the person who invented it alright, but not to thank him (or her). My comments would be more on the line of, “What were you thinking?” or “Was your childhood goal to grow up and become the enemy of all mankind?”.

If you’ve ever tried a wall sit, you understand my point. If you’re one of the people who claim they can perform this exercise for infinite amounts of time “without any problem,” I’m pretty sure you’re not doing it right.

My exercise routine typically places “The Wall Sit” directly after lunges. (Seriously? How painful can you get?) If you’re not familiar with the wall sit, it’s a strength, endurance and muscle building move where you stand with your back to a wall and your feet a few inches away from the baseboard. Then, you slide down the wall as though you are sitting on a very low chair and you stay there. Like, forever.

Within my weekly routine, the longest wall sit listed is 60 seconds. I have yet to achieve this. My PR (personal record in Cross Country and Track and Field language) is 50 seconds, at which point I find myself needing to confess the spew of hateful things toward the exercise and its inventor that come out of my mouth. In fact, I’m fairly certain my kids know when I’m almost done exercising when they hear my yelling, “I hate this thing. Who on earth invented it and WHY do I do it every day?!”

After I cool down, drink a nice, tall, cold glass of water kefir and take a shower, I remember why I do it: because exercising is good and I love exercising. (Although if the military is looking for new forms of torturous challenges to throw at its recruits, the wall sit should be at the top of the list.)

Writer Bio:  Judy Dudich