best ways to exercise with slow job?

[axolotl]

I am starting a new job soon as a receptionist at a veterinarian's office where I will be mostly sitting for usually 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. My old job required a lot of walking and so it was easy to meet my step goal. Any tips for how to stay active in a sedentary job? Do you focus on you exercise instead on your days off or do you set your goal to active minutes or calories?

[stevew_68]

Im pretty much in the same boat as you. I work in a call centre so my job is sitting all day as well. I have always got to work an hour early. ( I hate rushing in last minute ). I go for a walk around the car park and building or along the local bridal paths before work, and in my breaks, rather than hang around the smoke shelter, I walk around the building and car park again. Its peaceful and clears the head. Just remember to make it a brisk walk. Somewhere between a normal walking pace and a power walk. Hope this gives you some ideas. Good luck in the new job.

[lonerchick]

I've started getting up more than usual. Instead of waiting for a pile of papers to take the shredder, I take them multiple times a day. I do the same thing with the scanner. If I need to talk to someone, I go to them if possible instead of calling or making them come to my desk. I also throw trash away in the cafe instead of at my desk. Look for any excuse to get up.

[TandemWalker]

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axolotl wrote:
I am starting a new job soon as a receptionist at a veterinarian's office where I will be mostly sitting for usually 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. My old job required a lot of walking and so it was easy to meet my step goal. Any tips for how to stay active in a sedentary job? Do you focus on you exercise instead on your days off or do you set your goal to active minutes or calories?

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Tip #1 - If doable, get up an hour earlier, go for a 30-45 minute walk/jog.

Tip #2 - Instead of sipping a cup of coffee or whatever your favorite drink is during coffee breaks, get out there and do a brisk walk.

Tip #3 - If you have a one-hour lunch, have sometime light and use the balance of that hour to go for a brisk walk.

Tip #4 - Find every excuse under the sun to add steps to your daily routine. Instead of going straight to the photocopies, walk the opposite way to get a quick drink at the water fountain, then get your copy...

Tip #5 - While sitting at your desk, move your feet 3-4 inches of the floor and keep it going for 5 minutes. Believe me, you will feel it. Do this 10-12 times during the day.

These are just examples ... Once you reassess your workplace with these tips in mind, I'm sure you'll come up with many more. It's amazing how little things do add up by the end of the day.

TW

[axolotl]

I'm definitely getting up earlier tomorrow to get a bit of exercise in.

Thanks for all the tips so far everyone 🙂

[RonnieP]

Good luck with the new job.  It would be great to see animals all day.  Here's a suggestion...if it's possible, work standing up at your desk.  You won't be getting any steps, but it beats sitting all day.  I work from home and try to stand for at least a couple of hours each day.

[SunsetRunner]

used to work in a big insurance call centre many years ago, they had a staff cafe, but what a few of us would do everyday is walk into town instead, park as far away as possible

[Chada]

I take the stairs every chance I get and I am on the 10th floor which helps.  I also walk as much as possible like to lunch, the post office, bank, etc.  If I bring my lunch I take a walk for my lunch.  Also just get my steps in at the gym after work as well but I try to get in as many as I can before I get there in the evening.

[Chada]

Also I always park far away.

[Knowledge]

Agree to all the above posts but for me I also changed my step goal to motivate me more.

For me steps don't mean much unless you are looking at trends. I've found with my desk job I average 5000-7000 steps a day. But when I workout on those days I can hit around 8500 or 9000 steps. So for me I set my step goal at 8500 because I am more likely to hit it when I workout and will not hit it if I just sit down all day at work. This motivates me to workout every day to hit my goal. I've found 10,000 steps doable but very very hard sometimes because of my sedentary job. I noticed I wasn't hitting my step goal very often (maybe once a week) and this didn't motivate me because I felt it was too out of reach given my circumstances.

This why you can edit the goals! Edit them to your lifestyle, but put the bar a bit higher to reach so you can be motivated to increase. Soon enough hitting that goal will be easy and you can raise the bar a bit higher.

My wife on the other hand hits 10,000 every day with her job (walking around a lot) so she raises her step goals to motivate her to exercise after work.

Also I changed the Active minutes goal to 60 minutes because I found 30 minutes is too easy to hit on my Surge because the Surge and Charge HR now track Active AND Very Active minutes.

[SunsetRunner]

get on of those floor walker things

basically whilst sat down, you walk but don't go anywhere, and you can adjust the resistance

[FlashP74]

I bought an elliptical trainer and 45 minutes after working in a home office adds on 700-750 cals while a more gentle film burns at least 1,100 calories.

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[TandemWalker]

@FlashP74 

Hi! Just curious. What do you mean by "...a more gentle film..."

Cheers!

    TW     

[LewWagner]

Axolotl,

Chose times outside of work to get those steps in or during lunch.  Depending on your knees, ankles, and such, get out and walk/jog/run for at least one half hour if not an hour each time.  Get up early, do the walk, take your shower, breakfast, then go to work.  I prefer to exercise after dinner to burn off potential fat cells so after work, get in another walk or run, or mix it up and do calisthenics during commercials.

Bottom line is to "just do it."  Think of ways to exhert yourself vs. going into the kitchen and piecing.

[FlashP74]

@TandemWalker Hmm I didn't write that comment particularly well. My 45 minute routine on the elliptical trainer goes through different angles and resistances and I keep it at, or as near as possible to 65rpm. It is quite a tough one. I have another one which I keep for watching movies on the laptop, so anywhere between 1hr 20 upto 1hr 50 minutes, or so, which has the resistance at level 5 (which is moderately low [0-20 range on machine]) and at 15 degrees angle (10-30 degrees range on machine). This I presumed, before Fitbit Charge HR, would be more of a fat burning exercise, which the Charge HR now confirms. So in essence, it is a more gentle routine, over a longer period of time while watching a movie. Sometimes the movie is worthwhile, and sometimes it has been a Lovefilm "0 star" stinker like "Orc Wars". At least I burned over 1,000 calories while wasting that 1hr 30 mins of my life.

Saying that, I had an office day yesterday, which gave me an estimated 2,400 burned calories. Today I was working in the woods with my chainsaw and have so far burned 4,400 calories with 5 hours of the day to enjoy.

[TandemWalker]

@FlashP74 . Got it! Thanks!

    TW     

[PaleoCrossfit]

We just got an elliptical yesterday. This morning, I got up ten minutes earlier and worked out on it. I did it verly lightly (I didn't want to get sweaty before work). That ten minutes of light activity gave me an extra 1,000 steps. Anyone can do ten minutes, right?

Plus, you don't have to have an elliptical, you can always just walk in place, walk around the block, dance around, jumping jacks, jump rope, etc.

[SRussell]

I walk in place. I use a wireless headset so I can walk in small circles not too far from my desk. It looks goofy, but I will also do walking lunges.