Mini Workouts to the Rescue
Why take more time to workout when you could just do it throughout the day at work or around the house?
It's Black Friday and some people are out getting their cardio in with endurance shopping I'm at home sleeping. After Thanksgiving and around the holidays we can over indulge and feel bloated and gross. Sometimes it's hard to carve out 30 minutes to an hour to exercise continuously without getting interrupted. My way to deal with this is working out in small chunks throughout the day. My routine involves most of the suggestions below plus yoga in the morning and a dance party in the evening if a fun song comes on.
Walking
This is pretty much the easiest way to get moving. Most people don't do it enough. We do morose shuffling from the car to the house then the car to work and back again. If you have an elevator and you aren't late take the stairs sometimes. Ignore this if you have to take a million flights of stairs in a giant building. Modify by going up or down a few flights to explore your giant building. I'll walk up to the second floor to use the bathroom for a change of scenery and mild exertion. Fun fact: our bathrooms are millennial pink before it was cool. Too bad the lighting is terrible or they would be great backdrops for selfies. I also walk around the building twice a day. This helps me decompress if I'm stressed while staying active.
Standing Desk
If you are one of these lucky souls who has an adjustable standing desk like me I hope you're using it. When I first started this job standing desks were a dream that few knew about and we didn't own a single one. By the end of the day my shoulders were slumping and my lower back aching. My chair wasn't great for my posture either and I tried adjusting it with only nominal improvements. Through pure luck my boss suggested these and I jumped all over it. There is an adjustment period. First you try to power through the whole day standing and that doesn't work. Then you come up with a sitting and standing schedule that works for you. For me I like to alternate between standing and sitting every hour or so. I also like to stretch and do legs workouts to keep the blood flowing when standing.
Lunch Break
I know what you want to do. Stare at your phone and then panic sprint back inside after an hour. But is that any different from staring at your computer screen for 8 hours? Take a screen break. Listen to music or a podcast and walk around for a couple minutes. This should keep you feeling energized instead of lethargic after you eat. If you want to try to squeeze in a full on workout during this time go for it! Some buildings have gyms so that makes it really easy. You can also do some easy moves in the parking lot but make sure you don't get run over. Even some light stretching is better than nothing.
Whatever you want.
Depending on your work environment you can work out any time during the day without disturbing anyone else. I know that during slumps in the work day my favorite thing to do is move around to get the blood flowing so my energy levels don't plummet. I've also found a correlation, at least for me, between being bored and feeling tired. When I do some workout or yoga poses my energy comes back.
