Nothing But a Chair: A Workout for the Office

I'm gonna be really honest with you here. Before I started Kennebec Valley Coaching, I had absolutely no idea how hard it can be for people to stay fit when they work behind a desk. A desk job is far and away the number one answer I hear when I ask people why they started to fall out of shape, or when their weight initially became a problem for them.

This is due to two different factors: lack of planning with food choices, and a good old fashioned shortage of moving around.

I've worked a desk job for about 4 years, and so far, I've been lucky enough to have stayed pretty fit. But believe you me, I can see how it happens.

I try hard to do two things to keep me on track. First I bring enough healthy food to keep me going without an everyday candy bar trip to the gas station:

Pear, Apple, Greek Yogurt, Carrots, Pistachios, Tuna, and Dark Chocolate

About 800 calories, with good fat and lots of protein.

And second, I do little exercises in my office all day long. Which, you'll be lucky enough to watch me do on my webcam. 

Who wants to watch me try to do one-legged squats in a pair of jeans that are way too damn tight? 

You do? Well okay!

I like to do walking lunges to the bathroom, too.

What do you do in your office? We're talking exercise here people, not facebook.

An Airport Workout

Once upon a time, I actually ran 5 miles in the Chicago O'Hare Airport. James was a toddler, so I had his stroller with me for a 2 hour layover between Dallas and Hartford. I've got to admit, the run took a little bit of pre-planning--I wore sweats and a sports bra, and I wore my running shoes. When we landed in Chicago, I packed all of our carry-on craps down below, and ran up and down every single hallway I could find. It kept James busy and happy for almost an entire hour, and you'd be surprised how many nice little hills there are inside an airport.

The beautiful thing about that airport run? As far as I know, no one--not a single person--thought I was crazy. They probably just thought I was late for a flight. And when I did get a handful of weird glances I just told myself what I always tell myself--Amy, they're clearly jealous of your mid-grade stroller and average looking body.

Today, an airport run just isn't an option for me. I'm flying solo, so I'm lugging two bags everywhere I go. I guess I could finagle an airport cart, but I thought I'd show you another option (since I'm too cheap to spring for the $1.25).

Behold my first ever webcam blog video. Let me tell you, I catch all kinds of flattering angles in this lil' masterpiece. And fair warning, she's a little hard to hear:

All in all, this workout takes between 12 and 20 minutes to get through. You can take as much time between sets as you need to, but make sure you to the 4 exercises back to back to back to back.

Not gonna lie, this is a kickasstic workout no matter where you are. I do this kind of this at home all the time. In front of the TV. When I feel guilty for eating too much pie.

In other camera-magic related news, I'm totally putting a webcam in Kennebec Valley Coaching's new fitness studio, that way, all the long distance coachers and jump in and snicker at me from all corners of our fair nation (and Canada. We have a real-life Canadian.)

Strength Training for Runners

Strength training is straight up crazy.

When it comes to strength training, most people either don't do it at all, or when they do, they go totally and completely overboard and can't stay with it. Now don't get me wrong, extremo regimens like P90X are super effective--if you stick to them.

The truth is, strength training is super important to your health and fitness--it fights off osteoporosis, it plays a key role in everyday movements (lifting groceries, anyone?), and more muscle mass keeps the metabolism a whole lot higher. So guess what? It's gotta happen.

Fitness can be broken down into 3 parts: strength, flexibility, and endurance. In order to be truly fit, you need to be capable in all 3 area. As runners, we've got the endurance thing cornered, but the other 2? Not so much. Runners are infamous for not being able to do a push-up and not being able to touch their toes.

Just look at me as an example, I've been running regularly since 1994 and I've logged about 1,000 running miles every year for the last 5 years. My resting heart rate is less than 50 beats per minute. But my body fat? It doesn't fall into the fitness range. Why? Too many snacks and NOT ENOUGH STRENGTH TRAINING.

And just like all aspects of fitness, regular small doses of strength training is way better than going crazy with weight lifting for 4 days every 2 years.

In my opinion, there are a few strength exercises that are absolutely essential to everyone, runner or not. They're basic moves that can be done at home with no fancy equipment. In no particular order, they're:

The Push-Up

This program helped me get from 0 push-ups to 20 standard push-ups in a month. 

I did a lot of push-ups in my office!

The Squat

The Lunge

The Chair Dip

Seriously, did you know that the tricep is the biggest muscles in your upper arm?

The Sit-Up/Roll-Up

Start with those. Run through the whole routine 3 times every week. Aim for 3 sets of each exercise, with 10-20 reps. And then, when you get the hang of that, you can go flip some tires with these these guys. That gym is right down the street from Kennebec Valley Coaching, and we share a couple clients. If you'd like to be able to pick up your house and move it around on its lot every month or so, call them.