Jenny

With summer around the corner, I decided it was time to take stock of my winter body.  This is my dilemma every summer.  I look in the mirror and realize that I will have to do some work to get into some of last summer’s clothes.  For those of us chained to our desks at the office, it is difficult to work any semblance of exercise into our day.  The other day, while surfing, I came across an article for the blog The Office-Diet.  From the Office-Diet post, I discovered Joan Price’s “25 Ways to Exercise When you Barely Have a Minute.“  I found some of her suggestions to be sensible and doable exercises for the desk bound.  With these simple exercises, you can mix them up and do several different ones each day. 

Here are my top 5 favorites:

1. Don’t Drive All the Way to Work:  Drive your car to a location where you can safely leave it.  This location should be about a mile or two away from your job.  Then from this location walk the rest of the way into work, and of course, you will be walking back to the car after work as well.
   
   
2. Stand and Work:  It has been suggested that if you stand up as much as possible while you work or study you will feel less tired and your brain will work better.  Working standing up for approximately 5 -10 minutes every hour could translate into you burning 25% more calories.  Wow!! What a great way to burn off some calories while on the job.
   
   
3. Burn Em, Don’t Eat Em: Skip the pastries at lunch, and go outside. Take a walk around the block as briskly as possible.  This exercise will energize you both mentally and physically. At a 4 mph pace you could burn 100 calories in 15 minutes.
   
   
4. Skip a Step:  Instead of taking the elevator up to your office, take the stairs. Add intensity to this exercise by taking the stairs two at a time.
   
   
5. Ab Alert: Work on your abs by doing isometric abdominal intervals where ever you stand or sit. Contract your abs six times slowly, (6-second rep), then six times quickly (2-second rep), then six times super slowly (10-second rep), and repeat.
   

There are twenty other exercise suggestions from Ms. Price that you might find fun and interesting, read all about it by clicking on this link. 

So ladies, what are you waiting for, let’s get moving and get in shape for the summer.