Simple Workplace Exercises

by Guest Author

A sneaky and productive way to exercise at work can alleviate strain, assist circulation, and build a better after hours life due to increased muscle stimulation and relief from sedentary work. These tricky ways to carve workout time from work hours could just save your physique from permanent flab.

1. Stairways

Use the physical makeup of your workplace to supply your workout route. Find a stairway in your building or one nearby. Access the highest floor using an elevator and head for the fire stairs. Walk down as many floors as you can. Reverse the process. Keep shock absorbing tennis shoes in your desk drawer and zip out for a break instead of scarfing a muffin.

2. Ab Walls

Stand back to a wall, holding paperweights flat against the wall palms side up. Keep lower back tenses against wall while raising one leg bent at the knee 45 degrees. Work each iteration into a fluid exercise that pulls the leg high against the abdominals and core. This should activate core muscles that get stultified sitting in a chair all day with lax posture.

Make sure your shoes have a steady grip on the floor surface or carpet. Pull tailbone back against wall, flexing abdominal muscles against inner stomach toward wall. Relax. Repeat, and concentrate on using abs and core, not shoulders and arms against the wall. In time, practice doing these with one knee bent and one foot over other leg, as though sitting in a chair. Reverse.

3. Wall Wriggle

The wall wriggle takes concentration and effort. This exercise improves core and obliques but works the abdominal area too. Use a smooth shirt and find a wall with clean paint or a easy sliding finish. Standing against wall, bend knees to 90 degree position, using leg muscles. Keep arms relaxed and at sides, poised for balance.

Slowly regain standing position, keeping your tail section against the wall the whole way. It’s a lot harder than it looks. Knees and ankles should be kept firm. This exercise concentrates muscles and circulation to lower back and alleviates stress that collects there from extended seated periods with little exercise or posture relief.

4. Floor Snake


The floor snake looks undignified but shows results. Lay a flat plastic tablecloth or yoga mat on the floor. Do a few sit ups with the best form you can muster to warm up and tone abdominals and obliques for the floor snake. These moves should be done with no movement below the hips.

Relax back against floor, extending arms with closed fists against sides. Tense neck upward and hold head off floor, hold five beats. Repeat 5 times. Relax neck back against floor. Turn head with chin, pivoting across the top against the floor back and forth. With neck loosened, brace shoulder with arms extended open palmed.

Constrict sideways one arm toward hip. Outward arm stays extended, palm out. Hips and legs do not move. Concentrate on core and abdominals working the motion. With practice, pull knees up and repeat. Alternate with other side. Increase the amount you can do without relaxing back against floor over time.

5. Weighted Work

Enforced idleness and prolonged sitting during demonstrations, presentations, conference calls and weekly report meetings can overtire your physique or tax abdominal muscles. Tension alone can increase strain to neck and shoulder muscle that actually make typing harder through the day.

Use frozen ice packs, baggies of pennies or loose change, or duct tape weights to a useful pair of shoes or clogs under your desk. During timed presentations or slide shows, extend feet in a 90 degree angle under your desk to the front. Slowly reverse this and repeat with alternate leg. At the end of each session, stand and pull knees alternating back with weights still attached, to complement the muscle groups used.

6. Chair Push-Ups

One chair push-up repeated throughout the day can alleviate strain to core and back muscles, as well as compliment arm and shoulder strain from crouching over a laptop or keyboard for hours. Simply pause every time you return to your desk and do one push up against the arms of your chair or more stable desk edges. Make it a good one, with the best form you can manage.

Washroom push-ups done using the sink or counter can function the same way. Before washing your hands or while waiting for an elevator, bear your weight against the wall with your hands and bend elbows. Slowly bring weight of the entire body away from the wall. Repeating one of these throughout the day will result in les fatigue and less cramping through the arms and wrists.

7. Crouching Eleve’s

Eleve’s are classic ballet techniques for strengthening leg muscles to attain heightened postures and extension as rapid speed. These also promote circulation and strength building for sedentary workers whose daily exercise is a stroll to the commissary.

Classic eleve’s start in fifth position, a bizarre arrangement of feet heel to toe aligned next to each other. The toe section of one foot against the heel of the other. But feet side by side can work well too at first. Build into the upward motion of the jump by drawing body down into a crunch first. Then release “spring” of tensed muscles upward to create a complimentary muscle workout.

The workplace variant of this should be done after a loosening walk or stretch to shake out joint muscles and boost leg circulation. Holding feet close together, crouch down, holding for a beat. Then jump up sharply, holding arms in front of chest, elbows bent with curled fingers palms up. Do not use arm energy or balance to effect this movement. Repeat, trying to build more strength and height into each jump.

Alternate feet position to challenge different leg muscles and change effort. Point heel of left foot halfway between and against the sole of your right foot on the floor. Repeat the jump five times, pausing in between to straighten posture and recover. Alternate feet and repeat. Use downward motion of inside elevator just before landing to build opposition to jump and enforce the crouch. The gravitational tug of the elevator’s movement will draw stress into the landing and test muscles further.

8. Reverse Wall Walk

Find an area with protection that remains somewhat undisturbed, such as an unused office or undisturbed conference room. Place a soft jacket or sweater (or even a pillow) against the floor where it meets the wall. This improves circulation and improves balance and leg fatigue. Neck and shoulder fatigue will be lessened after this exercise.

Seat yourself on the floor, swinging legs against the wall where heels rest flat and hips rest in crook between where floor meets wall. Flatten shoulder blades against floor, wiggling toes of feet up and down while keeping feet against wall. Alternating feet, draw legs away from wall, starting by bending at knee and returning to lengthened position. Use abdominals muscles and resist urge to use shoulders to effect the motions. Do about 20 each leg, working to start and stop movements with increasing control and strength.

9. Toe Loop Lunges

Hips and leg joints become locked up during hours or sitting and twisting in static chair. Loosen them up with this simple but energizing move. Stand in an area where you have freedom to walk without restriction. This is a great exercise for breaks between conference meetings or long presentations with extended seated lack of motion.

Extend foot upward, like a dancer doing a high kick. Leg should extend straight out, not higher than waist. Do not “spring”, but rather smoothly bring leg out and hold at the waist. Hold leg strong at its extended point, and without moving toes or ankles “loop” forward with leg. Alternate lunges, walking forward a bit with each step and pushing toe forward at the waist level.

Build lunging steps in intensity to the point where the foot reaches the waist high walking forward extension and makes as if to “loop” a hook at that level. Hold arms and hands loosely at sides. By drawing movement through legs, hips, and joints, circulation improves and cramps ease up from prolonged sitting and tensed hip pain.

10. Arm Clocks

Arm clocks look funny but break up arm wrist and shoulder tension after or during a long day at the keyboard. Slouching or tensing muscles all day to see the computer screen means tenseness builds in neck and abdominal muscles but little strength builds as a result. Arm clocks balance this out. It may help to look at the clock to orient this exercise.

Standing straight with tall posture, hold books or weights in hands and extend in opposite directions. Make a three o’ clock with your “hands”, like the hands of a clock. Right hand straight out to the side, left hand straight up. Make muscles tighten sharply to effect the clock face “time”.

Feel and cause the crunch of the shoulder blades to tighten up and relax with every “time”. Concentrate on smooth movements to the right angle, arms straight and precise. Make a six thirty time, moving the left hand “minute hand“ and right hand the “hours hand“ through the sequence. Quarter to three. Two ten. Five o’clock. (move each arm separately!).

Seven o’clock. Ten minutes to three ‘o clock. Five Fifty five. Four forty five. Then alternate arms and repeat the process. Shifting thinking and coordination to making the “time” with each hand relaxes neck muscles and stretches shoulder muscles and throat and neck region. A few round of these will ease tension from a long day and get any desk worker through to the finish.

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