Please give a warm welcome to author, Marisa Cleveland!
Thank you so much for having me on your blog!
Fit In and Work Out
I love fun and flirty office romances, but one thing I learned during my time spent in an office... vending machines are not your friend and when you work in a friendly, supportive environment, there are always birthdays and baby showers, cake and donuts, pot lucks and parties.
In order to fit in, I had to work out.
I could join a gym, or I could start exercising at my desk. I am not a doctor or health care anything, but these four exercises helped me lose four pounds over four months. It might not seem like a lot of weight, but I was happy to not gain extra pounds and still be able to enjoy those delicious treats!
Exercise One: Posture and Stretching
Setting up my work station to be as ergonomically correct as possible was a priority. Now I have a cafe desk to stand and type at home. I have a treadmill desk to walk and type at home. At the office, I had a desk and chair. Not ideal.
First step was to arrange my monitors correctly. There were many differing opinions about this, and I ended up choosing the one that felt right for me. Again, I'll mention I'm not a doctor or health care anything. But when I lifted the top of my monitor to my eye level, I found myself sitting straighter and becoming more aware of my posture.
Next was stretching. I did ankle rolls, neck rolls, shoulder rolls, and wrist rolls every hour. I put a reminder on my calendar to ding and alert me to the time.
Exercise Two: Abs
These were the easiest to incorporate into my workout, because I basically did leg lifts and L-holds while sitting in my chair. Leg lifts were straightening my legs and lifting them from the floor to touch the top of my desk. The L-hold was sitting at the edge of my chair and holding my legs horizontal to the ground. I usually did these while reading emails and typing.
Exercise Three: Quads, Calves, and Cardio
Twice a day I simulated jumping rope for two minutes. It started as thirty seconds, but as the days passed, I stretched the exercise to one minute and then to two minutes, so I was jumping four minutes every day. This might not seem like a lot of time, but a gym buddy of mine promised it was helping my quads and calves.
Exercise Four: Triceps
I wear sleeves on purpose. I hate the way my upper arms jiggle. After a quick search on the internet, I found the perfect exercise for me. Desk tricep dips. There are many ways to do this, but I'll explain the progression of mine. With my back to my desk, I put my hands shoulder-width apart on the edge of the desk, and keeping my posture as intact as possible, I bent my arms and straightened them. Gradually, I moved my feet further from the desk until I could still do five dips with my legs extended on the seat of my chair.
...and those are my four exercises that helped me maintain my weight when I couldn't hop on my treadmill desk or stand at my cafe table.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your ideas or exercises that work for an office environment!
I love fun and flirty office romances, but one thing I learned during my time spent in an office... vending machines are not your friend and when you work in a friendly, supportive environment, there are always birthdays and baby showers, cake and donuts, pot lucks and parties.
In order to fit in, I had to work out.
I could join a gym, or I could start exercising at my desk. I am not a doctor or health care anything, but these four exercises helped me lose four pounds over four months. It might not seem like a lot of weight, but I was happy to not gain extra pounds and still be able to enjoy those delicious treats!
Exercise One: Posture and Stretching
Setting up my work station to be as ergonomically correct as possible was a priority. Now I have a cafe desk to stand and type at home. I have a treadmill desk to walk and type at home. At the office, I had a desk and chair. Not ideal.
First step was to arrange my monitors correctly. There were many differing opinions about this, and I ended up choosing the one that felt right for me. Again, I'll mention I'm not a doctor or health care anything. But when I lifted the top of my monitor to my eye level, I found myself sitting straighter and becoming more aware of my posture.
Next was stretching. I did ankle rolls, neck rolls, shoulder rolls, and wrist rolls every hour. I put a reminder on my calendar to ding and alert me to the time.
Exercise Two: Abs
These were the easiest to incorporate into my workout, because I basically did leg lifts and L-holds while sitting in my chair. Leg lifts were straightening my legs and lifting them from the floor to touch the top of my desk. The L-hold was sitting at the edge of my chair and holding my legs horizontal to the ground. I usually did these while reading emails and typing.
Exercise Three: Quads, Calves, and Cardio
Twice a day I simulated jumping rope for two minutes. It started as thirty seconds, but as the days passed, I stretched the exercise to one minute and then to two minutes, so I was jumping four minutes every day. This might not seem like a lot of time, but a gym buddy of mine promised it was helping my quads and calves.
Exercise Four: Triceps
I wear sleeves on purpose. I hate the way my upper arms jiggle. After a quick search on the internet, I found the perfect exercise for me. Desk tricep dips. There are many ways to do this, but I'll explain the progression of mine. With my back to my desk, I put my hands shoulder-width apart on the edge of the desk, and keeping my posture as intact as possible, I bent my arms and straightened them. Gradually, I moved my feet further from the desk until I could still do five dips with my legs extended on the seat of my chair.
...and those are my four exercises that helped me maintain my weight when I couldn't hop on my treadmill desk or stand at my cafe table.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your ideas or exercises that work for an office environment!
Stacey Bradford believes in love, but when her hot boss, Marshall Royce, decides to close her best friend's flower shop - days before Valentine's Day! - Stacey declares war.
Intrigued by Stacey's devotion to her friend, the hearts and flowers holiday, and belief in true love, Marsh issues a challenge - prove love exists or deliver the closing documents to her friend herself.Stacey never could resist a challenge, but when Marsh makes Valentine's Day the deadline for their deal, Stacey must decide how far she's willing to go for love.
~*GIVEAWAY*~
Entangled Publishing is giving away one e-book copy of The Valentine Challenge to one reader. To enter, just leave a comment on this post with your ideas or exercises for the work place and then fill out the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!
~*Tour-Wide Giveaway*~
$25 Amazon giftcard
I am going to to try these out today at school.
ReplyDeleteDebby236 at gmail dot com
thanks for the office workout tips!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips. You can also try using weights... It works!
ReplyDeleteI've never worked in an office setting but I could still make use of these! Snacking at my desk is a really bad habit. lol
ReplyDeleteI try to get out from behind the desk and walk around the building as much as possible. I don't use the elevator unless I have to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such great tips it gets to be very tiresome sitting at a desk all day cant wait to try them out. tonyaloveslife@gmail.com
ReplyDeletethanks for the fun post and congrats to Marissa on the new release!
ReplyDeleteI work in an office all day and these will definitely come in handy. I use the stairs instead of the elevator and use the farthest away from my desk restroom so I can try to incorporate some walking into my day.
ReplyDeleteExercises for the work place? I sit eight hours, so i´ve found that i need to stand up at least once per hour, just to stretch a bit. And try to sit straight =D no slouching. (easier said than done)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway & Happy Wednesday!
//Linda
fr_larsson at hotmail dot com
I think especially if you're sitting down for long periods of time you should use an exercise ball instead of a chair!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips. Thanks for posting. I have to remind myself to get up and move around. I have a friend who sets an alarm on her computer but I'm not that organized.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked for a large company we were talking about setting aside an area for an exercise room. Even the immediate management was in agreement with it. However, the UPPER management denied it. A few weeks later we were taken over by another company. Maybe upper management said no because this was happening. I think every company should have exercise space. When I was working I kept a dumbell in my cube and used it during long phone calls.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me and thank you.
annfesATyahooDOTcom
Great tips! I am soooo bad about this. I'll sit for 4 hours without moving, and I always have good intentions about adding stuff like this (I have tons of stretches and stuff, and I keep dumbbells in my office), but I never do them!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I am soooo bad about this. I'll sit for 4 hours without moving, and I always have good intentions about adding stuff like this (I have tons of stretches and stuff, and I keep dumbbells in my office), but I never do them!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for having me on your blog!
ReplyDelete