2 Minute Exercise Break for your workday

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Frequent breaks in sedentary activity may explain lower health risk related to waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), triglyceride levels, and 2-hour plasma glucose levels. 

As you may know, those risk factors, along with triglyceride and HDL levels, define the metabolic syndrome which dramatically increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and probably Alzheimer’s disease.    

Take a break from your work day by trying this great one leg balance exercise!

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Stretch Anywhere and fight the perils of too much sitting

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Do you sit a lot at work or at home?  Is your back hurting from sitting?

Mayo Clinic research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns, including obesity and metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. Too much sitting also seems to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Sitting in front of the TV isn’t the only concern. Any extended sitting — such as behind a desk at work or behind the wheel — can be harmful. What’s more, spending a few hours a week at the gym or otherwise engaged in moderate or vigorous activity doesn’t seem to significantly offset the risk.

The solution seems to be less sitting and more moving overall.   Here is an exercise that you can do multiple times a day anywhere.

Adults need recess too!!

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playRecess in school is something that most of us would not question.  We know that kids need to move and wear off some energy in able to sit still and get their learning time in.  Can you imagine trying to make a 7 year old sit at a desk for 3 hours or 4 hours at a time without being able to get up?  Do you think they would learn very much or get very much study time in?

Why does this theory of needing movement time and even fresh air and outside time change as we get older and enter adulthood?  Who made the rule that you should be able to sit for long periods of time and get all kinds of work done when you reach a certain age?

There are some adults who have careers and jobs with built in movement time and that is amazing.  I’m guessing many of these people don’t even realize how helpful it is as far as their body’s health to be able to naturally move throughout their day and not have to sit in one spot. They probably don’t realize how movement and even outdoor time can help them be more productive, happy and healthy.

deskIf you are one of those people who has a career that involves sitting anywhere for long periods of time I’m guessing you know how hard it can be on your body. You probably have felt the achy back, sore neck and shoulders and just sluggishness we feel when we don’t move on a regular basis.  So what do you do about it?  How about some planned recess time?  Recess time as an adult could be just about anything like:

  • Walking down the hall to get a drink of water
  • 2 or 3 minutes of stretching or movement at your desk
  • Desk Push Ups
  • a walk outside on your break or lunch time

Need some more ideas on how to add movement time into your life?  Check out our Office Pilates Series designed to give you ideas on how you can incorporate more movement into your daily life even if you are sitting at a desk!!

Do your neck and shoulders hurt after a day at work?

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Our reliance on computers has everyone worrying about the problems that extended sitting and computers cause on our bodies.    Try this mini-workout to give your shoulders and chest a stretch after a long day at work!

 

Carey Sadler, owner of Rivercity Pilates in North Liberty, IA demonstrates a simple exercise you can do to stretch the shoulder and chest with a medium weight Theraband.

Does your neck get tired after a day of working at your computer?

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Pilates can help you avoid back and neck pain from long hours at your computer!   Write yourself a yellow sticky note — (or a reminder in Outlook) to “Check your Pilates Posture” every 60 minutes.    Try it for 2 weeks — and see if you develop a better sitting posture while you’re working!

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Do you work at a computer all day?

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I was working with a client this morning, and she was struggling with not “scrunching” her shoulders.    As we worked through her session, she talked about years of working at a desk using a computer sometimes with good posture, sometimes with questionable poster, carrying heavy computers to and from work on a commute in a bag slung over her shoulder, or a backpack carried with only one strap.    Do any of these behaviors ring true to you?

This is a quick video using a theraband to help you find your Pilates shoulders.   You can do this video at work (it only takes a couple of minutes, and it will help you improve your posture), and you’ll feel the benefits in your neck, shoulders and back!    If you need a theraband, we have them for only $5 at the studio!

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