Parks are found everywhere, even at work.
Professional “Parks” are those things you can do while at work that do not cause you to break a sweat but keeps the body active. There are little things that can be done throughout the day to get the heart rate up, keep the joints limber, and strengthen your muscles. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but to counteract the excuse that because you work 12-14-hour days, you can’t exercise. While you may not be able to complete a dedicated 30-minute workout, you can certainly get your body moving using a combination of professional parks.
Stress balls – squeeze them, toss them, juggle them, even throw them against the wall and catch them, or bounce them against the wall, via the floor and catch them. Careful not to throw them so hard that your co-workers come checking on you because of the stress in that moment. Lol. Yes, that really happened. I was so frustrated at that moment that I didn’t realize how hard I was throwing the ball at the wall. My co-worker came to check in me and when he asked me was I okay, I apologized for the loudness, we laughed, and he encouraged me, then I went for a walk.
Walking is another office technique to get the body moving. Go to the bathroom on the other side of the building, the next floor or few floors up or down, and take the stairs when you go. Go up one side of the building and come down on the other side. Challenge yourself to walk every hour or so. This 5-minute break helps you refresh, regroup, and can even generate a new idea for your current task because you took a moment to Park.
For those who like more challenging parks, do smoking stairs! I am not saying cause a sweat but take a brisk trot up the stairs and turn around and take a brisk trot back down. Whether you go up and down the same stairwell or go up one and down another, the goal is to be slightly winded and get the heart rate up a bit. It gets the heart going and the oxygen flowing.
Staple curls can be done while you are on a conference call, provided you are not the one keeping the minutes for the meeting. Do them for 2-5 minutes counting 8 seconds to curl up and 8 seconds to lower your arm.
Post meeting squats are great to wake your body up after sitting in a meeting for an hour or so. After taking the stairs or the scenic route back to your desk, do at least 5 squats to loosen up the legs. You can even add high knees between squats to make it more advanced.
Walking lunges are another great way to get your coordination, balance, heart rate up, and your joints going. These can be done in your office, or at some point during your hourly walks.
Another way to get exercise in during work, is to challenge your co-workers. Create a sort of obstacle course and see who can do it the quickest. Something like 1 lap, 5 squats, 2 stairwells, 10 wall or desk push ups, 10 walking lunges, and 1-minute staple curls. You can create teams and compete at the end of the week. You can even have team step challenges to see which teams can achieve the highest steps, and the losing teams must treat the winning team to lunch. Make it fun, create your parks, yes, even at work.
The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace. ~Psalm 29:11 (NLT)