Sneaking in exercise at the office doesn’t need to be complicated. There are several fitness activities you can do to all day long without annoying the boss.
Activity in the Office
This first suggestion isn’t new, but try doing it a new way. Instead of sending an email to the co-worker down the hall – deliver the message in person. The twist is this; make a game out of HOW you walk there. Walk with legs stepping high or do a funny run/walk routine. Watch the Monty Python video for fun ideas. You can get all your co-workers involved in this one! Maybe even have a “funny walk office challenge” where the person with the best walk wins a prize!
Other things you can do is add office errands to the list of exercise opportunities. Do you need to go to the stationary cabinet for some pens? Take the long way. Rather than taking the short and direct route, walk the full parameter of the office first. Maybe take a trip down the stairs first.
Don’t worry about sweating. You do not need to work up a sweat to get the blood pumping. If you are concerned with working up a sweat then a inner layer of active clothing next to your skin will help. You can bring a change of active wear undergarment or a full change of clothes.
Make every day a step challenge. Use your fitbit, iPhone app, or similar to measure your steps all day. Each week, add more steps to your goal for progressive fitness and activity results. If you do have a change of undergarments then maybe you can speed it up a bit. The faster you go, the more steps you can fit in.
Exercises at Your Desk
Office Abdominal Exercise
Sitting in a chair all day is hard on your circulatory system. The blood doesn’t get to move about and deliver all its healing and nourishing power. To combat this (sitting disease) you need to get into motion. You can get a total body workout without leaving the cubical. For toning your abdominal muscles at your desk you can use your ball chair or do abdominal exercises in your office chair.
To get a full core workout while sitting, take the ball off the ball chair frame and do some simple core movements. Be sure to sit up with shoulders back. Tighten your ab muscles by focusing on pulling in your bellybutton. When you are comfortably balanced then lift one foot slightly off the floor – without bending your body forward. This one small activity is working your muscles to try and maintain balance.
Office Exercise for Glutes
This is a new twist on chair squats. Skootch to the edge of your seat and lean slightly forward. Then (without using your arms to help) lift your body slightly off the chair. Hold it no more than 2″ off the chair and squeeze your buttocks together. If you find it hard to lift yourself only a couple of inches then try to do this on a “negative” squat. A negative is the return of an exercise. In this case you would stand up and then slowly sit back down – stopping just above your chair seat and hold and squeeze.
Another great glute activity you can do in your cubical is to first stand up. You will need a little bit of room to do this. Make sure you have at least 4′ space in front and behind.
Standing straight with shoulders back and bellybutton in, lift one leg just off the floor by slightly bending your knee. Now squeeze the buttocks together and at the same time you will bend your body forward and raise your leg behind you. You may need to reach out with your arms to maintain balance. When doing this activity be sure to keep the pelvis level.
Free Weight Desk Toning Exercises
Having a set of dumbbells is a a fantastic idea so you can work your body parts at work. If you don’t want a set of dumbbells try using water bottles or cans of food. You can use water or sand in the bottles. Do the same types of exercises you would do at the gym. Shoulder press, bicep curls, and tricep kick backs are just three of the useful exercises you can do at the office.
Bicep curls with water bottles – stand away from your desk and hold equal size water bottles in each hand. Stand erect, shoulders back and navel in. With your arms at the side curl them at the elbow for a full motion bicep curl. If you only have one water bottle then do one arm at a time.
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