Small steps, big strides
Combat all that time sitting at your desk with some simple office exercises
I’ve become the “plant whisperer.” You know that person who wanders the workplace watering the office plants. It’s a small price to pay to help keep our office space green and improve our air quality. As good-intentioned as this seems, I have an ulterior motive, to increase my fitness footprint. I confess, I have been using our plants as a decoy to move more in the office without being noticed. Push-ups at my desk or even chair squats in my cubicle might look strange. But spritzing my way around the room gets me unsolicited smiles and thank-yous from my colleagues.
People are often reluctant to take breaks at work. But it’s in their best interest, and that of the employer, to incorporate breaks throughout the day. “We don’t function nearly as well if we are sedentary for long periods of time,” says Judy Springer, physical education faculty at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
“It seems that the more we sit, the more challenging it is to reach conclusions. Just taking a five-minute hallway hike helps you find the solutions you were looking for a little easier.”
Here are few ways to integrate movement at your workplace: ■ March to your own beat. If possible, stand up, march in place or look away from your monitor or smart devices for a few minutes every hour. ■ Green thumb your way around the office. Feel free to steal this one from me. Use a small water bottle for your plants so you’ll make more trips for refills, which will help you increase your daily step count. Aim for 10,000 steps a day, which is 5 miles or the equivalent of 30 minutes of exercise.
■ Hallway hikes. Mini power walks provide an opportunity to stretch and refresh your mind. Short on time? Take a colleague with you for a walking meeting. And resist the urge to look at your smart device during this time. Use these minutes to engage in one-on-one conversation.
■ Climb every mountain. In this case, that would be stairs.
Climb at least two flights. Too easy?
Create a personal challenge. You can count the number of steps it takes to climb one flight. When you get to the floor landing, do that number of wall push-ups. If you have time, climb another flight and repeat. Climb back down to your starting position.
Now add the total number of push-ups and finish off your break with an isometric wall squat. If you did a total of 20 push-ups along the way, that’s the amount of seconds you should try to hold that position against the wall.
Here’s how to do that wall squat: With your back and hips against the wall, drop your knees to about 90 degrees and hold for 20 seconds.
Now bust a move back to your desk. ■ Stand up and sit down. Not feeling the stair climb series, but still looking for a quick no-sweat cardio challenge, do stand to sit for 10-15 reps at your desk.
If your chair has wheels on it, like most office chairs, turn the chair around so that the back of the chair is resting against your desk to prevent it from moving. ■ Seated leg extensions. Seated at your desk with your legs at 90 degrees, extend the right leg straight out and hold for 2 counts. Bring leg back and repeat for 10-12 repetitions. Repeat movement with left leg for the same number of reps. Do two sets.
■ Arm circles. This exercise is great for improving your posture while also toning your shoulders. It can be done seated or standing. Let’s try this one standing tall with shoulders back, feet about hip-width apart with knees soft or slightly bent.
Add a core component to the mix as you tighten or contract your stomach muscles throughout the movement. Now raise your arms out to the side to create a T-shape with your body.
With your palms facing down, slowly move both arms in a circular motion without rotating your wrists or elbows. Do 20 to 25 slow arm circles. ■ Lower-back rotational
stretch. Sitting for long periods of time places tremendous pressure on the spine.
Lower-back rotational stretches can help relieve tension and stiffness that comes with prolong periods of sitting.
Here’s how the stretch is done: Seated on a chair with feet flat on the floor, place both hands on the seat of the right side of your chair (this will be the direction that you will be turning your upper body), gently twist your upper body toward the right so that your shoulders rotate to one side. Moving slowly, only go as far as is comfortable for your range of motion.
Hold stretch for 20-30 seconds or 10 breaths. Return to starting position. Repeat stretch on the left side.