We are all crunched for time, so why not incorporate this workout into your daily routine?
There is no reason that we can’t get out of our seats at our desk in order to prevent a multitude of chronic conditions that are associated with an overly sedentary lifestyle…at work and at home.
It is estimated that in the US, the average adult sits for over 12 hours a day, and that physical inactivity contributes to over 3.2 million deaths per year.
This is not a new thing. The Surgeon General has been talking about this since 1996, and has referred to “Sitting Disease” as being the “new smoking”.
You can’t argue with him (or her), seeing that so many chronic conditions have physical inactivity at the fundamental base of it all - cardiovascular disease, diabetes, muscle metabolism, and even cancer. It has been reported that:
there can be up to a 49% risk reduction of all cause cardiovascular disease morbidity with increased physical activity.
you can see significant changes in your blood pressure as early as three months from starting a regular physical activity routine, and you will see significant changes in your metabolic profile (sugar and cholesterol levels) at 12 months.
people who are physically active at work, or outside of work, have fewer issues with mental health, are more alert, are more productive, have greater sales levels and revenue generated statistics. Best of all, you get rid of that after lunch energy plummet.
colon cancer risk is reduced by 22%and breast cancer by 75%. It has been stated that for every 15 minutes of activity you incorporate in your day, that our all cause cancer mortality reduces by 1% overall.
abnormal loading of bones in the vertebral column, and asymmetric loading of the joints of the hips, knees, and ankles is improved by changing from a seated to standing posture, and being more active…the muscles around the joints are stronger and create more stable functional positions.
So, what are you going to do about it? Get moving. It doesn’t have to be all at once…you can break it up and do small sets of exercises (or even one exercise) throughout the day.
Park further away in the parking lot. Gradually transition over time to stand more during the day (don’t go at it all at once as your body won’t be ready for it). Hold walking meetings. Get the office involved and do “hallway challenges” where everyone comes out in the hall at a particular time and does a wall sit, a plank, jumping jacks, or whatever…get creative! Do exercises while you are talking on the phone, texting, typing emails.
When you do the exercises, make sure that you are doing them with purpose and not just knocking them out…remember you are trying to teach your muscles how to work and be stable, not to be on the cover of a muscle magazine.
Keep it fun, and keep it fresh. Click on this link to get the details about the workout. Here is a video that shows you all of the fancy moves.
If you want some help working out the kinks, we would love to have you in for an appointment. Click on the big green button at the top to get Reactivated!
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