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Hi Everybody! (a la Dr. Nick from the Simpsons)
So I work retail- meaning I am on my feet 8 hrs- 5days a week...Does anyone have any ideas as to what excercises I could incorporate into work...and on my days off I have little motivation to do anything..any ideas there?
Hi there!
I recently decided that the best way to get around is almost always on my own feet so I've started walking to work and running home again.
This adds about 20 minutes to my commute each way, but really that's still a lot less time than going to the gym and with a lot less effort (after all, you have to get home somehow!) - it also saves me money on bus tickets too!
S
Hey Big Adventure -
What kind of area to you have around your workspace?
What kind of shape are you in now?
Can you walk around the store periodically, is it a big enough space to do that?
If you're forced to stand in mainly one area, you can do some things inconspicuously that will use and strengthen your muscles like calf raises, positioning your feet parallel and just going on tip toe, squeezing that calf muscle and then lowering. Do this using both legs to evenly distribute your weight. Later you can work to going on each leg singularly to carry all of your weight, doing the same move.
Push ups don't have to be done on the floor, work on your arms by doing the movement against a wall, you walk your feet away from it as you feel comfortable and do that movement of a push up. As you get stronger, use the counter in front of you, (which is more of an incline). They aren't ridiculously hard, you'll be working the muscles and training them for when you get on the floor (at home) & you'll be able to knock out more.
If there's a partition behind a wall where you can go for a minute, do something that uses the large muscles of the legs to get you warmed up (squats, lunges, jumping jacks/half-jacks if you don't have the room). Warm up your arms buy holding them out in front of you and doing circles, small and then large. Then throw some punches (don't lock your elbows), just shadow-box for about 100 punches. If you have a chair, sit down in it, stand up, sit down, stand up.
I think it's great that you are thinking about how the daily BLAH can be rev'd up a little! And you'll have a bit more zip if you do these little things throughout the day when you have 30-60 seconds.
Enjoy the day,
Nina
oh and I forgot one of my faves, tricep dips. depending on the height of the counter in front of you, you turn your back to it (so hopefully a customer doesn't surprise you) and you put your hands/palms on the counter behind you, fingers facing the same as your face is facing, away from the counter. bend your elbows and lower yourself to bend them further, use your triceps to lift you, straighten back up. You can start these out slow by not doing too much of weight bearing on it, if you don't do tricep exercises often, you'll feel these working in no time. :)
Nina
I agree with Nina. I used to do calf raises and bounces holding my butt and belly in tight when I was hostessing at a restaurant and no one was looking and sometimes even when people were looking.
And I did lots of extra dusting and vacuuming too.
to balance all of this out you could try simple balancing yoga-esque poses. Standing with one foot against your shin. Switch back and forth to keep you balanced and strong on both sides, any yoga stretches can be serious help and pick-me-ups during the day. Even just a big upward stretch helps keep me awake and alrert at work.
I also do 15 minute results yoga (rodney yee for Gaiam) in the mornings. 15 minutes really starts me off motivated to stay healthy all day.
Good luck on your adventure!
Alexandra
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