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5 Exercises You Could Do At Your Workplace

By Soumik Ghosh
2 minute office stretching exercises to stay energized all day; Watch Video | Boldsky

You totally love your job! It's interesting and rewarding at the same time. But what you're not realizing is the fact that it also might end up being hazardous to your health. Let us explain why.

Office spaces are usually built to require minimal movements, making it easy for you to be more productive but easier to gain weight. Even before you realize it, you've added some 50 pounds on your frame.

exercises to do at your desk

And, that's not the end of it. Alongside increasing weight, desk jobs also come with risks of back and neck pains, and can also result in a general loss of muscle tone.

We also cannot overlook another serious disadvantage of office work-stress. It's stress that, in the long run, leads to depression, myriad cardiovascular disease and lack of energy.

So how do we tackle these grave adverse effects of the 9-to-5 routine? The answer is simple-exercise. With a bunch of smart workplace-workouts you can actually make the best use of your limited hours.
Blend it with a bit of creativity, and you can take great advantage of those few minutes prior to hanging deadlines. But then, the challenges step in while making up the time for it.

So, if you're stuck in your cubicle all day or can only get away for not over a couple of minutes at a time, what could be some covert ways to fit in some movement in your work day? We're here to answer.

Here Are 5 Exercises You Could Do At Your Work Place:

1. Loaded Stair Ascension
2. Just Walk It Off
3. Exercise In Meetings
4. Isometric Contractions
5. Shadowbox Once In A While

1. Loaded Stair Ascension:

The staircase at your office can come handy for simple walking or sprints. You can also try climbing the stairs while carrying something heavy, say a box of printer paper. Or turn the simple stair walk into a walking stair lunge by skipping a step or two as you climb.

You can, as well, change how you hold the weight; it can be overhead with two hands, or overhead with a single hand, or in a front rack position, on shoulder, or simply stretched out in front of you.

2. Just Walk It Off:

Moving around for an hour can burn up to as much as 40% of that chicken-rice lunch you just had. So choose to walk up to your colleagues over calling or mailing them to relay messages.

If you need to convey 30 messages or so in a day, and you walk for two minutes at each go, you'll add up to one hour's worth of walking, burning 250 calories there.

3. Exercise In Meetings:

Rather than zoning out when one dreary meeting starts to drag, you can make good use of the extra time you get by doing a set of seated leg lifts. How?

All you need to do is hold on to the armrests while you position your rear end on the edge of the chair. Then lean on your backrest, raise both feet off ground, straighten your legs and just hold the same position for two seconds.

After that, slowly lower your feet, but remember not to let them touch the ground until you're done with the set. You just did one rep. Continue them as slowly and as controlled as you can, and try doing three sets of five minutes each.

4. Isometric Contractions:

Most of you might still not be aware of it but voluntary contraction of your muscles (as hard as you can) and holding it can enhance both strength and size.

There was a study done in 2013 where researchers asked the trainees to hold their elbow at 90 degree and flex the biceps and triceps as hard as possible for four seconds followed by four seconds of rest.

They did the same for 5 sets of 10 contractions, thrice a week for 12 weeks. Post 12 weeks, trainees had not only increased their extension and flexion strength, but had also added 4% to the size of their biceps and triceps.

It's not mandatory to follow this particular routine, but executing a few contractions during downtime can do wonders to keep your muscles primed. Also, try doing the same with your legs.

5. Shadowbox Once In A While:

Even if you don't box quite often, sometimes, at the end of a day, just stand up and shadowbox for 15 minutes straight. Back it up with 50 push-ups, spread out in two sets, before getting back to hammering that keyboard.

Even though it's just a short workout, you can't overlook that feeling of endorphins. As a bonus, you've burnt 250 calories too.

If you're at a liberal workplace of non-judgemental coworkers, why not do a few lunges in the corner while the rest of your team sits around a conference table? Keep a kettlebell under your desk and lift it every time you take a phone call.

We understand that in a stringent 9-5 lifestyle it's very difficult to make time for exercise. Use these 5 methods to turn your office into an amaeteur mini-gym.

What do you do at work to keep yourself moving? Share it with us in the comments section below.

Read more about: workout work exercise health