Working from Home for longer these days? Workout at your desk with these simple office exercises
Being at home more means you're also tempted to work more? Try a few of these clever alternatives to keep your strength and fitness training going between zoom meetings.
Under-desk leg extensions
Bring some ankle weights into work and slip them on once you’re seated at your desk. Whenever you have a few minutes, lift your legs up to horizontal and hold them there, without bending your back or holding on to the chair or desk for a great core workout. Try 3 sets of 10 reps, holding for 15 seconds per leg, with one minute of rest between each set.
The chair arm and abs lift
If you’ve got a stable chair with arms, hold on to the arms while you’re sitting down and lift your bottom off the seat. Try 3 sets of 10 reps, holding each rep for 5/10 secs with 1 minute of rest between sets. In terms of progression, increase the time by 5 seconds, or increase the number of sets and if need be you can add ankle weights to your legs to add further resistance.
Bottle bells
Take two large bottles of water with you as you walk and wait for the printer to fire up, then use them for bicep curls and lunges as you go. Try 3 sets of 15-second bursts with 45 seconds rest. In terms of progression, increase each set by 5 seconds, or increase the number of sets to 4 or 5.
Seated isometrics
Try focusing on one particular muscle, and tense it up fully without causing any of your joints or limbs to move. Hold each contraction for approximately 3-5 seconds on full tension, then relax. Start with muscles by your ankles and lower legs, then move up the body muscle by muscle. This will cause a maximal effect in the muscle without anybody being able to see you move at all: exercise in disguise. Just don’t let your face give the game away!
