Being in the gym is being at home.
Being at the gym 24/7, well as close to 24/7 with sufficient time allowed for sleep, would be the absolute dream. Sadly for those who are not professional bodybuilders, this dream is far from reality. Just as you must ensure your body has enough calories and nutrients for optimal muscle growth, so a bank balance has to be grown to ensure you can continue to buy the food, memberships and gear required to continue your passion. And so enters the job. For some, this may include physical labour and be a workout in itself – and kudos to you – but for many this means a sedentary office existence, diminishing gains even as they are earnt in after-work gym sessions.
This needn’t be entirely the case though and, with a little ingenuity, time spent in the office can help keep your fitness ticking over. Below are some tips to keeping your condition up, even as you spend your time lifting phones and not weights.
Your lunch break is your friend.
A lunch break of half an hour to an hour is the most freedom many getting during a 9 to 5, and this moment of freedom can be put to exceptionally good use. Numerous little exercises can be fit in, as long as you don’t mind taking up a bit of space in the break room. https://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work provides some brilliant little exercises that, while not getting you beating PBs and piling on the muscle poundage, can help stop the rot setting in. These can help you build towards flexibility and agility, alongside your muscle-centric endeavours elsewhere.
You have more space for exercise than you’d think.
Desk gadgets are the future.
Funky desk adornments are the cause of much envy throughout an office environment, with many trying to one-up each other with the latest efficiency and productivity gadgets displayed proudly for all to see. For the fitness-conscious, desk-based gadgets can help turn otherwise wasted moments into opportunities to keep yourself ticking over. Your gadget needn’t be as obvious as a full walking desk; a small-scale mini exercise bike can quietly keep the legs going. Powerballs or hand grips can keep your forearms active without having to whip out the dumbbells.
Hand grips are subtle and effective. Image source.
Do NOT forget your nutrition.
Birthdays in the office call for cake. A new hire calls for cake. A co-worker leaving calls for cake. Taking your eye off the ball with nutrition can undo all the hard work of the previous evening, and the office is full of nutrition pitfalls. Products like https://rexxsportsnutrition.com/product/driven-2-0/ can take care of your pre-workout gym-based needs, but when it comes to food at work, lifestyle blogs and social media can provide inspiration and guidance. Meal prep is taking off across social media and its value, both for lunches and evening meals, is fantastic in kerbing impulse fast food buys. A properly planned out work lunch can ensure a vending-machine choccy bar becomes a handful of nuts – saving you some dollar whilst you’re at it.
Meal prep can be healthy AND varied. Image source.
No single one of these will get you your massive gains, they can only come with long, hard, slogs at the gym – but they can help stave off bad habits and keep you in the fitness mindset even as the desk job beckons.