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3 Effective Exercises You Can Do at Your Desk

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In a perfect world, every worker would have access to a standing or treadmill desk, or enough time to fit in a few short workouts during the day. Needless to say, most of us don’t work and live in a perfect world.

desk chair 

(Photo Credit: Ann Marie Michaels/Flickr)

Over at Mark’s Daily Apple, there’s a list of exercises you can do with the office equipment you have on hand — plus, a few optional, cheap additions like resistance bands. But if your focus is especially on replicating the effects of a standing desk, you’ll be particularly interested in the part that refers to exercises you can do right from the (dis)comfort of your standard workstation.

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1. Faux Sitting

Hover an inch over your chair with your glutes engaged for as long as you can. Lower. Repeat. For variety, try doing it one leg at a time.

2. Elevated Sits

Keep your knees bent, and grip the sides of your chair. Raise yourself an inch or so out of your chair, using your arms. Keep your shoulders back and your arms straight. Add books on your knees for additional resistance.

3. Isometric Contractions

Hold your arms at 90-degree angles and engage your biceps and triceps for four seconds, then rest for four seconds. Do five sets of 10 contractions. You can also do this exercise with your legs. In one study, participants added 4 percent to the size of their biceps and triceps after 12 weeks.

Don’t see something here that works for your office environment? The full list of exercises is available, here.

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Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
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