Getting Active at Your Desk this Summer
It is that time of year when we’re digging out our swimming costumes and thinking, hmm, maybe I should looked into that bikini diet.
Of course, last minute dieting isn’t the healthiest way to live. In fact, remarkable new research suggests we’ve actually reduced our calorie intake in the UK. We’re spending more on food, but we’re swapping the suet pudding for sushi and superfood salads. So that leaves exercise.
There are things we can do every day to compensate for a sedentary office based lifestyle. To start with, take the stairs. Even if you only use them to go down, it can help to encourage colleagues to ditch the lift.
You can also meet on the move. Feel like you’re living out an American legal drama by ditching the boardroom to walk and talk. Standing desks can be tough on your legs to start with, but can be great for your waist size. If that’s a step to far, how a game of musical chairs?
If these seem a little too cardio for you, here are five exercises you can do in the office that your colleagues will hardly notice you doing.
- Place your hands on the armrests, suck in your stomach and raise yourself a few inches above the seat. Use your abdominal muscles and hands. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds. Repeat five times.
- Extend one leg out straight in front of you while seated. Hold for three seconds - then raise it up as high as you can. Hold it again for another three seconds. Repeat with each leg 15 times.
- Set a reminder to stretch your arms back as if you were trying to grab a pencil between your shoulder blades every 15 minutes.
- When you take a break from your desk, ideally at least once an hour, hold the door frame on each side and walk forward until you feel a stretch in your chest.
- While you are waiting for the kettle to boil, h your hips and gently extend your back by bending backward.