
Top Tips for Exercising at Your Office Desk
The Challenge
Many people who spend their time at office
desk find that they may either have trouble losing weight, staying in shape, or
they may feel as though some of their muscles are tight due to sitting at the
desk all the day.
Solutions
Some businesses actually have a gym
membership plan that either goes through their health insurance policy or their
business insurance policy. For people who do have gym memberships provided by
their company, getting exercise may not be a challenge.
However, for those who don't have this
option or simply don't have time, their only time to exercise may be at
workplace or at their office desk. There are some simple office desk workouts
that you can do right at your desk to help you lose weight, stay in shape, and
relax a little while on your job.
Deskercise
People who spend long hours sitting at
their desk or in front of a computer may find that after a while it can cause
muscle pain and lead to injury.
Shoulder muscles and neck become tense and
sometimes painful after sitting a certain way every day. The posture you have
at the workplace is the first thing you can try to fix in order to get in shape
while at your office desk.
For many office workers, the normal
posture while at workplace is having a strained neck, hunched shoulders, and
your head is slightly forward.
The posture you should have is sitting up
straight to where your shoulders are in line with your hips, and you head and
neck are in light with the rest of your body.
Achieve this by making sure your computer
screen is eye level so you aren't constantly looking down or up, causing a
strain on your neck.
Your thighs should be parallel to the
floor, so adjust your office chair to the proper height if it isn’t already.
Some people even choose to sit on an
exercise ball instead of a desk chair since it will not only help you maintain
the proper posture, but will also give your core a work out from you trying to
maintain balance and posture.
Be sure to stretch your body regularly if
you sit at your office desk for long hours.
You can do some simple neck rolls. Roll
your head down as if you are touching your chin to chest, then tilt your head
towards the right then back to the centre, repeat towards the left. You can do
these a few times to help loosen the muscles in your neck.
To stretch your shoulders and arms,
stretch the arms out, and then bend them at the elbow your hands are touching
the top of the shoulders. You can then try to touch your elbows together, and
then move them back to the side, repeat about 10 times.
From the same position, with your hands or
finger tips touching the top of your shoulders and your elbows pointed out to
the side. Proceed to pull your elbows down, then back up till they are parallel
with the floor.
Repeat this flapping motion about 10 times.
Stretch your back by grabbing your right
arm rest with your left arm, and then twist your body towards the right. Repeat
on the left. These stretching exercises should keep muscles loose and relaxed.
Who needs a Gym?!
And remember, Mayfair Cares.