Desk Excercises

[Your_Crazy]

I was trying to think of some exercises that I could do at my desk without having to standup. I get stuck in a bullpin 9large cubicle w/ more than one person) so need to be kind of descrete about doing a workout. So I decided to try and figure out some seated excercises. Heres what I came up with:

Chair knee raises: sit in your chair, Lean slightly forward, bring your knees to your chest. Then extend your legs back out. (remeber to exhale on the way up)

Chair twist: Most people have swivel chairs so what I do is place my hands on the table in front of me. then twist my lower body left to right keeping my shoulders parrallel to the table.

Chair leg curls: just a normal seated leg curl, easiest when the chair is at the max height. Do it slow and try to use your own muscles as resistance.

Chair leg raises: sit at the edge of the chair. straighten your legs out in front of you. raise your legs parrallel to the chair as possible. Move your feet 6 to 8 inches up and down.

Chair scissors: Same position as leg raises but move your legs out side to side.

Chair walking place: in the sitting position raise one knee up at a time trying to keep your muscles tense. (single leg knees raises)

Butt clinch: we all know this one: clinch your butt together for 10secs and release.

Arms Circles: Out stretch your arms in front of you. spin your arms in a circlular direction. after a few reps get bigger each time. then reverse direction.

Flyes: Put arms like your doing a bicep flex, Move your arms into the center of your body touch elbows together and move back. Use your own muscle resistance to do these.

Seated shrugs: put your arms straight down beside you. bring your shoulders up and try to touch your ears. Hold for a count of ten. Keeping the tension lowering back down to normal position and repeat.

Seated Rows: You can sit up or bend down for this. I bend down like I am tying my shoes. then bring my elbows up like I am trying to touch my shoulder blades together. Keep tension all the way up and down. Sitting up you do the samething.

Dips: put your hands on the end of the chair lower your butt down to the floor and push yourself back up. repeat.

Vacuum: sit up straight try to pull your belly button to your spin. hold for a ten count and release. Repeat.


I don't have a specific set or rep. count. I just do whatever whenever I can.

What does everyone think about these Desk excercises?

[bodyshop20]

why not run to work, descrete or not you must look like you got ants in yr pants.
Surely you can get to a gym for 30 mins or walk fast to work or run home.
But i like yr thinking

Don't overlook isometric contractions which work great sitting at your desk. The possibilities are endless.

See the Summer 2007 Discuss Fitness newsletter. I wrote an article about bodyweight-only training, and I specifically discuss isometrics, giving some video examples.

Some people have wrote about doing isometric contractions while in their car waiting at a red light, using their steering wheel. I have never done them that way.

[Your_Crazy]

Originally Posted by bodyshop20

why not run to work, descrete or not you must look like you got ants in yr pants.
Surely you can get to a gym for 30 mins or walk fast to work or run home.
But i like yr thinking

I would love run to work but getting up at 4:30 is early enough and I don't think I could make the 20 mile run in time. Not to mention it's on a buy highway. I thought about bike riding it but my bike needs an over haul before I would do that.

As far as walking 30 minutes. I am not sure if that would help. I am normally moving 8 to 12 hours a day. so walking doesn't help. I think the biking will hellp my cardio more.


pierini I do do isometric contractions. I use them whenever I can. I pretty much do whatever I can whenever I can.

[Merrida]

Originally Posted by pierini

Don't overlook isometric contractions which work great sitting at your desk. The possibilities are endless.

See the Summer 2007 Discuss Fitness newsletter. I wrote an article about bodyweight-only training, and I specifically discuss isometrics, giving some video examples.

Some people have wrote about doing isometric contractions while in their car waiting at a red light, using their steering wheel. I have never done them that way.

Excellent point. I do them myself (in Boston we get stuck in a LOT of traffic pile ups, traffic jams, and just generally very slow time-consuming commutes). There are a LOT of exercises you can do this way.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I actually thought I came across a book (it might have been when I was doing my CEC's for one of my certs along the way) where the entire book was exclusively dedicated to exercises you can do at your desk.

In the back of some of the manuals for some certification agencies (like ACE and NASM) there are chapters dedicated to exercises you can do at your desk. If you'd like I can do 2 things for you: Photocopy these chapters for you (I cannot scan them and post them as I do not have a scanner), and I can also try to dig through my back material and see if I can find the name of the book, or any articles mentioned in the bibliography section, that mentions exercises you can do.

I'll be happy to help you out if you want to explore this more.

One of the healthiest things to do, however,...is once an hour get off your chair and walk around for 3 minutes. Every 20 minutes your eyes and mind need a break from what they're doing (it'd be nice to do the same for your body but in the work place, not always possible). But once an hour,...a walk around the building,....walking up and down the stairs, etc.

Add that to your "at desk" exercises,....it's better than nothing.

.

[Your_Crazy]

Originally Posted by Merrida

One of the healthiest things to do, however,...is once an hour get off your chair and walk around for 3 minutes. Every 20 minutes your eyes and mind need a break from what they're doing (it'd be nice to do the same for your body but in the work place, not always possible). But once an hour,...a walk around the building,....walking up and down the stairs, etc.

Add that to your "at desk" exercises,....it's better than nothing.

.

I think the name of the book would be best so that everyone knows what to look for at there local book store.
I don't have alot of time to sit. I am normally on my feet anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day. Unless I'm on discussfitness.

[Merrida]

I'm confused,....do you sit a lot? Or do you stand a lot?

Okay, let me try to find the name of the book. (Of course I have all my text books here and it's a piece of cake to get my mitts on those!) But yeah, let me check it out, because I am positive I saw (and not that long ago either) a book (or a thick pamphlet but it was enough for sufficient exercises) for exercises at the desk.

But you said you stand up a lot? The exercises in the book I know of are for people who sit a lot.

[Your_Crazy]

I stand a lot.
I did the sitting alot because I needed something to do when I sat. Especially things involving abs and arms. Like i said i do whatever whenever.

[Merrida]

Originally Posted by Your_Crazy

I stand a lot.
I did the sitting alot because I needed something to do when I sat. Especially things involving abs and arms. Like i said i do whatever whenever.

It actually sounds like you have a lot of opportunities in your work to exercise because, it would appear, you have moments where you're on your feet, up and about,...as well as seated. That lends itself to a variety of opportunities.

.