Leigh emailed me an excellent question this morning concerning exercise during the work day. She is a desk jockey and would like to get in some bonus work. With the heat being MISERABLE right now her lunch time walks are out of the question. Nobody wants a swamp butt sitting next to them all afternoon.
Tips to Exercising At Work:
1. Focus on body weight, compound sculpting moves. Strength ALWAYS is your bigger pay off because it will slightly elevate your heartrate during the session but give you some post exercise calorie burn.
2.Take it 10 minutes at a time. You can carve out three, ten minute sessions through the day. Heck, take a bathroom break, potty, do some strength moves, go back to your desk. That’s a good way to remember and if you work in a cubicle you’ll have a little more privacey.
3. Walk. So right now is not a good time but when the weather breaks I would split my lunch in half: 30 minutes for eating and 30 minutes for walking. You can add those lower body strength moves into the walk every fifth minute for a nice little workout.
10-Minute Routines
Take a 30 second break in between each of these circuits. You will do the listed exercises back-to-back, take a 30 second break to stretch, and repeat for three to four sets depending on when you reach 10 minutes.
Cycle One: Lower Body
10 Lunges Right Leg
10 Lunges Left Leg
20 Alternating Lunges
10-20 Squats - Feet Shoulder Width Apart (depends on your leg strength…basically go to burn)
10 Squat Hovers (go to 90 angle and then hover like you are sitting on the potty and slightly bounce)
10-20 Squats - Feet Wide and turned to 10 and 2 o’clock
10 Squat Hovers
10-20 Squats - Feet Together
10 Squat Hovers
Cycle Two: (You will need a wall and/or floor space) Upper Body
20 Mountain Climbers
10 Push Ups with arms out wide
20 Mountain Climbers
10 Push Ups with arms under shoulders
20 Mountain Climbers
10 Push Ups with hands in a triangle
30 seconds of Dips
Cycle Three: Cardio/Core
30 Sec of Plank
8 Burpees
30 Sec of Plank
6 Burpees
30 Sec of Plank
4 Burpees
Slow Bicycle Crunches until you feel the burn
6 Burpees
Slow Bicycle Crunches until you feel the burn
8 Burpees
1 min of Imaginary Jump Rope
Some of these circuits may be too intense for beginners. Cut the exercises back and just do what you can. Since you are using body weight for these exercises you can do the cycles as is or you can do the upper body twice with the cardio cycle and then the next day do the lower body twice and the cardio cycle. Alternate each day. Loads of options!