We’re in a challenging time at the moment. With the Coronavirus pandemic impacting us, all we’ve had to do is to adapt and change our lifestyle to ensure we can keep safe before we can all return to normality again. One aspect of our lives that has most definitely changed is our working habits.
You probably would have commuted to work and been in an office space for the majority of your working life, depending on your actual job role. Now, we’re having to get used to working from home as office spaces are considered public areas that can easily spread the virus between employees.
Has this interrupted your routine of working out before and after work? Possibly. But there are still effective exercises that you can try at home in between your working hours that can ensure you keep healthy.
Here are 4 exercises in particular that you can integrate into your working schedule to help you stay fit.
1. Push-Ups
Starting off relatively simple, push-ups are a universal exercise that tends to be the go-to to test your strength and might. This is a quick exercise that can be extremely effective for increasing your upper body strength and core physique.
The exercise involves lowering your body as close to the ground as possible without it touching and lifting yourself back up again using your arms into a planking position. This can be perfect to do in between work tasks and can be performed practically anywhere in your house. It doesn’t even have to take long either as you can vary the number of repetitions you need to do, depending on the amount of time that you have to squeeze in a workout.
2. Squats
You may prefer to do squats during your lunch break when you have a little longer to rest, particularly if you work at a desk and sit down for the majority of the day. The reason being that it can be a rather gruelling exercise and requires plenty of stretching to avoid cramp. Squats focus specifically on your lower body, working the thighs and glutes in particular and is an extremely common exercise to work these muscles.
The exercise mimics sitting on a chair, keeping your chest lifted through your back position, keeping your feet shoulder-width apart and bending your knees up and down. Lower yourself to the ground as low as possible with your knees remaining over your ankles and returning back to a standing position. Extremely efficient to do and can have you feeling worked its full force by the end of the exercise.
3. Lunges
Another exercise focusing on the lower muscles of the body are lunges. These can be a little more effective with the use of dumbbell weight but aren’t necessary. Again, lunges focus primarily on your legs so be wary that you may feel a bit of strain if you’re working at your desk all day! Be sure to stretch where you can.
For this exercise, you need to position one foot more forward than the other with a bent knee and a flat foot. You position the other leg behind you to stretch your lower body muscles. Then, simply switch each foot keeping the same form as the previous leg. Use the image above for guidance on how to perform this exercise.
4. Planks
If it’s your whole body that you’re looking to work out, then you could use your exercises efficiently by performing planks. Be warned, this can be an extremely testing exercise and truly does test the strength of your whole body. This can be easily timed and doesn’t include counting your repetitions which can be useful.
The exercise involves engaging the whole body in a hold-up position using your forearms or you can also use your hands. The aim is to hold the position for as long as possible and gradually increase the amount of time that you hold the position, increasing your core muscles in the process.
Final takeaways
We’re in a time where looking after our mental and physical health is more important than ever before. By keeping healthy, we can ensure that our bodies and productivity aren’t impacted in a negative way. Take a break from your work and engage in exercises that keep your mind and your body ticking throughout the day. Eventually, once gyms return, we’ll be able to get back to normality with our routines. But for now, let’s embrace the resources we have available to us to keep us fit and healthy.
Written by Jamie Costello
About the Author
Jamie Costello is a Junior Researcher in Public Health, based in the UK. He regularly researches around his sector to help improve his knowledge and produce valuable articles for readers. He’s previously worked with businesses that specialise in probiotic supplements which has helped to collate this article in particular.
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