Exercises every desk worker must do
Experts say you should take a 5-10 minute break every hour and stretch or take a walk. Net photo
The need to lose weight is a language spoken by people of various walks of life. The importance and ways to do it are within our reach. However, those who work in offices and sit behind a desk the whole day are rarely considered whenever the weight loss talk is done.
Quraish Golooba, a physiotherapist with Univic Medical Centre in Bukoto, says there are some exercises called office chair exercises which can be done in your chair.
“For example, someone who types for long hours will experience problems with their muscles. They can do agility exercises to increase blood flow as well as help with the muscles,” he says.
Ergonomic training
He adds that physiotherapists can also advise these people on various exercises to do. This is called ergonomic training and it is aimed at preventing work related muscle-skeletal disorders.
Among the things taught is how to organise your work station so that you do not experience pain of the neck, back, elbow and joint.
Interval training
Veron Bikamata, a fitness expert, nutritional advisor, and strength and sports performance coach says you should also engage in high intensity interval training which are cardiovascular exercises that alternate between short periods of intense aerobic exercises and less intense recovery periods.
Benefits
“One can do these in a small space and they cause the body to utilise a lot of oxygen in a short period of time,” Bikamata says.
He adds that the number of calories lost in high intensive interval exercise is greater than those lost during traditional aerobics.
A lot of work is done in a short period of time hence ideal for people that do not have a lot of time at their disposal.
“For example, you can achieve an hour’s workout in 25 minutes as long as you have programmed yourself. Besides that, you do not need any external weights or equipment, your weight is good enough,” he says adding that even when your body is at rest, there is continued muscular fibre development because of the energy system used. As that is done, the body is definitely burning fat.
Core building
Golooba says you also need to incorporate core building exercises because the more you sit, the more you weaken your core muscles hence compromising the stability of your spinal cord.
“Over sitting and over standing are not good so you have to balance the two,” Golooba advises, “One could move around instead of standing in one place. All that matters is that you are not in one place for a long time. Even for those sitting, you could stand up and stretch a bit at least twice in an hour.”
