The lack of time is the perfect excuse for not going to the gym or not exercising . Well because we argue long working days, endless transport journeys or because we say we arrive too late to go down to the gym.

That our daily work is a sedentary and office work , is not an excuse to not exercise even in the office itself and while we work, because there are numerous exercises that we can do despite the particularities of our day to day.

Sedentary work and overweight: a vicious circle

The sedentary favors the obese and the sedentary leads to the obese. It is a vicious circle in which once inside, it is “difficult” to leave. And I put it in quotation marks because in our hands is to remedy it in time before the symptoms and sequels of the sedentary and, later, overweight start to appear in our body . Therefore, it is important to be aware of the importance of physical activity , especially if our work is sedentary.

If the physical inactivity outside work we add a totally sedentary work and in which we barely move, the result will not be any good: weight problems that will lead to serious health problems, loss of muscle tone, muscular atrophy, loss of quality of life … are some of the consequences of leading a sedentary life and not taking advantage of our work time to perform an exercise that allows us to remain active.

The way to work: first resource to move

The first measure to activate and take advantage of our trip to work to do some exercise is to leave the car at home and forget about public transport (totally or partially) and go to work walking, if distance allows, or by bicycle. Without a doubt, our bodies will thank us and we will improve our quality of life with this simple measure.

Exercise at work: making the most of opportunities

  1. The time standing is gold : taking advantage of those seconds waiting for the photocopies or the time to have a coffee, are situations in which we can take advantage of standing up , which will provide us with some extra calories that, if we stay seated, we would not burn .
  2. Forget about the elevator : if you work in a building and you have to move between floors, forget the elevator and use the stairs to move , in this way we will activate our body. Also, to increase the time we spend standing and walking, do not have a bottle of water on the desk, just have a glass and in this way you will have to get up more often to fill it and you will spend more time walking.
  3. Take advantage of the furniture : take the chair to perform squats or the desk (if it is robust) to do push-ups , are two very interesting options to perform some series of exercises while we work . Leaning on a chair, we can perform knee lifts and, doing several series, we will have burned a few more calories.
  4. Stretch during your working day : another way to stay active in a certain way is by stretching every so often in our workplace: the neck, back or legs are areas especially punished in sedentary and low-moving jobs, so that stretching them would often be a good idea. In addition, this will help us to alleviate the stresses of the workplace and relax our muscles.
  5. Working the legs while sitting : There are three exercises that we can perform while we are sitting and that will give us one more point to fight against the sedentary in the workplace: the leg extensions (unilaterally or bilaterally), the curls of femoral (and isometric femoral) and leg abduction and adduction .
  6. Working the abdominals while sitting : there is a simple and effective exercise when working the abdominals even while sitting: place the palms of the hands on the seat of the chair, then raise the ass a few inches from the seat. It is important that you keep your knees bent but do not help them.

Other exercises and alternatives that we can perform while we work

Kegel exercise

Very useful for those women who are expecting a baby or who have recently had it. They help to strengthen the pelvic area, help to improve posture and digestion and are even favorable for sexual life . Its realization is very simple: just imagine that we want to urinate and tighten the muscles of the pelvic floor as if we wanted to contain the urge to urinate. You should feel pressure in the coccyx and lower abs. Keep the force between 10 and 30 seconds, for a bit and repeat.

Activating the circulation of the legs

Since spending long hours sitting in the office can end up having negative consequences for our legs , a really useful option to activate the blood circulation of the same would be to simulate standing on tiptoe while sitting and performing several repetitions.

Take care of the shoes you wear

Especially if you are a woman, pay attention to footwear , because if in addition to spending long hours sitting you add shoes with an excessive heel and compressing excessively foot, you will be adding points to suffer any injury or mishap.

Take care of ergonomics in your workplace

Paying attention to certain “technical” aspects in our workplace can alleviate and facilitate us slightly the working day, minimize the consequences of a long day of sedentary work and avoid any other injury .

Details how to adjust the height of our chair to our physiognomy, regulate the angle of the backrest of the chair , that it is stable and does not hobble on any leg, that the material of the lining of the same is comfortable and if it is possible that it has armrest, that the seat of the chair is flat and the edge curved to avoid an excessive compression of the thighs while we are sitting, pay attention to our posture if we work with a mouse and a computer , use (if possible) a footrest or regular correctly the height and angles of the monitor (in case of working with computers) are some of these options to improve our working day.