15 Fun Exercises to try at work!

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With a full-time job, I know it can be hard to be able to find time to exercise. For example, maybe you have hours that don’t align with gym times. Or you have other obligations outside of working hours so you can get to the gym. Maybe you live far away from work so the last thing you want to do when you get home is workout. The good news is that there are options for you if you want to try to sneak in some exercises while you’re at the office. Here are 15 fun exercises to try at work.

15 Fun Exercises to Try at Work

I’ve broken the exercises into sections. Lower body, upper body, abs, and cardio. I did this for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s easier to pick and choose which ones you’d like to try. Secondly, you can create a complete exercise routine by picking 1-2 from each section.

Lower Body

• Seated leg raises
  • These you can do right from the comfort of your desk chair without getting any weird stares from coworkers. Simply hold your legs out straight with your feet just off the ground and then raise your legs up to parallel. Bring them back down again to just hover over the floor. That’s one rep. Do 3 sets of 15.
•  Squats
  • Bodyweight squats are amazing for your lower body. They work your glutes, hamstrings, and quads all at the same time. Just stand up next to your desk and do 3-4 sets of 15-20. These were a favorite of mine when I had an office during conference calls. Some quiet days I’ll do them at my current job (I’m in cube land at my current job).
• Calf raises
  • Calf raises are a quick and easy exercise that you can do just about anywhere. If you have a footrest under your desk you can use that to get a larger range of motion. If not, you can still get a lot of benefit out of them. Do them standing next to your desk, while you’re making copies or waiting for the coffee to brew. Use your imaginations! Try 3-4 sets of 15-20.
• Lunges
  • I love lunges for a bodyweight workout. You can do so many variations on lunges (forward, reverse, lateral, split squats, jump lunges, etc.). This one is better suited to a little bit of privacy so it may not be a good choice if you don’t have an office or a semi-private workspace. Pick your favorite variety and do 3-4 sets (each leg) for 10-15 reps.
• Wall sits
  • Wall sits can be challenging. They are a real quad burner. All you need is a small piece of wall for this one. Step up to the wall with your back facing it and then slide down until your quads can be parallel with the floor. Hold this position for 30 seconds – 2 minutes or more.

Upper Body

• Chair dips
  • Here’s another great exercise that you can do from the comfort of your chair. Do these just like you would do a bench dip but use your chair instead of a bench. Try 3 sets of 10-15.
•  Water bottle curls
  • Almost everyone I know carries a water bottle. You can use it to exercise with! Mine is a big 30 oz stainless steel water bottle so when it’s full it weighs a couple of pounds. Use your water bottle and get some curls done! 3-4 sets of 10-15 each side is a good start!
• Shoulder presses
  • Grab a nice heavy book or two and balance it/them on the palm of your hand and do some shoulder presses. Do 3-4 sets of 10-15 each. Go a little slower with this one because you don’t want to topple the books and hurt yourself.
• Pushups (desk/wall/floor)
  • Push-ups are another great exercise that you can do at the office (or anywhere really). You can do them on an incline using your desk or a wall or get right down on the floor and do them. There are several different places you can put your hands (wide, narrow, diamond, one-handed, etc.
• Isometric holds
  • I touched briefly on one type of isometric hold in exercise 3, the leaning plank. You can do all different kinds of isometric holds with any of your muscle groups. Pick a muscle and squeeze it with everything you’ve got. Start at 15 seconds and work your way up to a minute or more! You can do these literally ANYWHERE, not just the office!

Cardio Exercises

• Pretend jump rope
  • Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular exercise. You can totally do this one without a jump rope. All you have to do is make the motions with your hands as you jump up and down just like you would if you had an actual jump rope. Do this for 15 seconds – 2 minutes at a time depending on experience level.
• Shadowboxing
  • Last but not least we have shadow boxing. Here you can channel your inner boxer and have at it! Set a timer for 2-4 minutes and box away. Mix it up with jabs, uppercuts, and side punches to really get a good workout!

Ab Exercises

• Seated Bicycle crunches
  • All you need for this exercise is your chair. You can knock out a couple of quick sets even if you’re in a cube! You do it just like a regular bicycle crunch but seated. Try 3-4 sets of 20 (each leg 10 times) crunches.
• Oblique twists
  • This is a super easy exercise you can do right from your chair. This is similar in nature to a Russian twist only you’re sitting upright. Start sitting up nice and straight, then slowly turn to your left then rotate around all the way to your right. This is one rep. Complete sets of 20 for a good ab burn!
• Leaning Plank/Plank
  • Planks are great isometric hold exercises for your core muscles. Use your desk as your platform or use the floor (only if you have an office. You don’t want to give your coworkers anything to tease you about!) Hold them for 30 seconds – 1 minute or more at a time depending on your experience level.

Get Creative!

There are always ways to sneak exercise into your day. If you are in cube land you may have to get a little creative about it but there is always a way if you’re willing to put forth the effort. Squats were my go-to when I was on a conference call since I could knock out a ton without making any noise. Push-ups were a favorite of mine as well. Another key point, you can do these anywhere, not just the office! You can always get one of those stair steppers, elliptical or bicycles that fit under your desk like these here. You can pedal or step your way to a great cardio workout without even looking like you’re doing anything! With all of this in mind, you can grab an extra body-weight or cardio workout or two in during the week.

For more workouts take a look at others I’ve posted —>>> HERE

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