Exercises You Can Do at Your Desk
The most common excuse you’ll hear from friends and family as to why they don’t exercise more is usually going to be something about their lack of time to work out. But that doesn’t have to be as limiting a factor as they make it out to be, especially if they work an office job or at a desk in general.
You may be spending most of your time at your desk buried in emails or checking on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with the latest gossip, but that doesn’t mean you have to remain completely stationary. Our lives are spent mostly sitting down, so learning to keep active while you’re on your butt will provide a great many benefits, as according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 3.2 million deaths can be attributed to lack of physical activity. On average, we spend about 9.5 hours a day sitting. Compare that to the 7.5 hours of sleep we are getting on average, we are doing a lot of sitting.
Thankfully, short bouts of aerobics, strength exercises, and stretching in between your work can help improve your general fitness and heart health. And while you may not end up the next Mr. Olympia exercising at your desk, burning a few extra calories and any improvement of strength should be a welcome opportunity.
How to Stretch at Desk
Like any good exercise, it should start with stretching. It’s pretty simple when it comes to the movements you can do at the desk, like for your neck you can sit up tall and an ear towards one of your shoulders and hold it for a few seconds before repeating to the other side.
Next you can interlace your fingers and reach up towards the sky, with your palms facing upward as you turn your head to the left or right and hold the position for a few seconds before switching up to the other side.
For your midsection, Sit up tall and extend your right arm all the way up towards the ceiling. Straighten your left leg out and raise it up as you bring your right arm down and try to touch your left foot. Do 8–10 on each side.
And, finally, for your lower body you can do something as simply as taking a bent knee, lift your right leg up and grab it with your arms and pull it in as close to your chest as you can. Hold for 5–10 seconds and make sure and do it on the left side, too.
Deskercises
Of course, to start with I have to point out the obvious; you can walk, jog, or even run in place, and it’s just as simple as it sounds. Stand up from your desk when have thirty seconds to spare and do one of those three for three to five sets of that amount of time. And to top it off, you’re in control of the intensity. If you want a bigger challenge, lift your knees to your chest with each step.
Next we have push-ups, but not off the floor. You don’t want to trust any floor that’s not your own. Besides the floor you can do these on the wall, or the edge of your desk. Ten reps for three sets should be more than enough to elevate your heart rate and get the muscles of your chest and arms stimulated.
Squats. Not much else to say. Stand up from your chair, sit back down, for sets of ten to twelve at a time. If you want to add in another good workout for your rear while you sit, add in a glute squeeze; just as simple as flexing your butt as hard as you can and holding it for ten to thirty seconds.
This is just a sampling to show you how entirely possible it is for you to get a complete workout from your chair at home, but there’s plenty of other exercises you can modify to burn those calories while at the office, so get creative when you’re doing your workouts.
