Sedentary Lifestyle: A Simple Desk Workout That Will Help You Stay Fitter

Everyone with a desk job has one common complaint. They say their jobs make it difficult for them to lead an active lifestyle. There is no time or energy left to exercise after office is what they say. I can understand how it can be hard, but don’t let yourself use it as an excuse. You can actually take a quick break from work and work out at your desk.

Not sure how you can exercise at your desk? Let me help you out with it. Here are some simple desk workouts that can help invigorate your sedentary lifestyle.

Exercises That You Can Do At Your Office Desk

1. 6 o’clock Finger Stretch - For Wrist Pain

When you work long hours on a computer, your fingers and wrist are under exertion. You’re constantly typing or clicking. This forces your hands and wrists to be in a certain position for most of your day.

To avoid getting wrist pain because of this, you should do the following workout:

• Stand at the edge of a table and place your hands on its surface.

• Rotate your hands externally in such a manner that your fingers are facing your body. This is a little like the 6 o’clock position.

• Next, lean forward and bring your palms together towards the surface of your table.

• While doing this, you shouldn’t experience pain or much discomfort.

• Now straighten your arms at the elbow.

• Let your palms be on the surface and then lean back. Your forearm muscles should feel this stretch.

• Hold the same position for 30 seconds.

2. Simple Neck Exercises

Whenever you feel like there is some stiffness or soreness in your neck, you need to put in some work to relax the muscles around it. Here are the exercises that will help you to keep neck pain at bay. They can also help with muscle spasms and stiffness of joints.

Neck Exercise 1:

• Tilt your head back so that you’re looking at the ceiling. Hold this pose for a few seconds.

• Relax your head and bring it back to its original position slowly.

• Next, lean forward so that your chin is resting on your chest. Hold this position for few seconds.

• Relax your head and bring it back to its original position slowly.

• Do 5-10 repetitions of this neck exercise up to three times a day to keep neck pain at bay.

Neck Exercise 2:

• Straighten your back and head. Next head your head to the right side.

• Don’t let your ear touch your shoulder.

• Hold this pose for a few seconds and then return your head to the starting position.

• Repeat this with the left side.

• Do 5-20 repetitions of this neck exercises up to three times a day.

3. Side Stretch — For Shoulders

When most of us are working on a computer, we tend to lean forward. Keeping the neck and head forward in this position for a long period of time can cause strains in the vertebrae of the neck.

This can lead to back pain, shoulder pain, neck strain and even permanent imbalances. Here is how you can relieve your neck, shoulder and back of that strain:

• Sit straight in your chair, then raise your right arm towards the ceiling.

• With your left hand, grab your right hand elbow.

• Hold this position for 30 seconds.

• Do 5-20 repetitions of this exercise, upto three times a day.

4. Swivel Chair Workouts

For Back Pain

Remember how you loved spinning around in swivel chairs when you were a kid? As an adult, you spend most of the time just sitting on it while working. But what if I told you you could use it for a fun workout? Here is an exercise you can try with the help of a swivel chair that can help you reduce back pain.

The Desk Chair Swivel

Strong obliques muscles offer ample support to the lower back, and can prevent back pain and posture problems. If you have a swivel chair at your workplace, you can use it to perform this basic stretch.

• Sit upright on your swivel chair.

• Let your feet hover over the floor.

• Next, use your core muscles to move from one side to the other.

• Do this for 15 times as you back and forth.

You won’t have to face the heat of your boss because for these exercises you don’t even have to leave your desk. You can spread these exercises across every hour, throughout the day. Got any questions about these exercises? Send in your queries in the comments section and I’ll be happy to guide you there.