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I’m not an exercise buff by any means — the most I do is yoga three times a week, and that’s when I’m REALLY disciplined about it. Most of the time my schedule (working from home + parenting a small child = I’m all over the place) makes regular yoga attendance a challenge. Despite the challenges, I still like activity — even while I’m sitting at my desk for a few hours. To combat the overall feeling of ick that I generally get, I created this series of small exercises to do to keep my circulation up and spirit happy.
You only need hand weights (I use two pound ones) and a 2×3 foot area you can sit and stand in — everything else is on you. The exercises are pretty simple — think lunges, arm lifts, and crunches.
Here’s what I do:
Arm Lifts: 3 minutes
I do three sets of arm lifts on each arm. First, I pick up a weight, hold my arm straight in front of me with my thumb facing up. Then I bring my arm toward my face thirty times. In the next lift I hold my arm out (still holding the weight) with my palm facing down and bring my arm into my chest thirty times. In the final lift I hold my arm over my head, bend it at the elbow behind my head, and bring it back up straight — thirty times. Then I repeat with the other arm!
Lunges: 2 minutes
I do three kinds of lunges as well. The first is a basic lunge, which I do 30 times on each leg:
The second is a side lunge, which I do 15 times on each leg:
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The third is really a squat, but still kind of lunge-y (I do these 30 times as well):
Crunches: 1 minute
I like tuck crunches, and I try to do them for sixty seconds. I don’t always succeed:
Again: the whole point of this isn’t to become buff or even toned — I have no idea if I’m doing much more than just giving myself a boost a couple of times a day. All of the exercises are easy to do in what I’m usually wearing while working (jeans and a shirt). I try to do each of these at least twice, with a goal of doing them four times in a four hour period. They take next to no time, but I always feel a little more ready to approach a problem or work on a piece after I’m finished.
And if you don’t like these ideas… you can always do what my husband does. IF you happen to have a 30 pound kid handy:
While I’d probably get crazy looks for doing lunges in my cube, I’ll have to give the arm weights a try!
HA! It’s not quite the same, but one day I was doing these while my almost 3 year old was eating lunch. He looked over and said “Are you exercising?” and I was like “Yeah! Exercising is awesome!” and he GIGGLED and said “You’re so funny.”
How much weight do the golf clubs add? lol
Nice to know someone else does this too! When I get home after work, I try to do a similar routine. My only additions are 25 – 50 tummy lifts (lift your feet up by 6″ and your head/shoulders up by 6″ at the same time, hold for a bit and drop), arm reps with small weights, 50 full sit ups, leg lifts (forward, side and back) and jumping jacks.
After sitting around all day in a cubical, it’s nice to be able to move around a bit. Also, I’m actually starting to lose weight, when I follow it up with cardio (walk, marching in place, run, skateboard, w/e).
As if the ladies at work didn’t already thunk I’m nuts for chair dancing at work. 🙂
CHAIR DANCING FOR THE WIN!!!!!!
Sometimes when it’s quiet at work I do bicep curls with heavy textbooks. Or I pull latin dance moves in the stacks when no one is around O_O
I’m totally going to try this at work during my graveyard shifts.
SNAP! I do press up with my almost 2 year old on my back, her choice not mine but I like that it makes them harder. Glad to see I’m not the only one 🙂
I tried these this morning – I’m in a cubicle with a door all day at work so I may start implementing these every hour or so since no one’s going to be able to judge, lol. I get so tired of sitting around all the time, and I really am trying to exercise more.
i need to do these! i was just marveling at your arms, mine are kinda jello-y. thank you, thank you, thank you for dropping some exercise science.
I love the idea of these, but would feel odd in front of my coworkers. One thing I’ve been doing though that helps: stairs.
I’m in an 18 story building, so one of my coworkers and I walk down to the bottom, then back to the very top, and then all the way down again. It’s so re-energizing for me!