5 Ways to Burn More Calories Right Now
Monday July 10, 2006
In my previous life, I worked in an office 8 hours a day doing very intense physical work such as answering phones, typing and, occasionally, getting up to get something off the fax machine. Though I exercised regularly, I knew I was spending way too much time sitting. As a result, I had to come up with some creative ways to be more active at work without looking like a crazy person.
One thing I did was keep resistance bands in my desk drawer. Throughout the day, I'd take them out and do a few exercises (and if I 'accidentally' snapped my boss with it, such is life, right?). Another idea was to leave something I'd need later in the car, then run the stairs to get it. Silly? Maybe...but it gave me the excuse I needed to get away from the desk for a little while. If you're looking for some other ideas, check out these 5 ways to burn more calories right now and let us know in comments how you stay active in unusual ways:
- Stand with your left side facing a wall and bring the right arm across your body, placing it on the wall. Do 15 one-armed pushups and switch sides.
- Stand in front of your chair and squat until you're hovering just over the chair, as though you're about to sit but changed your mind. Stand up and repeat 15 times. On the 16th squat, hover over the chair for 10 seconds.
- Hold a medium-sized book or binder in both hands in front of your body. Lift the book up to shoulder level and hold for 3 seconds. Repeat 15 times.
- Using the same book/binder, hold it straight out in front of you and rotate the torso to the right and left as far as you can without turning the hips, squeezing the abs. Repeat 15 times on each side.
- Take the staircase challenge: Count how many stairs you can walk in 2 minutes. Each time you walk the stairs, go faster and see how many more steps you can squeeze in. If you don't have stairs, just count your steps for 2 minutes and add more steps each time.
For ideas on fitting in exercise, check out these articles and workout ideas.
Comments
Are you kidding. If people see you doing these exercises at the office they will think you are A going crazy or B simply nuts. I recommend you either go to the gym before/after work or during your lunch break. Say NO no lunges at the office and arm curls with binders
Office exercise certainly isn’t for everyone and it doesn’t take the place of structured exercise, but it’s a great way to keep the blood flowing throughout the day.
I agree that exercise “breaks” are great for keeping blood flowing and for improving alertness. Its better than coffee! I can’t understand why an addiction to caffeine is ok, but a few stretches and body movements are a sign of insanity… No way! If people look at you funny, do what I do, go to the bathroom more often. I do as many as 10 yoga stretch breaks in a nine hour day. No more than a few minutes each, as much time as my smoking and coffee drinking co.workers take to feed their habits.
For real! Staying moving and keeping the blood flowing is much better than the hourly dose of nasty coffee. Stay away from that stuff and eat your vegetables.
I think the comparison w/ exercise breaks and “unhealthy” breaks is a good one; I’d never thought of it that way. Yeah, it feels a bit odd to do these things in the cube farm where I work, yet the smokers don’t feel odd huddling on their balcony, and they too look ridiculous.
Each of us has to put priorities on what we decide to do to take care of ourselves, like feed an addiction of any kind, whether it’s a healthy one or not. I am working to develop an addition to moving and stretching.
Exercise idea: use the restroom or breakroom in another part of your building; if it’s on another floor, you can take the stairs, too.
I think this is helpful especially the suggestions of doing some exercises or stretching in the bathroom. I go to the gym but not too often cuz I don’t always have the time. so simple exercises like these are good.
I just tried this workout for fun, and it left me feeling breathless but really good! It seemed to work most of my major muscle groups without being too much to do on a quick break. I am definately including this in my exercise routine!!