9 Mar 2023Staying Active While Working From Home
The way we work has changed & just like everything, working from home has both positives and negatives attached!
It is easy to leave your desk in the evening feeling drained after a hard day at work, only to realise that your smartwatch has registered less than 1000 steps across the whole day! Keeping active at work does not have to be back-breaking or time-consuming, but every minute that we DO move is a minute well spent.
There are many ways to incorporate movement into your daily work-from-home routine, here are a few of our tried and tested favourites:
🚶🏽♀️Walking Meetings: Where possible, take a walk while discussing business over the phone - this can be a walk around your house, garden, or apartment complex - you may even suggest the same to your colleagues - Specialists say that you need just 30 minutes of walking every day to improve your cardiovascular fitness - all movement is good movement!
🏃🏽Mini-Breaks: Popping to the kitchen to put the kettle on? Why not try some light on the spot jogging while you wait for the kettle to boil, or see how many times you can touch your toes!
🧍🏽♂️Standing: Try to incorporate standing into your working day, you may have a kitchen counter or similar area where you could stand to work for even a small amount of time each day.
🌳Get Outside: Just because you are working from home does not mean you have to stay at home: ➡️ Book an exercise class for after work➡️ Plan an after-work walk ➡️ Walking for 15 minutes during your lunch break adds up to 1 hour and 15 minutes of extra activity to your working week - small changes can make a big difference.
🌅Create a Morning Plan: Taking away the commute is one of the pleasures of working from home, don't let this precious time go to waste - plan to get active for at least 20 minutes each day before work, you will never regret it & you will enjoy that morning coffee so much more!
👚Dress accordingly: If possible, dress in a way that leaves you ready to get active whenever you get a chance. Comfortable clothing can leave you feeling more prepared to exercise when the time is right!
⌚Break It Down: For a lot of us 'work from homers', time is still scarce and many of us have extra responsibilities including children/pets / older family members, etc. If your time feels limited, consider the 15 minutes you spend scrolling on social media or reading blogs 😅 could you use these moments to get more active?
Social media and streaming platforms have made it possible to have all the resources we need to stay fit and healthy at our fingertips, from YouTube to Food bloggers, there really is no excuse for improving our lifestyle from the comfort of our own homes.
Here we have listed some of our favourite videos below, to help you get started on your work-from-home fitness journey:
💪🏽 Joe Wicks 10 Minute Feel Good Workout
💪🏽 Joe Wicks 15 Minute Ultimate Beginners Workout
💓 The Pilates Kitchen - Desk Pilates Movement Break
💪🏽 Real-Time Desk Exercises & Stretches
Thought-provoking article:
- 10 ways to be more active WFH
Another point to note is that our diet contributes to both our mental and physical health... Snacking on the job becomes an easy habit to form - but get this, snacking healthy can be just as easy as snacking unhealthy!
Check out these desk snack ideas:
Just remember: A 5-minute workout is better than no workout at all!
