Sitting at a desk all day is the daily life of a large proportion of employees in the 21st century. This sports coach has simple exercises to avoid rust.
Sitting at a desk for too long is very uncomfortable and can cause significant pain. Fortunately, a few very simple little exercises without equipment are often enough to relieve your body. There are more and more sports coaches and it is sometimes difficult to sort them out, especially since many recommend difficult bodybuilding exercises, with a lot of equipment and of little use for most people.
Dan Go, a corporate sports coach, gave some examples of easy exercises to maintain your body: most are simple stretches without equipment. They will help you avoid pain when you are forced to work seated at a desk for long hours every day. On the social network X (formerly Twitter) he shows 5 exercises that he considers obligatory to relieve work-related tensions.
The first is what he calls “the best stretch in the world”: it involves a lunge forward, placing the hands on the ground, followed by a rotation of the shoulders and finally a stretch pressing on the back leg. This exercise mobilizes, in a few seconds, many muscles: the glutes, hamstrings and calves, but it also stretches the spine and hips for example.
The second exercise is “the sofa stretch”: it consists of kneeling on the floor with your back to a sofa for example, placing one foot on the sofa and the other flat on the floor, then bending the leg until you have with your back straight and your heel pressed against your buttocks. This stretch relieves pain in the lower back and legs by mobilizing the hips and quadriceps.
The third exercise is the simplest of all: called “passive suspension”, it simply consists of hanging in the air, straight, holding on to a horizontal bar like a pull-up bar by your hands. This exercise strengthens the shoulders, but is above all very useful for relieving back pain and tension in the spine. It also helps improve posture.
The fourth exercise, “front push-ups”, helps work the muscles of your upper back and shoulders. It requires an elastic band or cable, hung in front of you and which you will pull towards you towards your forehead, pivoting your forearms upwards, with your hands near your ears.
Finally, the fifth exercise is very simple: walking. By taking several thousand steps per day, you mobilize many muscles and greatly reduce the risk of various pains, illnesses and even mortality. Walking is also an effective way to reduce stress and relieve muscle tension, which is a big help after a long day of sitting at work.