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Increase Office FitnessJoin the gym for free on New Year’s Day! Join friends, neighbors, and colleagues for an icy dip in your local large body of water! Start drinking eight glasses of water daily and incorporating spinach into every meal!

We all have high hopes for 2013. And according to Susy Jackson, this is true in the workplace, as well. Indeed, according to Jackson, “It’s a new year, and here come the resolutions that lead to new gym memberships and eventually, abandoned treadmills. Office workers are especially prone to make these promises to get healthy, with their desk jobs often making them sedentary.” In order to increase her own fitness and decrease her own self-entitled “spam butt” after a long day at work, Jackson launched an experiment to see if her seating arrangements affected her office fitness.

After two weeks each of sitting in a desk chair, sitting on an exercise ball, and standing up at the desk at work, Jackson determined that her seating arrangements did not affect how many steps she took or even really how fit she felt. But all hope is not lost. Even if office seating doesn’t have a strong effect on office fitness, there are other things you can do.

Boost Your Personal Productivity with Office Fitness

1. Get moving at your desk.

Even if you are largely restricted to a desk chair in front of a computer, build short bursts of movement into your day to improve productivity and creativity. Do stretches while you check your voicemail, lift hand weights while you make phone calls, or store a yoga mat under your desk to do some poses while listening in on that conference call.

2. Take a walking lunch.

Bring a coworker along to walk and talk about the latest project you are tackling together, or meet a friend for a stroll and gab-fest before getting back to the grind. The exercise and the change of scenery will both help boost personal productivity.

3. Take the long way.

If you have reasons to move around the building, opt for taking the stairs rather than the elevator, or walk the long way around just to add a bit more spring to your step and a bit more office fitness to your day. If you are glued to your desk without much exercise, then consider delivering the memo in person rather than relying on the inter-office mail system. Or make sure to take the stairs to visit the 4th floor water fountain each hour just to keep your blood from pooling in your lower extremities and your rear end.

How do you increase your office fitness?

Boost Workplace Productivity


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