Many reading this piece today, will be sedentary workers whose daily routines demand that they are stuck all day behind flat screens and monitors etc. Here are a few exercise ideas to help you break the monotony of being seated all day and enhance your output at work. Sample them and invite your friends to join you!

Touch the Sky

Reach your arms up to the sky and as far back as you can safely go. You can try grasping like you’re trying to reach the stars.

Side Stretch

While standing reach your one arm over head and to the opposite side. You can keep the other hand on your hip or in the air.

Touch your Toes
Take off your shoes if you can. Wiggle your toes. Now bend at the hip and reach for your toes. Bending your knees is OK. (Do not try this if its an offence to take off your shoes at work. You may get fired!)

Shoulder Opener

Lean your palms against the wall above your head and bending at the hip to stretch out your shoulders and back.

Twirl Them

Make circles with your wrists and ankles. Rotate in both directions. Also with each hand, alternate making fists and opening your hand wide. Do this back and forth a few times. If you work at a keyboard, you’ll love how this feels!

Loosen your Neck

Go slow and gentle with neck stretching. Slowly stretch forward and back, side to side, round in circles, and twist to look over each shoulder. Remember slow and gentle. Only do what feels good and comfortable. The neck is a very delicate area so remember, not too much strain.

Arm Stretch

Straighten one arm out in front of you. Now with the other arm pull the straight arm toward your opposite shoulder. Go slowly. If you use a computer mouse a lot during the day, this should feel really good. Keep your hands open wide to make this even better.

Arm Circles

While standing rotate each arm around in big circles both forward and backward. Do one arm at a time. Do this slowly.

Seated Twist

First sit up straight. Twist your upper body in your chair keeping your hips stationary. Twist all the way from lower back all the way up to your head looking over your shoulder.

Quad Stretch and Balance

Stand on one leg and stretch out your quadricep muscle ( this is the muscle on the upper part of your thigh) by bending your knee and pulling your foot to your buttocks. If you’d like to advance this a bit, bend at the hip to touch your toes while doing this.

Hip Opener

Sitting in your chair cross one leg over the other so that ankle rests just above the knee. While doing this lean forward to feel a nice stretch in your hip and buttocks. Over time this one exercise can help with lower back problems and sciatica. It’s pretty amazing. Repeat with the other leg.

Seated Back Bend

Sitting in your chair you can do this a few different ways. Each of these will give a nice stretch to your stomach and chest muscles:

• Sitting on the edge of your chair with arms in the air, simply reach up and back.
• Sitting on the edge, clasp your hands behind your back with arms pointing down. Roll your shoulders in towards each other in the back and lean your head back.
• If you have a lean-back chair, lift your arms in the air and lean back for a nice stretch.

These exercises (which I discovered while browsing the net several months ago, and have lost track of its source) will benefit you as you do them and not just by reading. So roll up your sleeves (you don’t have to literally!) and be ye doers of the exercises and not readers only……! You can also print this out and paste on your office notice board for everyone to see and hopefully do!

By Laurene Boateng