Working Out When You’re Working From Home: Work-outs at Your Desk
January, 2025
Now that hybrid working has been firmly established for many office workers, there can be a tendency for people to sit at their desks all day.
When you’re in the office, you’re likely to be more active. It could be walking to talk to a colleague on another floor, nipping out to the coffee shop, or simply getting away from your computer for a while.
Working from home can be different. People often sit in one place rather than get up and move around.
Why is it important to keep active when working from home?
Sitting around for long periods of time (whether you are home working or not) isn’t good for you. It can have negative impacts on your posture, general level of fitness as well as decreasing your overall energy levels.
Incorporating some simple desk exercises can really help to alleviate back pain that often comes with sitting at a desk all day, improve posture, and help to maintain your focus.
Desk exercises you should try
The good thing about many desk exercises is that you can do these while you are working.
Things such as neck stretches and rotations, shoulder shrugs, and even rotating your wrists if you are working at a computer for long periods of time, are all easy to do.
You can also try some seated leg lifts (place on foot flat on the floor while you lift the over leg straight until it is parallel) are ideal for keeping your circulation moving.
BUPA has a handy guide for all types of basic exercises you can perform at your desk and most won’t leave you looking silly if you’re on a Teams call!
Remember to move around
On an average day, you might not move around as much if you’re working at home compared to being in the office.
Whether or not you need 10,000 steps a day is debatable; however, you should get up and move around. This could be walking around your home when you take a work call or going out for a walk during your lunch break.
It can be a good idea to set a reminder on your phone every so often to let you know to get up and move about. It’s an easy way to include some basic exercise into your work from home routine.
Make being active a working from home habit
If you aren’t thinking of dedicating time to a more traditional workout when home working, carrying out some simple desk exercises can help. They prevent you from stiffening up, help your posture and can assist in improving focus and productivity.
Also making sure that you get up every so often and move around is important. Even if you can’t get outside for a walk, taking a call and walking around your home will help to improve circulation.
It can be difficult to keep active when working from home but a few simple tweaks to your routine can go a long way to helping you be more active.
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