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June 24, 2011
The Workaholic’s Workout
 When you’re always racing against deadlines or working 12-hour days, the recommended 2.5 hours of weekly physical activity doesn't always fit your schedule. How to keep fit when you practically live in your office?
PINK CEO Cynthia Good saw a solution firsthand when she entered a nail salon at 10 a.m., and several employees were exercising to a morning workout show.
“Staying active and fit at work offers mental clarity, stress release and a faster metabolism,” Jennifer Ettinger, author of Find Your Inner Goddess and founder of Fit Your Style tells PINK. She recommends using a wall for pushups or standing up when on the phone to perform calf raises.
Fitness trainer Kelli Calabrese says fitter people perform better mentally. She advises taking a break from your desk for at least five minutes every hour to stretch, breathe and move around, and adds that desk exercises, like stationary lunges and simulated jump rope, help get your heart rate up.
Other experts suggest replacing your office chair with an exercise ball chair for an hour or so a day. These chairs aren’t stable, forcing you to sit straight to maintain balance. This helps improve posture, balance and strengthens your core. If your company has greenspace, you can walk during your lunch hour or view exercise videos from your iPhone.
Mayo Clinic says you can also take advantage of your commute. For those who drive, you can park further away and walk. Too far to walk or bike? If you take the bus, try getting off a couple blocks before your stop.
Bonus PINK Link: Exercise isn’t the only way to boost energy at work. Here’s how to wake up.
By Malee Moua
"Fitness – if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body.” Cher
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Comments
"Fitter people perform better mentally at work"? That's crazy!
Give me a break. Sounds like wonky research that supports discrimination at work. "Fit" is open to interpretation and generally regarded as thin. The thinner you are, the fitter one assumes the person is. I'm an advocate for getting more activity in one's day, but it's a stretch to allude that working out will essential make you smarter. Now that sounds like research with a poor study group that was constructed to fit a biased hypothesis to ensure an outcome in favor of the researcher's opinion.
There is no workout or number of workouts that could make someone who is a poor mental performer at work, suddenly brilliant. And if someone doesn't workout daily and does not fit the stereotype, it doesn't mean they do not perform well. That's ridiculous.
The workout
I was disappointed in this article because I was actually looking forward to the tips. I work in an office that has the cube environment for everyone except VP status. I have meetings back to back and do not have a 5 minute break before calling in to another meeting. I can only go so far with my headset before my phone get static so the exercises while standing up will not work. The past 6 months have interfered with my exercise classes because I not only have been working a 60 hour week, I have a son that just graduted high school and now is getting ready for college. When he was born I wished for more hours in the day and just thought it was only the newborn stage - but life evolves and there are pulls and pushes that must go on. In this economy - I feel I can't always say no to my job.
exercise and the workplace
Great tips! Exercise is so important for your image and well-being! As an Image Consultant I always promote a balance to include exercise to create your best image. Fitting exercise into a busy work and personal life can be a challenge but the benefits far out way the inconvenience. My favorite is a walk then a stretching; it’s easy, can be done anywhere, any time of year, alone or w/ others and all that’s needed is good walking shoes. Golf and Skiing are favorite recreational workouts for me when away from work; doesn’t feel like exercise when I am having fun doing it.
Lori Johnson
Yourbestimagepid.com
stairs
I work on the 11th floor of my building so when i go down to the cafe or the mail room i try to walk back up ( when I'm not in heels) in order to get a little exercise and combat "chair butt" as we call it.
working out...
Unfortunately, the 2.5 hours a week is an old standard...my endocrinologist thinks that I (and everyone else in the world) should be working out an hour a day, seven days a week...that hour is a MINIMUM...oy. Yeah, in my spare time...I'm happy to get in 30-40 minutes a day for 5 days. I think he has a nanny. Or a wife. Ha!
I hit up Curves 3 days a week and then do yoga/T-tapp videos on the other 2 days...add in working in the yard, chasing the pups around...