Why I love my AK Racing chair
TL;DR:
- Reduced my back pain a significant amount - Helps correct my bad posture - Increased my ability to focus, and therefore my productivity - Increased my confidence on camera because I'm not constantly worrying about how I look because of my posture - Pink to match my setup - Amazing company who do great things for the community
Long version:
As a gamer, streamer, and general time-waster who spends more hours a day than I'd like to admit on my computer, I have had terrible back pain for the past 10 years, due to bad posture. The pain was constant and often kept me awake at night.
For this reason, I could not focus on ANYTHING, even gaming, because all I could think about was my pain. Throughout high school and university I could never focus on any work at home because I hated sitting at my desk, so I just wouldn't do anything. Ever. In fact, this was a large contributing factor to me dropping out of university before finishing my degree - I thought that I was just no good at studying. I even stopped playing games for a while for the same reason.
Fast forward to when I started to gain an interest in online activities. I knew that I would never be able to do these things while I hated sitting at my desk. The chair I was using at the time cost me $300. It felt great for the 30 seconds I had sat in it at the furniture store, which is why I got it, but I realise now that it was not designed to be used for long periods of time, and that's why it got very uncomfortable very quickly, and also fell apart within a few weeks.
I'd been interested in racing chairs for a while, because all of the YouTubers and streamers I watched had them, but always assumed these people were just paid to promote them, and they were no different to any other chair. But they were available in pink, which would match my setup, so of course I was interested anyway. Online reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so I decided to take the risk and buy one without ever trying one. The only decision now was which company I should go with.
I posted a tweet about struggling to decide which chair to get, and tagged a few of the chair companies. One company didn't reply at all, one company liked my tweet, and one company went above and beyond to prove to me that they deserved my business by having their community interact with me to give me personal reviews of their chairs, and showing me who they really were as a company. Obviously I don't need to tell you that the company was AK. And so my decision was made!
I took a risk and bought myself an AK chair without ever sitting on one, and I am so grateful that I did because it is one of the best purchases I've ever made. It supports my back and bum properly for correct posture, which reduces my back pain SO MUCH that I can't even begin to describe how much happier I am in general, because I'm no longer in constant debilitating pain.
The chairs are designed for people who sit at their desks for long periods of time. I don't know what the seat is made of, but it feels like some type of memory foam. You don't feel the hard metal bottom of the chair when you sit in it, and it bounces back to normal once you stand up, so the shape is not ruined. The armrests are a similar sort of bouncy foam material, and so is the AKÂ mouse pad.
I never would have thought that a piece of furniture would be such a huge contributor to my focus/productivity, and I have gotten so much more confident on camera now that I am not constantly worried about how I look because of my posture. It sounds so silly to say that a piece of furniture changed my life, but that is the truth!
I accepted the invitation to become an AK affiliate after months of using my chair, because I have so much love for this chair and this company, and I want all of my community to feel the love too. I am not paid to be an affiliate, and I will never promote a product I do not believe in. I do this because I genuinely love this chair and the company, and I am honoured to have the chance to help them grow as a company.
The team at AK Racing are huge supporters of my work, just as I am a huge supporter of theirs. They are much more than just a chair company, with their main focus being on the community. They are actively involved with charity gaming events across the country, and are huge supporters of the fast-growing esports scene in Australia.
I don't even care if you don't use my discount code (potassium), I just want this amazing company to get the business they deserve!