6 Easy Ways to Work Out During Your Work Day

No, the walk to and from the coffee machine doesn't count.

4 min

Eine Frau sitzt am Computer und streckt sich

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By Katharina Klein
February 3, 2022

Why trust us?

In between work, spending time with family, and taking care of things at home, it’s not always so easy to get regular exercise. Luckily, there are plenty of easy ways to incorporate more exercise into your daily routine without having to sacrifice your free time in the evening. To have enough energy throughout the day, simply toss our Protein Balls in your bag in the morning. They’re the perfect snack that give you the power you need right when you need it – not to mention they taste super delicious. Let’s jump into some of our best tips to stay active at work and throughout your day.

Editor’s Note: Many of these tips apply to able-bodied people. If you have decreased mobility, you’ll need to look elsewhere for your ideas. We’re sorry for the oversight and are working on ways to make our suggestions accessible for absolutely everyone.

#1 Use your breaks for some exercise

If you’re currently working from home and your workday consists of never-ending conference calls, you should use the time between video calls and team meetings to power through some squats, burpees, or push-ups to stay active at work.

Advantage: none of your colleagues will look at you funny, you can puff and sweat as much as you want, and you don’t even have to take a shower right afterwards. Tip: if you leave your fitness mat rolled out on the floor of your office and have already put on your sports pants, you’ll leave your inner slacker no excuses to keep you from working out.

To be ready for your next call and the next active break, you can easily refuel with our Recovery Aminos. They provide quickly available carbohydrates and give your muscles back the energy they consumed during your workout.

#2 Stand up with only one leg

Make the most of every trip to the coffee maker, restroom, or refrigerator by turning getting up from your workspace into a fitness challenge. Try using only one leg to stand up!

Here’s what we mean: Sit on the edge of your chair and stretch one leg in the air, keeping the other on the floor. Stand up over the leg on the floor by rolling forward from the heel, engaging your thigh and glutes. Your extended leg should remain stretched in the air until you come to a standing position.

You may have to support yourself on the edge of the table at the beginning, but you’ll quickly become more and more confident with the exercise and soon be able to stand up on one leg without any problems. Change your leg every time you stand up and your hip and thigh muscles will become much stronger over time.

Set a long-term goal of being able to do this exercise without the help of the table, and you’ll be doubly motivated. If you don’t tend to get up regularly during the workday, set a timer to remind yourself every 30 minutes. According to a study published in the American Journal Of Physiology, staying active and getting regular movement can significantly reduce the risk of back pain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic disorders.

#3 Take the stairs

Whether you work from home or in an external office: use the stairs for all your daily trips, even when there’s an elevator or escalator. No matter whether you go up the stairs to the office, to the train platform, or to the dentist’s office – the main thing is that you take them. That way, you can incorporate a lot more movement into your daily routine.

If you do this two or three times a day, it’ll already have a big impact on your cardiovascular health. You can optimize this mini-workout by, for example, only taking every second step or doing a lunge with every step and going deep into your knees – your butt and thighs will thank you!

#4 Take a walk during lunch

We’ve so been there: If you work from home, it’s tempting to plop down on the couch during your lunch break. But if you use part of your break to get some exercise, you’ll save some more time in the evening to really relax – win-win!

At the start of your break, get up from your desk (one-legged of course), put on your shoes and jacket, and start walking. Even a 20-minute walk is enough to reap major benefits, because you not only burn calories and release endorphins, but also reinvigorate yourself for the rest of the working day. If your focus is on losing weight, here are 7 simple tips on how to lose weight while walking.

#5 Planning is key to stay active at work

Squeezing a workout in between the stress of work, household chores, and childcare is often not easy and requires a lot of discipline. To integrate more exercise into your daily routine, it’s important to schedule time for a workout into your daily routine from the start – just like you would for family visits, the hairdresser, or doctor appointments.

So mark your workout on the calendar and stick to your me-time. After all, you wouldn’t cancel an invitation to dinner or to help your best friend move, would you? Then you shouldn’t do it on a date with yourself.

If you’re thinking that the forethought of planning a workout in between the rest of everyday life isn’t worth it, you’re wrong. It doesn’t matter how long your workout lasts for it to be efficient, as this study proves, because it only takes an average of just 13 minutes of exercise to build up strength and endurance (if the workout is completed regularly over a longer period of time)

Every movement counts and something is definitely better than nothing!

#6 Stand up while talking on the phone

An advantage of being on the phone is that the person on the other end of the line doesn’t notice what you’re doing. That’s why you should always stand up when you’re on the phone, walk around your office or apartment, stand on your toes (hello calf muscles!), or – one of our favorites – raise and lower one leg sideways from a hip-width stance for 15 repetitions and then switch sides.

Benefit: You won’t even notice that you’re tightening your glutes and thighs and doing something good for your back while you’re chatting. For a healthy back, you should get up from your desk and move around at least every 30 minutes anyway.

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Sources for this article

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