Get Moving!
cubbie_girl
Posts: 99 Member
I work in an office where the majority of our time is spent at the computer, with a small percentage of time spent driving. To get myself, and my coworkers, off our tushies, I made a deck of exercise cards.
There are two ways to do a deck of cards:
The typical way where there are only 4 or 6 exercises, determined by the suit and you do the number on the card. (Example: Diamonds = push-ups; Spades = sit-ups; Clubs = lunges; Hearts = squats; Aces = Burpies and 1-10 is the face value, Jack is 11, Queen is 12, King is 13 and Aces are 10).
And the way we did it - make a list of some good exercises you can do in the office and write them on the cards with the quantities. We have squats, lunges, bicycle crunches, flutter kicks, crunches, jump squats, planks (left, right & center), moutain climbers, burpies, push-ups, pyramid push-ups, reverse crunches, jumping jacks, shoulder bridges and curls (with 5 lb weights). Quantities are 6, 8, 10 & 12 for most exercises, planks are 30 or 60 second and some exercises are only 5 (jump squats and pyramid push-ups).
Every hour we each pick 2 cards (there are usually 3 of us in the office at a time, but sometimes we have 4) and then we all do those cards. It's been working out pretty good - we make time to get up and move around and get the blood pumping through our bodies again. It's also been a good way to break up those long tired days that seem to drag everyone down.
What ways do you get up & move? If you aren't making time to get up a move throughout the day, I challenge you this week to get up at least three times (3 extra times that is - lunch doesn't count unless you're a lunchtime walker) throughout your work day and move around for about 5 minutes, even if you're just walking up and down the halls. You can also use the time to refill your water bottle and get some more water in your system! Speaking of which, time for a refill!
There are two ways to do a deck of cards:
The typical way where there are only 4 or 6 exercises, determined by the suit and you do the number on the card. (Example: Diamonds = push-ups; Spades = sit-ups; Clubs = lunges; Hearts = squats; Aces = Burpies and 1-10 is the face value, Jack is 11, Queen is 12, King is 13 and Aces are 10).
And the way we did it - make a list of some good exercises you can do in the office and write them on the cards with the quantities. We have squats, lunges, bicycle crunches, flutter kicks, crunches, jump squats, planks (left, right & center), moutain climbers, burpies, push-ups, pyramid push-ups, reverse crunches, jumping jacks, shoulder bridges and curls (with 5 lb weights). Quantities are 6, 8, 10 & 12 for most exercises, planks are 30 or 60 second and some exercises are only 5 (jump squats and pyramid push-ups).
Every hour we each pick 2 cards (there are usually 3 of us in the office at a time, but sometimes we have 4) and then we all do those cards. It's been working out pretty good - we make time to get up and move around and get the blood pumping through our bodies again. It's also been a good way to break up those long tired days that seem to drag everyone down.
What ways do you get up & move? If you aren't making time to get up a move throughout the day, I challenge you this week to get up at least three times (3 extra times that is - lunch doesn't count unless you're a lunchtime walker) throughout your work day and move around for about 5 minutes, even if you're just walking up and down the halls. You can also use the time to refill your water bottle and get some more water in your system! Speaking of which, time for a refill!
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Replies
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That's a great idea! I've been having such a hard time motivating to do exercise lately! It's ridiculous!0
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I've hit a major block - I try to get into doing things, but then I'd rather just sit and watch the Olympics when I get home from work. This sounds fun, but I might start with stretches, since I find that I'm very tight at my desk during the day.0
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Stretching is a great way to start moving! The trainer I've been working with highly recommended for my group that we skip the static stretches and focus on Aerobic/Dynamic stretching - or something like that. (I'm currently in a class called Better Body, Better Life and we get to meet with a nutritionist and a certified fitness person each week - awesome!) He had each of us name a stretch/exercise that we thought fell in that catagory and then the whole class has to do two 45 second sets of those stretches at least two times a day. Here's what we do:
Walking - it doesn't have to be far or fast. we were told to focus on our form and try to utilize a "natural foot fall", striking in the middle of our foot rather than the heel. This does feel kind of awkward at first, but eventually you get the hang of it and it's a lot less stress on your joints cause your foot is "falling on" rather than "pounding" the ground.
Lunges - they don't have to be deep lunges, just little bitty lunges are fine as long as you are focusing on proper form. Lunges utilize leg and core muscles, two large muscle groups that will help warm up the rest of the body pretty quickly.
Jumping Jacks - again, they don't have to be all out jumping jacks. You can stand and move your arms then your legs one at a time, just make sure you are doing wide movements and getting the blood pumping to those large muscles.
High Knees - when starting these, start slow. Focus on form and foot fall - don't heel strike, slouch or lean too far forward or back. You can do these standing still too, it doesn't have to be a movement that takes up a lot of space.
Butt Kickers - again, focus on form and foot fall, engage the core muscles and take it slow. These can also be done in place and don't have to be a running or big movement exercise.
As those started to get easier, we changed them a little to engage the muscles a little more or add more challenge.
I think as long as we are getting up and moving/engaging our muscles, we're doing something good for our bodies.0
