Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Office workouts

I have made the added the following workout devices to my office:

  • Dynaflex Powerball ($24 on Amazon, but I found it at a local store for $19) — once you figure out how to use it, the powerball is a great way to strengthen your hands and forearms.  The nice part is that the footprint is very small on your desk as opposed to the old-style spring-loaded hand strengtheners.
  • 65 cm exercise ball (currently $18.71 at Amazon or $19 at my local store) — I sit on this for part of the day rather than my chair.  As you are first getting used to sitting on the ball, you will feel some amount of burning in your abs as if you’ve done a lot of crunches; great way to exercise if you sit in front of a computer for any amount of time.
  • Medicine ball (this is one of the higher end ones on Amazon that is gyro stabilized) — I keep the medicine ball under my desk and do 2 things with it: (1) roll it back and forth with my feet while sitting (you’ll feel it in your calves), and (2) toss it up and down and hold it while swinging my arms side-to-side during the day.  Do not throw the medicine ball at your coworkers, it will end up badly.

All of the above will allow you to work different muscle groups while taking up very little space and will allow you to stay at your desk to perform the exercises.  Additionally, none of the workouts with any of the devices above are enough to make you break a sweat (at least you shouldn’t break a sweat).

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