IS IT POSSIBLE TO STAY FIT WITH AN OFFICE JOB?
Lack of time is the most often-quoted reason for people not exercising regularly and staying fit. And it’s a good reason too, because work timings are getting more and more hectic by the day. But in this article, we will tell you how to squeeze in exercise into a fully busy office job and family life. It’s all about the power of small, consistent doses.
After a few years of working for a living, all of us look back to the time when we were in college, where the abs used to show and the heart never used to stop. With working hours getting longer and longer, with commuting and commitments taking up all our free time, it is difficult to still stay fit and healthy, and sometimes in our desperate moments, we’re apt to ask if staying fit is actually possible while holding down an office job and a family.
Well, we can’t say it’s easy, but it’s certainly possible. Here are a few things to keep track of if you’re trying to get a little fitter.
1. Have a ‘sitting timer’ at work
Set an hourly timer the moment you sit down at your work desk. The timer should be set up to sound on the hour. Each time it goes off, you will reset it, which means another hourly timer begins. The first thing you must do after shutting off the alarm is to take a walk around the floor of your office at a nice, brisk pace. This is just to awaken your glutes and abs that have gone to sleep while you’ve been sitting, and also to get the blood flow going in your legs. On a typical eight-hour work day, you will have eight such three or four minute walking periods, which will add up to twenty-five to thirty minutes.
2. Do isometric contractions while sitting
There are many exercises you can do from a sitting position. Whenever you remember, take two or three minutes off and raise your legs to exercise your thighs. You can tighten and relax your abdominal muscles too while you’re sitting, which will keep them working through the day. Neck rotations also can be done on the hour. It is important with these exercises that you shoot for just two or three minutes each time, because it feels easier to do. If you allocate thirty minutes at a stretch, you’re liable to miss it. So allocate three minutes every hour and you will go through it pleased as punch.
3. Have healthy snacks
There you go. No discussion of fitness can be complete without a pointer to eat healthy snacks. There’s something about sitting and working at a stretch that makes you want to snack, and what kind of snacks are available at the office canteen? The unhealthiest of them all! To get over this problem, pack healthy snacks into your lunch box that are heavy on protein, like a protein shake or dry fruits.
4. Prepare your meals well in advance
Use an hour or two on every Sunday to prepare midday meals for every day of the week. This means that you don’t have to allocate time for it at the end of a long, tiring workday, and you won’t ever have to miss carrying your lunch and then end up having food from the fatty options available at your canteen. What’s more, bringing your lunch will also save you a ton of money.
