  Get up from your desk as many times as possible. (Comstock) |
Our careers often take up a lot of our time, leaving precious hours to be spent with family and friends. Often exercising for an hour or two before or after work seems impossible. However, what if we could get in shape while at work or take just a few minutes before and after our day?
Art MacDonald offers us a few of his expert tips on how to achieve this. “These are some of the things I would recommend,” he says. “They're pretty basic, but quite effective.
Before work:
If at all possible – get out of your car! Very few of us have the opportunity to ride a bike, or walk to work. If you’re one of the lucky ones that can spend 20 – 40 minutes commuting by bike or foot versus spending 10 – 20 minutes by car then take advantage of it. The added calorie expenditure over a year can add up to 20 lbs of weight loss. Even if you have to commute by car most of the way, but can park a little farther away from your building, it can make a significant difference over time. It’s up to you to decide if getting those early morning emails done 15 minutes earlier is worth the extra 10 lbs you’re carrying.
At work:
Once you’ve decided on your career, it’s tough to gain control over the physical activity portion of your work day. If you’re a day care worker, you’re probably on your feet all day – great for burning calories. If you’re an office worker, you’re probably chained to a desk all day – horrible for burning calories.
Having said that, there are a few things we can do to keep the muscles active throughout the day:
1. Sit on an exercise ball instead of your chair. I know this sounds corny however there are some significant benefits if you simply do it a couple of hours/day or 1 or 2 days per week. Keeping your balance on an exercise ball requires active core muscles.
Your posture must be strong the entire time. It involves a little extra work from our torso muscles. The extra little bit of activity these muscles perform over a long period of time has direct benefits with calorie expenditure. In addition, our stabilizing muscles will be more efficient with day-to-day activities.
2. Go for a quick walk at lunch. 20 minutes of walking during your lunch can add up to 10 lbs of weight loss in a year. That may not seem like much on a week-to-week basis but if you’re able to think about the long term benefits (buying a new summer wardrobe next year because you’re 10 lbs lighter) it is certainly worthwhile.
The indirect benefits to increasingly your blood flow for a brief period are countless as well. Decreased stress level, increase work performance etc…
3. Get up from your desk as many times as possible. Take frequent breaks throughout the day. You won’t notice a direct benefit to the way your body looks but you’ll feel significantly better and have more energy. It’s a paradox – the more energy you burn, the more you’ll have.
4. If you have the opportunity to take several small breaks throughout the day, you can think about bringing an exercise tube with you. It only takes about 2 minutes to get a great biceps workout finished, or a couple of more minutes to work on shaping the shoulders. The exercises are countless and you can get a lot done in just a few minutes.
There are countless individuals who love to hit the gym or go for a walk after work or after dinner. That’s fantastic. It’s a great lifestyle. If you haven’t got the time for that however, try to take advantage of some spare moments in and around the work day. Not only will you keep the weight off, but you won’t have to feel guilty about winding down your day in front of a movie and bowl of popcorn. Your activity was taken care of at work!
