An average human being spends around one third of his or her life at work. Between sleep and the time left, most of us are busy catching up with life, doing chores, paying bills and if lucky, socializing on and off social media platforms. Sadly, our health takes a backseat, buried under excuses and exasperated plans. But disregarding health can be detrimental for our mental and physical well-being. In the long run, it can also negatively impact your effectiveness at work. Every now and then, we come across people who manage to stick to their workout schedules despite their busy lives. While that is the ideal way to be, it isn’t an easy road to follow. But that does not imply that there is no other way. How about integrating simple, yet effective workplace exercises?
Here are some fitness hacks that you can easily include in your work schedule.
Transform your commute
If the weather and distance permit, you can turn your daily work commute into a great cardio workout. If you live close by, you can try speed-walking, jogging or cycling to get to work. If your office is too far, you can park your car at a distance and jog the rest of the way. If you use public transportation for your work commute, you can choose to get off a few stops earlier and simply walk the rest of the distance. Just plug in your earphones, cue your favorite artists, and start enjoying your way to work.
Bye! Bye! Chair
OK, now this one could make you look silly to some, but you are the one who’s going to have the last laugh. By replacing your desk chair with a stability ball, you can enjoy a host of health benefits. A stability ball helps you correct your posture by forcing proper spine alignment. Sitting on a stability ball also strengthens your abdominal muscles as your body is constantly trying to balance itself.
Short breaks
Taking short breaks to just walk around in your office premise could go a long way. Even on really busy days, you can take breaks to stretch your legs or simply walk around. The key is to stay active and if you look closely, you will find many ways to keep moving around in your office. Besides helping you stay fit, short breaks also help you relieve stress, enabling you to look at your work-related problems in different ways. You can also turn your work calls into a quick ‘move-it’ by pacing through your calls.
Taking the longer way
While this may not seem as the best life advice, it’s a great way to stay fit. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or park your car at a distance from your office. In months and years, these extra steps add up.
Lunchtime workout
For those of you who have access to an office gym, but no time before or after work, using your lunchtime time to get in a quick workout is a great idea. Even if you don’t have access to a gym, you can always go for a speed-walk or run during your lunch time. Apart from keeping you fit, it will also energize you for the second half of the work-day.
At your desk
That’s right! You don’t even need to get away from your desk in order to get in shape. Over the years, people have come up with some creative office desk exercises for working people. Here are some simple ones to get you started.
- Flex or tighten your abs and hold for 30 seconds. Release, and repeat.
- Squeeze your glutes and hold for 30 seconds. Release, and repeat.
- Buy a hand gripper and use it as an office desk workout for your forearms and hands
Eat Right
Stress is a big part of jobs these days. As a reaction to stress, many of us start eating irresponsibly. Sugary beverages and comforting junk food are not the answers to stress. In fact, an unhealthy diet can go on to worsen the problem. Load up your office fridge with healthy snacks like fruits, carrots, nuts, air popped popcorn and more.
So, you see, you are now out of excuses. Integrating fitness programs with work can be easy and a lot of fun. All it takes is some initiative; but as soon as you find your groove and start feeling healthier, you’ll never stop. How do we know this? Cause we’ve integrated fitness into work at Xpress Money. We come up with fun fitness tips for the team to integrate into their work schedules. As UAE prepares for the Fitness Challenge, an annual fitness initiative by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council for Dubai Government, we are conducting a cricket tournament to integrate fun and workout for all our employees based in Dubai, this year. We have four teams who are vying for the Cricket Champion Trophy that is being held at United Pro Sports Venue between 14th October and 3rd November 2018. Many of the team members meet regularly, every week, to play a cricket match or two, but during this year’s cricket session, we have many people who have enrolled themselves to participate in this fun-filled session. We wish all our participants luck and an invigorating time.
