Each day that you are chained to your desk at work, you lose strength and flexibility. Your shoulders get stiffer, your hips get tighter, and your hip flexors and hamstrings lose their flexibility. (And this goes for both men and women).
Unless of course, you train properly.
So what's the average office worker to do?
Take the weekend off. Get away from the desk (and this computer!) and take time away from traditional bodybuilding workouts if you are still doing them. Instead, use bodyweight exercises for mobility and an interval workout as well.
To keep your shoulders mobile and to reduce tension in that area, you should work on the Stick-up exercise daily, as well as typical chest stretches. You can also help the situation by using a foam roller for self-massage of your upper back. Learn more from Mike Robertson's "Inside Out Upper Body Warm-up HERE"
For the lower body, here's a hip-mobility circuit that you can try out this afternoon in the gym. You can go through this once as a great warm-up for the gym or as a break in your office at work.
Alternatively, you can go through the circuit up to 5 times for a Mobile Cardio Workout. Take 1 minute between circuits (it's also great for the glutes which are feeling a little fatigued as I write this).
Overhead Squat (holding a broomstick or tubing) - 15 reps
Sumo Squat - 15 reps
Diagonal Lunge - 12 reps per side
Spiderman Climb - 8 reps per side
Prisoner Forward Lunge with 2 second stretch at bottom - 8 reps per side
Spiderman Pushup - 8 reps per side
Your hips will feel like a million bucks after these exercises.
On a related note, a reader asks...
"I have doen the first week of the bodyweight workout that i just purchased, which by the way is the first time I have ever stuck to a program. The third workout of the prep phase has these things you call spiderman climb in it. I can't seem to get my foot anywhere near my hand. Also, I was wondering how long the three circuits should take, I think I am at about eight minutes per circuit (so 24 minutes total), and then the cardio, but I think I might be counting the tempo wrong.
Answer:
Great to hear from you. 8 minutes per circuit is EXACTLY how long it took me to do each of those when I first developed the workouts. Perfect.
As for the spiderman climb, the exercise is a combination of athleticism, mobility, and strength. Do not worry if you can't get your foot up there. With each workout, you should improve your mobility in that movement. Until then, slow and steady progress is advised. As part and parcel of the entire program, it will improve.
Keep up the great work, stay positive and be consistent. You will succeed,
CB
P.S. Can you quit your job?
I doubt it. So you have to work on your posture and your training so you don't end up with a hunchback. Bodyweight training is a darn good way of improving mobility and helping you correct your lousy posture. And it relieves stress too, big time.
The TT Bodyweight manual not only gives you 6 months of pre-planned workouts, but it also gives over 70 bodyweight exercises that will allow you to create an endless number of bodyweight circuits, strength workouts, and fat blasting sessions that don't require any fancy, expensive equipment.
You can do these workouts at home or in the park - far away from the hassles of most commercial gyms.
"CB has done it again! The bodyweight manual has some of the toughest workouts out there today. After just 4 weeks of bodyweight training (I skipped the initial phases an went right to "advanced"), I went from plateauing at 15 chin-ups to maxing out at 22! Who needs to go to a gym? With this manual, you're using the best conditioning tool known to man - the human body!"
Chris Lopez, Personal Trainer,
"I think your BW routines are great! I've tried a couple and find them to be a perfect alternative for a trip to the gym or for some interval-level intensity when I can't run or am bored of the stationary bike. And the best part is, I never have to worry about not getting a workout in when traveling. Keep making more of these routines."
Christine Johnson,
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