5 Exercises To Do At Your Desk As You Return To The Office

Sitting for long work hours create negative effects on posture and circulation

The return-to-office mandates from companies have led workers to experience a significant disadvantage of office life: extended periods of sitting. Health experts agree that sitting for long periods during work hours negatively affects posture, circulation, and long-term cardiovascular health.

Workplace wellness initiatives have moved from providing gym memberships to also promoting practical movement activities during work hours, because of changing return-to-office policies.

Health professionals emphasize that brief physical activity breaks throughout the workday help decrease sedentary behavior risks. The positive aspect is that you can maintain physical activity throughout your workday without going to a gym or leaving your office.

These five exercises, which can be performed at your desk, will help reverse the physical impact of sitting all day working in an office environment.

Seated Leg Raises

Seated Leg Raises, a lower-body strengthening exercise that targets the quadriceps and core, are a great option for office workers who spend most of their day seated. These exercises can be performed during long meetings or while answering emails, even at your desk. Strengthening leg muscles through seated leg raises improves circulation and reduces stiffness from prolonged sitting. Here’s how it works: extend one leg straight out, hold for five-to-10 seconds, then lower and switch sides.

Desk Push-Ups

Desk push-ups enable office workers to develop upper-body strength while remaining at their desks. This exercise modifies the traditional push-up by utilizing a desk or table as a support surface. Desk push-ups allow you to exercise during brief work breaks. The chest, shoulders, arms and core muscles get worked during desk push-ups, which also helps to enhance posture. To perform this exercise, position your hands at shoulder-distance on the desk, then extend your feet backward, and execute slow push-ups.

Seated Spinal Twist

The Seated Spinal Twist stretch provides calming benefits that enhance spinal and oblique flexibility while decreasing lower back and spine stiffness. Begin by sitting upright, then hold onto the chair back as you gently twist your torso to one side before repeating on the other side. The movement helps to relieve tension while increasing spinal flexibility.

Chair Squats

Chair Squats help develop lower-body strength by using a chair to measure depth. You can do this exercise during your regular breaks at your desk or in common office areas. The exercise targets the glutes together with hamstrings and core muscles which tend to weaken during extended periods of sitting. Stand before the chair, then descend toward it as if to sit, before rising back up without making full contact with the seat.

Shoulder Rolls

Shoulder rolls are a simple mobility exercise that helps employees experiencing neck or shoulder tension. The exercise can be performed at any time when stress or stiffness starts to build at the desk. The exercise reduces muscle tension and improves posture through slow backward and forward shoulder rolls which are repeated 10-15 times.