Fitness
The average American work week is getting longer and longer. You’ve done your Heart Smart Minute Fitness routine before heading out the door, and packed a nutritious lunch but still you find yourself faced with a long day of virtually little movement.
A great way to increase your calorie expenditure during the day and improve your overall fitness is to MOVE YOUR BODY constantly throughout the day.
Here are 5 Simple and Easy ways to extend your Heart Smart Minute fitness routine at the workplace.
Heart Smart Minute Fitness Tip #1
Chair Squats:
Bring a stop watch or egg timer to work with you and every hour get up off your chair and do ONE MINUTE of chair squats. Simply start from a standing position and squat down until your butt lightly touches the chair and then stand back up. If this is too difficult for you, raise up your chair. Still too much…go over to a wall and do a wall squat as deeply as you can. Work up to one minute for either exercise. Do this hourly to see a huge improvement in your lower body fitness and muscle tone.
Heart Smart Minute Fitness Tip #2
Walk Around your Office QUICKLY:
Quickly is the key word. Improve your cardiovascular fitness by walking as quickly as you can around your office for 2-3 minutes. Don’t be afraid of looking silly. Chances are your co-workers and boss will join you. This is a great way to build office camaraderie and what boss doesn’t want a happy workplace and a fitness focused one! Get this in hourly! It’s just 2 minutes.
Heart Smart Minute Fitness Tip #3
Chair Triceps Dips:
Work your way up to a minute of triceps dips and you will kiss those flabby arms goodbye. This is a great exercise for your core as well. Keep just in front of your chair with your hips bent. Elbows bend to 90 degrees and then extend back to the straight position. See how quickly your numbers increase after a week of doing this exercise.
Heart Smart Minute Fitness Tip #4
Lose Your Chair:
Get rid of your normal office chair and replace it with a large Body Ball. These balls are fantastic to improve your core fitness as well as balance. It works to stabilize your core muscles and even engages your quads as you work to stay stable on it. Strong core muscles are key to great posture and keep your stabilizing muscles in the lower back strong, especially as you age.
Heart Smart Minute Fitness Tip #5
Bring in the Weights:
Conference calls are a great time to get biceps curls in! Go to any fitness store and grab yourself a pair of 3-5lbs dumbbells, start slowly and work up to a minute of curls on each arm. My favorite bicep exercise is a drop set–start with the 5lb weight and do 10 reps on each arm, then immediately grab the 3lbs and go for 15 reps on each arm. Get 2mins in on this exercise several times a day and you will be shocked how quickly your biceps tone up.
