I recently moved to a different office after working out of my home office for the past several months, so going to an office feels different now. I have worked out of an office for most of my engineering career, but what I have found out now that I am in this “new” office is that my overall health and strength are better now and I find it hard to sit in the office working on my computer for hours without taking some kind of break. In the past “taking a break” meant going to the candy machine or break room to get something to eat or drink, or it was to walk down the hall and “shoot the breeze” with one of my office mates. While I was working out of my home office I would just drop down and bust out a set of pushups and then jump right back up to the computer and keep going, nothing formal just several quick breaks to do something physical and then get right back to my current project. In the privacy of my home office this did not feel “weird” or “inappropriate” in anyway and to be honest it does not feel wrong at my new office either. So I decided to go ahead and make it official and put down on paper an office workout that you can do yourself to give you some much needed exercise at the office.
What I have put together is a full workout that you can do on your lunch break (as I bring my own food to make sure I have something good and healthy to eat) I eat right at my desk so I have plenty of time to also get in a light workout. The workout can also be done in short five to six minute sets as “breaks” to help clear your head when you start to get burnt from working on the computer for too long. I will explain below how I do both sets of workouts, but here is the workout itself.
OFFICE WORKOUT
WARM UP
WORKOUT
UPPER MIDDLE LOWER
COOL DOWN
Now what I meant by I use this workout in two different ways is that when I want a full workout and have the lunch hour to do it in I will follow the workout as I have laid it out above. I will do a warm up, all the exercises, and a cool down. Now depending on the time I may not do everyone of the Upper, Middle, Lower exercises, but I will do the majority.
The other way I use this workout is that if I am not planning on doing a full workout at lunch then I will just use the Upper, Middle, Lower list for quick breaks from the computer. For example I will just stop typing, drop on the floor and do a set of standard pushups followed by some crunchy frogs and then a set of deep squats. Then I go back to the computer and pick back up where I left off. This is a quick five minute or so break that gets my blood flowing and helps release the feel good endorphins. You will also be amazed at how doing several of these “breaks” during the day will help you increase your strength and number of repetitions you are able to do.
So no more excuses about not having time to work out or that your “desk job” is killing your fitness, just find ways to make it all work together.
Download the Office Workout Here