Easy Exercises To Do At Your Desk

As I mentioned above, sitting all day long at work, then sitting on the way home, then sitting at home in the evening, and then sitting in bed to watch the late night news can really do a number on the upper body. In particular, the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, and hands (did I leave anything out?). The reason for this is that sitting keeps your body in what is commonly referred to as the "flexed posture". This can lead to various and widespread muscular imbalances that, if not corrected, will cause a lot of pain and problems in the future.
Muscular imbalances occur when groups of muscles are used for the majority of the time and the opposing muscle groups are hardly used at all. This is typical when anyone sits for prolonged periods of time. What generally happens is that a persons posture begins to appear poor. The head starts to drift forward, the shoulders roll forward, the arms don't straighten all the way and the person just looks "saggy". This is because all the muscles on the front side of the upper body are getting tight and all the muscles on the back side of the upper body are getting weak.
In order to counter act this problem there are a few stretching exercises that can be done. One of the first ones is the chest stretch. This can be done several ways. One way is to stand with your hands out to the side slightly away from your hips. In a gentle manner, you roll the shoulders back pinching the shoulder blades together, while at the same time rolling the thumbs up and backwards. This will stretch the chest and upper arms and is an excellent way to start working toward better posture and fitness.

It's also important to stretch the tissues under the chin and on the upper chest. These get tight by the fact that most people working at their desks are usually looking down at the computer screen or reading papers. This posture can cause a lot of neck problems and headaches. One solution would be to keep the muscles in the back of the neck in good condition and to keep the tissues and muscles on the front of the neck as limber as possible. This stretch should also be done several times a day.
When doing this and any stretch, it is important to keep in mind that, with stretching, gentle is always best. One way to ensure that you are getting a natural and appropriate stretch in to breathe fully while you are in the stretched position. If you find that you are holding your breath or that you cannot breath "normally" during a stretch, this just means that you are probably being too aggressive with the stretch. Ease off and go slowly and gently. Hold each stretch for 3-5 full breath cycles.

Working at a computer, gripping a knife, working at a check out counter in a busy supermarket can all lead to carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms. Without getting into too much anatomical detail, let's just say that overworking the gripping muscles and structures of the hand is not good and can lead to carpal tunnel. There are other factors that we may explore later.
In order to stretch the gripping muscles, the hands have to be stretched backwards away from the palm of the hand. There are several ways that I tell people to do these stretches. However, the principle of gentle stretching still holds.
Although the carpal tunnel is actually at the wrist, carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms can be caused by problems in almost any area of what's called the "upper quadrant". For this reason, shoulder stretches and chest stretches will go along way in decreasing the potential of carpal tunnel or other repetitive strain injuries.
When you are stretching the carpal tunnel, remember, you should stretch with your palms facing away from your face. This will make sure that your muscles and tissue that are affected get stretched along with others.

So, we've talked about how to stretch. Let's talk about burning calories and why I am adding this one exercise to my list? Remember, we mentioned the need to lose weight due to having a sedentary job. One of the easiest ways to exercise at your desk is simply to do squats. When you are doing this exercise, you have to remember that you set your own pace.
So, how does doing squats burn calories? Your muscles are the most efficient fat burning furnaces on the planet. The bigger the muscle, the more calories burned. Your legs contain the biggest muscles on your body. If those muscles are in shape, the more calories you can burn. By doing squats, you are toning the quads, hams, and the gluteals. When all of these muscles are toned, you will be able to burn more calories and also burn them more efficiently. You will be able to lose more weight when you do squat exercises at your desk or in the office somewhere.
Doing squats at work will also better prepare you for things like the stair stepper or elliptical. These two pieces of gym equipment are the ones that most people would say are the best exercises to do if you want to burn calories. If your leg muscles are in good shape, then losing weight at the office will be a lot easier than trying to start by scratch.