Would you believe that you can get fit at work? Well, it’s true! You can do exercises without ever leaving your desk! While they won’t give you rock-hard abs anytime soon, you can beat some of that office flab.
Subtle Exercises
- Sit and Stand–no hands allowed! If you have an office or high enough cubicle walls, no one should notice you doing this. Just stand and sit without the help of your hands for 20 reps. This can actually be rather challenging because we’ve used our hands so often!
- Sit on an exercise ball. You can strengthen many muscles just by the way you sit. So swap out your chair for an exercise ball and watch your legs and back lose their flab! It takes a lot of work to stay balanced. (Note: we don’t recommend this in tandem with the above step!)
- Shake your head. Doing this slowly and repeatedly can help ease neck pain. You can ask yourself silly questions while you do this too, just to relieve mental tension, too!
- Make air circles. Making fists, stick out both arms in front of you. Then rotate your arms in small circles ten times. Reverse. Shake it all out.
- Shrug. Not just for meetings anymore! Inhale as you lift your shoulders up to your ears. Hold. Then release and drop. Repeat this three times.
- Leg extensions. This one looks a little bit silly, but it’s easy to hide under a desk. Hold the sides of your chair for stability and stretch out your legs in front of you, holding them parallel to the floor. Point and flex your toes five times. Let your legs release back to the floor. Repeat.
- Stretch your back. Give yourself a “hug” by putting your right hand on your left shoulder and vice versa. Inhale deeply and exhale slowly. This releases the tension in your back between your shoulder blades.
Get up and walk!
Even these exercises won’t substitute for getting up and walking around on your breaks. Go take a short walk around the building, if you can’t go too far. You can also:
- Take the stairs instead of an elevator
- Park further away by small increments, training yourself to walk more
- Walk or bike to work or the bus/train station
- Walk over to a colleague instead of sending an email
We’ve got other tips for staying healthy at work! Check out these 5 tips for your upcoming work week.