Working from Home? Try Chair Exercises!
We all are aware that regular physical activity is helpful in keeping us fit and healthy. Exercising on a regular basis, helps in managing body weight, improve muscle mass, flexibility, and decrease risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease etc. and disorders such as obesity.
Maintaining physical distancing has become a priority now due to the COVID-19 pandemic and you may not want to hit the gym or enroll in various physical activity classes. Or you may not get enough time to exercise since you have to manage so much of work for and from home, both!
Do you know, sitting all day may increase risk of obesity, back pain, faulty posture, leg pain and tense muscles? Not only that, exercising may support improving your mood and may develop a positive attitude.
So what can be the alternative? You may have to sit for long hours at home to work or do household chores. So instead of just sitting or standing, why not do something about it. Don’t be a couch potato, start with chair exercises! Here are 10 easy-to-do chair exercises for beginners or those doing exercise after quite a while…
- Stretching and side bends
Sit on a chair, in an upright position. Stretch both your hands in upward direction, stretch your back muscles upwards as well. Hold your hands together on top of your head. Then gently bend on the right first from the side as far as you can, contracting your abdominal muscles. Hold for 5–10 seconds and then bend on the other side hold for 5–10 seconds again. Do 4–5 repetitions. (1 repetition is when you finish bending on both the sides).
This exercise supports strengthening of your core muscles.
Picture Credit: https://www.allbusiness.com/7-easy-desk-exercises-avoid-strain-sitting-22360-1.html-
2. Leg Extensions
Sit with back straight. Raise your right leg to be in line with your hip, such that your hip, knee and heel should be in a straight line. Hold for a few seconds and put it down. Repeat with the left leg raise. Then both legs together. Repeat this 4–5 times. This exercise will make your thigh muscles stronger.
Picture Credit: https://www.kaleidoscope.co.uk/blog/fashion-2/desk-exercises-boost-fitness/
3. Neck Rotation
Rotate your neck left to right, right to left and then rotate it in the entire circular manner. Do it very slowly at the start. This will loosen your neck muscles and strengthen them. Do this 4–5 times.
Picture Credit: https://rippedfigure.com/how-to-warm-up-for-a-workout-the-best-full-body-warmup-routine
4. Neck (side) Bends
Bend your neck on the left side hold for a couple of seconds and bring it back to upright position. Next bend it on the right side hold it again and then come back to regular position. Again 4 -5 repetitions would be good enough! A good exercise to make your side neck muscles strong.
Picture Credit: http://lillypt.com/neck-and-shoulder-pain-little-stretches-that-benefit-your-entire-body/
4. Back and Abdominal twists/rotations
Sit in an upright position. Hold both hands straight in front of you or alternatively you can place your hands on the desk in front of you. Then twist on the left side, rotate from your waist as much as possible, hold for 5–10 seconds and get back to original position. Stop the twist, when you know you will hurt your back or waist if you twist some more. Avoiding rotating too much and hurting your back. Then twist to the right side and repeat. Do 5–10 repetitions.
These twists help restore the backbone and spinal cord. Also, this exercise will develop the tone of your abdominal muscles. They may support the process of digestion, improve circulation, increase energy level and flexibility.
Picture Credit: https://www.kaleidoscope.co.uk/blog/fashion-2/desk-exercises-boost-fitness/
5. Bottle Triceps curls
Sit with back straight. Hold a water filled 500 ml bottle in your hand, extend your arm and raise it till shoulder level at a 90 degree angle. Continue raising your arm, till it reaches on the top your head (180 degree). Bend the hand from the elbow joint behind your head, (elbow will be by the way right next to your ears, when you bend your arm) as shown in the figure. Then extend the hand straight up on the top of your head again. Do triceps curl exercise with both arms one by one and do 4–5 repetitions each. This helps in improving the tone of triceps.
Picture Credit: http://lindseyroperdesign.com/21222/office-chair-exercises/phenomenal-office-chair-exercises-creative-ideas-chair-exercises-in-office/
6. Bottle Bicep curls
Same goes with bicep curls. Hold the bottle and do bicep curls one arm at a time by curling up the bottle in your hand towards your shoulder. 4 -5 repetitions can be done on each arm. This is an easy workout for your biceps!
Picture Credit: http://lindseyroperdesign.com/21222/office-chair-exercises/phenomenal-office-chair-exercises-creative-ideas-chair-exercises-in-office/
7. Shoulder Shrugging and Rotations
Sit tall, shrug your shoulder upwards as high as you can for 8 seconds. Then drop and squeeze the shoulder downwards. Repeat 3 -4 times.
Next come the rotations! Rotate the shoulder in a circle clockwise and later anticlockwise. Repeat slowly for 1–2 minutes.
This will loosen the shoulder muscles if they have stiffen a bit due to sitting continuously in a certain position or are in pain due to some reason and also improve the flexibility of the muscles at the shoulder joint, thus improving its range of motion.
Picture Credit: https://www.nielasher.com/blogs/video-blog/75904133-trigger-point-therapy-5-great-exercises-for-a-frozen-shoulder
8. Wrist Stretch
In a seated position, move your hand up such that your shoulder and elbow are in a straight line at a 90 degree angle with the body. Place your one hand over the fingers of the other and bend the wrist forward and backward till you experience a stretch. Hold the stretch for a few seconds. Repeat with the other hand’s wrist.
Picture Credit: http://www.sportandspinalphysio.com.au/bike-fitting-improve-neck-shoulders-wrists-body-position-bike/
9. Opposite Elbow-Knee Touch
As the name suggests this exercise involves touching your left elbow with right knee then right elbow with left knee while sitting on the chair and holding hands together at the back of your head. You need to turn your head and twist from your abdomen and also lift your leg (knee) up, as shown in the picture below. Touch or bring right elbow and left knee near as much as possible and then left elbow and right knee. Doing both the sides would be counted as one repetition. Repeat 5–10 times.
Picture Credit: https://examinedexistence.com/9-ab-workouts-can-desk/
Please Note
For any diagnostic test or various health checkup pacakages in Nigeria, please visit www.mecure.com.ng.
MeCure Healthcare Ltd, the highest rated diagnostic center in Nigeria on Google Reviews!
Disclaimer
Consult with your doctor before beginning with any kind of physical activity. Check with him if the above mentioned exercises are suitable for you.
