The holidays are upon us. It is the time for cakes, pies, and stuffed turkey. We are all concerned about our questionable eating habits, our sedentary lifestyle, and not having enough time to workout because of: errands to run, kids to pick up, gatherings to attend, trash to take out, and Christmas trees to set up. We imagine going into the new year with renewed spirits, hopefully picking up on the yearly resolutions we’ve dropped in the middle of the year.

People are busier than ever during the holidays. And they find themselves having less time to exercise. That, coupled with sitting in an office chair for 8 hours a day (sometimes more), can put you at risk for obesity as well as a myriad of  other health  problems including back pain, tense muscles, leg cramps, and  poor posture among others.

According to a study done by the Mayo Clinic prolonged sitting can cause “obesity and metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. Too much sitting also seems to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

I don’t mean to  scare you. And, NO, I don’t  mean you should throw away a perfectly good desk and swap it out for a standing desk (although you might want to consider it). I  just  mean that you should try to squeeze in as much exercise as you can because, office workers sit too much. Aside from sitting all day at our desks, we sit during our commute both ways, or sit in the car, or spend our evenings sitting in front of the TV. You can see where this is going, right?

But don’t fret! There are  exercises that you can do at work. These are exercises that are designed to be performed discretely at your desk. The operative word is discretely. Be considerate and mindful of your co-workers. Although I’m sure they will be very supportive of your efforts towards fitness and getting enough exercise, they won’t appreciate you taking out the dumbbells and busting a move to “Eye  of the Tiger” on full volume.

Here’s a video from Gulshan Physiotherapy Fitness Center of the Best Exercises To Do At Your Desk.

Aside from these exercises that you can do without leaving your desk, I also encourage you to try these activities:

Wander around:

Walk to the window and enjoy the view. Walk around the office and stretch your legs. Walk to the water cooler. Say hi to your cubicle mates and office desk neighbors. Don’t stay  too long though, these things could turn into a gossip session and you want to increase your productivity not decrease it.

Tap Tap Tap:

You don’t need music to tap those toes (although it would be nice if you do). Try this mini exercise with maximum benefits: Stand in front of a small trashcan and lift up those legs to tap the toes on its edge, alternating feet, in soccer-drill fashion.

Take the Stairs:

How often do we often hear this bit of advice? We hear it all the time, right? But why don’t we ever see more people using the stairs? Seriously, take the stairs already. If you really want to up the ante on this workout, you can skip the steps or do lunges.

If you’re more into yoga stretches and low impact exercises, you might want to try the yoga flow  exercises in this video: 

Set yourself up to win by creating calendar reminders or alarms to remind you to take an exercise break. You can also do it old school by sticking mini post-its around your workstation. If you’re feeling conscious, you can look for an empty conference room and exercise there.

Do you have other tips that are not on this list? Let us know. Stay humble and hustle hard!

 

Written by JaieO.- The Help