Our increasingly sedentary lifestyle is wreaking havoc on our fitness. But your desk job needn’t stop you from working out. Exercise is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle and even a brief workout can reap benefits.

Cardio activities like step aerobics and Jumping Jacks improve cognitive function and protect your brain from aging. Step aerobics build your calves and quadriceps, while Jumping Jacks is a rounded exercise that benefits your calves, hips, shoulders and core muscles. As well as improving your core strength, cardiovascular fitness prevents neurodegeneration like Alzheimer’s disease.

Exercising your legs can guard against loss of mobility and injuries later in life. One legged squats and leg lifts build up your quadriceps and hip flexors. The office wall chair pose helps with both quadriceps and glutes. Simple leg exercises such as these may improve age-related issues with walking and speed.

Upper body and arms should not be neglected. Incline desk push-upsare an inventive way of training your triceps, pectorals, scapular and rotator-cuff muscles. Desk chair shrugs focus on your serratus anterior (the area beneath your arms). Resistance training improves bone mass and strength, preventing osteoporosis (a weakening of the bones). Maintaining muscle size and strength is also important for maintaining mobility and all-round fitness.

As well as improving your health and fitness, exercise is most effective when part of a wider healthy lifestyle. For those starting out fresh – build strength first, know your limits and don’t risk preventable injuries. Good luck and enjoy!

Sources:

1. Lower extremity muscle quality and gait variability in older adults –ageing.oxfordjournals.org
2. A comparison of leg power and leg strength within the InCHIANTI study: which influences mobility more? – biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org
3. Exercise challenge: one legged squats – bodyrock.tv
4. At your desk workout – cdph.ca.gov
5. Stuck at the office? Easy desk exercises you can do in minutes –discovergoodnutrition.com
6. Deskercise! 33 smart ways to exercise at work – greatist.com
7. Effects of high-Intensity strength training on multiple risk factors for osteoporotic fractures – jama.jamanetwork.com
8. Is step aerobics a good workout? – livehealthy.chron.com
9. Proper wall sit-down exercise – livestrong.com
10. What muscles do jumping jacks work? – livestrong.com
11. The benefits of lunges – livestrong.com
12. Sedentary behaviour – new study – ll.dlpa.bru.nihr.ac.uk
13. Jumping jacks – menshealth.com
14. The one perfect exercise you must do at your desk – menshealth.com
15. A pilot study of core stability and athletic performance: is there a relationship? –ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
16. Cardiorespiratory fitness and brain atrophy in early Alzheimer’s disease – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
17. Muscle training for bone strength – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
18. Resistance exercise for muscular strength in older adults: a meta-analysis –ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
19. Cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive function in middle age – neurology.org
20. Core stability measures as risk factors for lower extremity injury in athletes –scholar.google.co.uk
21. 60-second cardio moves – shape.com
22. 5-minute power boosters for the office – sparkpeople.com
23. Straight-leg raise – seated – workout-x.com

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