Q&A Wednesday: Doing It At The Desk

Ahem… we’re talking about exercise, here:

Q: Hey girl, I love your blog and I subscribed to get them by email b/c I have an office job for 9 hours a day.  I was wondering if you could do a post with exercises that can be performed at the desk in the office during breaks or anytime. I am thinking you could use a water bottle, a towel, and your chair.

I love this question. Really, I do.

As a single parent, I was pretty limited in my resources as far as quality workout time. Sure, there’s a gym in my apartment complex that I could take my little one to, but there’s always that time frame in the year where everyone is in the gym. Having people trip over or run into her stroller… wasn’t working for me. My answer to this was simple: formulate a workout plan that I can execute at home, and if it didn’t require me to purchase any products, that’s even better. I’d imagine the limitations are similar at the office, with the added issue of limiting the amount of sweating going on. I was extremely successful using this kind of workout, so hopefully my little bit of insight can help.

I’ve written a little about this before, three of the ways that I really took advantage of what I had at home to get fit. However, in the spirit of this week’s “Ten More Minutes” challenge, how’s about I give you ten new exercises to get into right at your desk or in your office. Pack a lunch, close your office door, use ten minutes to get in these exercises and the other 20 (or 50, whatever you’ve got) to enjoy your lunch!

• Triceps: Dumbbell Kickbacks (uses a water bottle)
• Dumbbell Bicep Curl (uses a water bottle)
• Good Mornings (uses a broomstick or tall umbrella or a tightly-pulled towel)
• Steam Engines
• 8 Count Lunge and Squat
• The Superman
• Seated Calf Raise
• Vertical Jumping Jacks
• Standing Oblique Twists

Pick a couple to do each day and if you couple them with proper stretches afterwards, that’s a great way to make use of your ten minutes!