I work a sedentary office job, I’m sat in front of a computer for at least 6 hours a day. Some days I find the time – and the energy – to gym or run before/after work, but most of the time I incorporate tiny little bits of exercise throughout my day. I try to be as active as I possibly can – which isn’t very active when you sit on your arse for a living. It wasn’t until someone walked into the office and laughed as I was doing a “wall sit” whilst replying to emails that I thought maybe other’s would be interested in my ways to fit exercise into an everyday routine whilst working an office job too.
Read on to find out how you too can do nearly 30000 sit ups without even realising it…
I start my exercise before I’ve even got dressed. I do 20 squats whilst brushing my teeth – both morning and night. This takes two minutes give or take, the amount of time you should be brushing your teeth for anyway. And instead of staring in the mirror at how tired you look, you’ve already done some morning exercise. Before long you’re doing 40 squats a day without even thinking about it.
The obvious one would be to walk or cycle to work but I understand that not everyone, myself included, can do this. Instead park 20 minutes from the office or get off at an earlier tube or bus stop and walk the rest of the way. Maybe sip your morning coffee on the walk instead of having it at home? That way you don’t even have to get out of bed any earlier.
The first thing I do when I come into the office is reply to my urgent emails and delete/unsubscribe to any junk mail. I wall sit whilst doing these emails. Basically sit up against the wall like you’re sitting in a chair, but without the chair. Google “wall sit” if you’re not sure. It burns. I’ve managed to get my wall sits up to nearly 10 minutes now and my legs are much stronger as a result.
At around 11am it’s time for my mid morning cup of tea. I pop the kettle on and do as many of one exercise as I can before it boils. This is usually 2 minutes of crunches, sit ups, leg lifts, more squats, press ups, donkey kicks, just anything you can do quickly and easily. Again, once this becomes habit you’re doing exercise every time you put the kettle on. Say you do 20 sit ups every time you put the kettle on, if you have 4 cups of tea a day that’s 80 a day, 560 a week or 29,120 a year…
Make the most of your lunchtime. I’d really suggest leaving the office if this is possible but if not maybe do some yoga, stretches or even meditation. It’s hard sometimes but you really need to be selfish with this time. It’s your time to do what you want with.
Ever heard that microwave minutes or planking minutes are the longest minutes? Why not combine the two! I often microwave my lunch, or cups of tea that have gone cold throughout the day (sorry not sorry) and I challenge myself to plank until the microwave pings. It’s a challenge that I hardly ever succeed with but I challenge nonetheless and I can now plank for over a minute.
I spent a year sitting on a Pilates ball as a desk chair and reaped the benefits of better overall posture and less leg swelling from crossing my legs 24/7 (it’s much harder to do whilst sitting on a Pilates ball). There’s so many alternatives to a desk chair these days, from the Pilates ball, to standing desks and even treadmill desks!
I’ve already mentioned Yoga/Meditation above but doing 10-15 minutes of Yoga mid afternoon makes the last couple of hours much more productive. I hit the mid afternoon slump at about 3pm so I roll my mat out and find a quick yoga video on YouTube. If mat work isn’t possible for you I’d really suggest doing just 5 or 10 minutes of meditation or breathing exercises at your desk. You can find meditation videos online or simply close your eyes and work on taking deep, long breaths. The longest breaths you’ve ever taken in your life.
I really hope these Ways To Fit Exercise into an Everyday Routine will help you towards living a more active lifestyle and I’d love to hear if you have your own personal tips like these. I’ll add any suggestions to the bottom of this post.
Until next time,
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thesummerwinediary says
Great tips. I am one of those people who doesn’t get the motivation to go to the gym so I think this routine is easy enough to integrate in my day.
Ami says
So simple! All the best with it!
Ami xxx
diana says
Great post! I really need to exercise more so thanks for these ideas.
Ami says
Thank you! All the best lovely.
Ami xxx
Liz says
I’m terrible at exercising so these are some fab tips! I try to walk everyday on my lunch break and occasionally remember to do my squats while brushing my teeth ?
Ami says
Thank you! The squats while brushing my teeth is definitely one of my favourite hacks.
Ami xxx
Jessie says
I always try to go for a walk at lunchtime to get the steps in! These are some great ideas, I love the microwave plank challenge haha 🙂 xx
Jessie | jessie-ann.co.uk
Ami says
You do so much walking, I really want to do more!
Ami xxx