The typical day for most of my clients consists of many hours in front a computer, a commute in the car to and from work, and then a good amount of sitting after dinner in front of other screens. Then a few days a week, we do a focused and challenging 60 minute workout at the gym. Many of us also walk a couple miles at the start or the end of some days.
For better overall health, I am going to propose that people should sneak in five minutes of exercise every 60-90 minutes. This not only will improve your brain performance and your low back health, it will improve your mobility and its a good way to burn some extra calories.
The five minutes should consist of big muscle movements (think Squat, Lunge, Hinge, pushups, band pulls) as well as core exercises. (various planks)
A few examples of short circuits that can be done with body weight or light equipment laying around in your house.
930am: 3 rounds of 10 pushups, 5 (each side) reverse lunges, 10sec side planks.
11:00am: 3 rounds of 8 Squats (bodyweight or light DB), 8ea side DB or band rows, 30secs plank w/hand touch
Or it could be other calisthenics like jumping jacks, suitcase carries, or a walk around the block or up a few flights of stairs.
You can set your timer for every 60-90 minutes through the day. With some creativity and using items around your house for resistance, you can sneak in a good hour of total exercise and movement. The other great thing about these five minute sessions is that you will be totally focused on perfect form since it is such a short amount of time.
This is great for days when you cant get into the gym, but not really a substitute for those focused longer sessions we do at Thrive a few days a week.
The human body is much healthier — better posture, better mobility — when we have more frequent movement all day long. So break up the daily routine with these mini “workouts”.
Send me a note if you need some help coming up with several mini sessions for your work days. I can give you recommendations and even some light/cheap items to keep at your house/office to assist in making the workouts more interesting.