14 DAY TRIAL // The term “the office 15” has been especially coined recently to denote the average of 15 pounds 45 percent of women gain in the first three months of a new desk job. While most of these women do not plainly do something to make the pounds pile on (like overeating), it has become a well known fact that sedentariness, together with accumulated stress, has an overall negative effect on ladies’ formerly fit silhouette. However, there are a few simple exercises we can make while at the desk – called “deskercises” (also a newly coined term), they are easy and, at the same time, extremely efficient.
This type of exercises focus mainly on the body parts that are most prone to becoming plumper in a shorter while, the tummy, the thighs and the buttocks. For the tummy, for instance, it has been showed that a very simple exercise can help tone the muscles and reduce fat. It consists in sitting tall and straightening the spine, a thing that can be done with the utmost ease especially if we’re sitting on one of those chairs with a really tall back. Then, we must tighten the abs, pulling the navel as back as we can into the spine, holding it there for a couple of seconds and then releasing it. This exercise should be repeated for about 20 times at once, and every other hour or so.
To make the thighs as slim as they once used to be, all we have to do is make the most of our imagination. So, when seated at the desk, we must join both knees and press them together really hard. Then, we can imagine that someone is trying to pull our legs apart with great force, and that we must not allow it, counteracting the said force with one-second pulses. This exercise should be repeated three times a day, and is guaranteed to shake off the extra pounds quicker than we would imagine.
In order to get firm buttocks, health specialists recommend a very simple exercise that we can perform every time we get up from the chair. Called “leave the chair twice,” it is exactly what its name implies, in that it means getting up halfway, heels dug into the ground to contract the muscles all the way up on the back of the legs, holding the position for a couple of seconds, sitting down again and then properly standing. While it might seem like something that would certainly make all your work mates burst out in laughter, it is guaranteed to tone muscles.
On a final note, it has also been demonstrated that physical exercise during working hours boosts productivity and brings about a happier mood. By doing these exercises above every hour, all women suffering from the dreaded “office 15” can both lose the weight and be considerably happier.