Best Exercises You Can Do At Your Desk

The following guest post was contributed by Christine Howell who frequently writes about Online Health Care Degrees and other college related topics for Online College Guru, an online college directory and comparison website

Although lack of motivation is a big deterrent to exercise, finding the time to incorporate it into a busy schedule is even greater.
When you are already stretching minutes to their limit between work and family, it is important that exercise can be done without adding stress to an overloaded routine. What many haven’t discovered is that exercise can be added in small increments throughout the workday. Some of the best exercises you can do at your desk are simple, but extremely effective. The next time you have a break between projects, try a few of these ideas to tone muscles, burn calories, and reduce stress.

Upper Body

• Choose the heaviest book on your desk. Using both hands, press straight up. Lower to head and repeat until arms tire.
• Place arms by your side. Reach backward as you squeeze shoulder together. Make small circles, both forward and backward while counting to ten. Relax and repeat three times.
• Sitting on your desk chair, bend forward from the waist. Put hands together in a fist. Swing straightened arms to the left and right like a pendulum. Count to ten, relax, and repeat.
• Do neck rolls and shoulder shrugs to relax muscles.

Lower Body

• Turn desk chair to the side. Lift both legs straight out with toes pointed and feet together. Briskly move feet up and down in a seesaw motion for one minute.
• Placing the feet flat on the floor and keeping the toes on the floor at all times, alternately lift heels in a running motion. Continue the movement for thirty seconds. Relax and repeat.
• Using the seat of the chair to balance, do chair lunges by placing one foot on the floor with the knee at a ninety degree angle and moving the other foot backward beside the chair, reaching for the back chair leg. Repeat with the other leg on the other side of the chair. Aim for five lunges on each side.
• Place a book or magazine between knees and squeeze them together as tightly as possible. Hold to a count of ten, relax, and repeat ten times.
• Stand and hold one leg out to the side for ten seconds without holding on to the desk. Alternating legs, repeat ten times.

These suggestions are just the starting point of what a creative person can do to find time for fitness. The best exercises you can do at your desk will fit your particular work environment and are just waiting to be discovered. Using these ideas as a starting point, you can develop an office fitness plan that you can do in one thirty minute segment or in six five minute periods. Exercise will then be adding to your day, not taking from it.

Tags: exercise, fitness, work

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