Instead of sitting at your desk hunched over all day and every day. How about we put some of that computer time to good use. Even though working our at your desk won’t give you the sweatiest workout of all time, it could give you one of the most important workouts you can do for yourself. Working out doesn’t mean you need to sweat buckets in order for them to be effective. It is the micro-workouts that really focus in on the supporting muscle fibers and ligaments. It is these smaller mechanics in the body that are extremely critical to be strong too in order to support your large muscles that tend to power your body through the sweaty workouts you love so much.
Abs Tucks
While you are sitting at your desk plugging away at tasks, you can easily accomplish thousands of ab tucks. As much as we say this, we are completely aware that you probably won’t do thousands. Give yourself mini goals of doing about 25 ab tucks at a time. To perform ab tucks, all you will need to do is sit up straight, pull your abs into your spine, hold for a moment and then release. You can also do these sneaky little buggers while driving or at dinner while waiting for your meal to arrive.
Calf Raises
Another great sneaky exercise to accomplish while sitting at your desk is working on your calves. Some people isolate their calves in the gym by performing calf raises, but there are plenty of people that don’t as well. A way to keep the smaller muscles in the calves strong to support the rest of your legs is to do calf raises. The thing about calf raises is that you have to do higher repetitions to make them effective. Start by sitting in your chair with your feet flat on the ground. Raise your feet up on their toes and squeeze. Aim for 50 repetitions at a time, if your calves aren’t burning by the 50th repetition then keep going. If this still isn’t challenging enough, then do them while standing.
Glute Squeezes
Probably the funniest one to others walking by are glute squeezes. They are funny to others because it just looks like you are moving up and down in small increments while at your desk. The idea here is to really practice squeezing the glutes. A lot of the time when people perform lower body exercises they neglect squeezing their glutes. The movement can be difficult enough that they forget to take the moment to squeeze the glutes. Try sitting in your chair and squeezing your glutes. Hold each squeeze for a moment before releasing. Perform about 25 repetitions at a time.
Arm Presses
For this micro-workout, you will need a chair that has arms on it. The idea with this one is that you are going to push yourself up and try to levitate your body off of your chair. Sitting upright in your chair, take your arms and press your hands into the arms of the chair. Press until your arms are straight. You can allow as much of your body to come off of the ground as you want. If it is too hard to completely levitate, keep your feet on the ground. You’ll want to slowly lower yourself back down to the chair to work on the eccentric part of the exercise too!
Lower Ab Contractions
Sitting in your chair, lift both legs off the seat, as if you were tucking your knees into your chest. Lower your feet, stopping just short of the floor and hold for several seconds. Then repeat. This will really target your lower abdominals that can easily get neglected in our exercise routines, yet are extremely critical for your whole body to work optimally as a whole.
Have you ever tried to exercise at your desk? Doing some exercises at your desk can relieve back pain, keep headaches away, and keep you focused on your work longer throughout the day.
