The new home office era, which certainly has many advantages to offer, is causing many people to face certain challenges: constant snacking and poor eating habits, less structure in everyday life due to more flexible working hours and a lack of commuting and, above all, far too little exercise lead to weight gain, low energy, poor sleep, dissatisfaction, back, neck and knee pain and susceptibility to minor illnesses.
Now it's time to get out of the home office slump. With the right office exercises, a more consciously structured daily routine and the right eating habits, things will start looking up again. In this text, Supz shows you how it's done!
Why office gymnastics also works at home – challenges and opportunities in the home office
Especially since the Corona era, many people have shifted their work to home offices. Even after the lockdown, many companies have developed at least a hybrid model of home office and real office life. Today's article comes a little more from my personal perspective, as I have devoted a lot of time to the topic of home office over the last year.
As head coach at the MTM Personal Training Studio in Berlin, I have experienced the challenges my clients face. For many of them, it is not enough that I give them nutritional recommendations and a well-led, structured training program. The home office routine has caused the hormonal system to become confused, and people have fallen into a state of depression due to a lack of exercise and too many sugary snacks. Blood sugar rollercoaster which causes more and more food cravings, poor sleep and general malaise. Since there is a lack of daily structure and often social contacts, I address all of these issues with people, including mental ones.
Above all, however, the commute to work, which was sometimes done on foot or by bike, and the group lunch are missing. Some people only do 500-1000 steps a day on days working from home, which is definitely far from the recommended goal of 10,000 steps. If this movement is missing, the hormonal system cannot wind down in the evening and you cannot fall asleep or sleep through the night. In addition, the body burns significantly fewer calories and loses muscle in the process, which is why you should actually eat even less.
However, it is much more sustainable to build muscle or at least maintain it with office gymnastics and a proper office workout at home. This will help you achieve hormonal balance, burn more calories, but not eat out of cravings and sleep better. All of this leads to a generally better feeling, a good energy level at the desk, a fit, beautiful body and balance.
The FIT@HOME book
Last year I was able to develop my book FIT@HOME together with GU Verlag, in which I share all my tips and suggestions and lots of recipes that support everyday life in the home office.
It contains many office gymnastics exercises, including back exercises for the home office, a home office workout and stretching exercises - some of which can be done directly on the office chair. With FIT@HOME you can finally work successfully and healthily in the home office and also snack your way to fitness with over 70 simple, quick recipes:
Image: Jochen Arndt, Image rights: GU Verlag München
By the way, you can find the book here!
Office gymnastics today – your office workout for healthy working in the home office
As always, the most effective way to workout is structured strength training in a studio. Guided or at least introduced by a good and experienced coach. However, if you find this difficult or can simply fit home workouts into your everyday life better, you can also keep fit with office gymnastics at home. Home office exercise can be done with equipment consisting of dumbbells, barbells, bands, a pull-up bar and kettlebells. However, if you have little space and prefer to do office gymnastics at home without additional weights or tools, you can also do body workouts. The advantages and disadvantages of these two forms and what you need to consider were discussed in Home training or gym? Article described in more detail.
One way to do your office gymnastics at home is a HIIT workout. An example of such a workout, which can be done as an office workout at home, can be found in the article on HIIT to find.
It is important to always aim to perform exercises in their full range of motion. For example, a squat should always be performed in a deep squat if possible and not just at 90 degrees. This actively stretches the muscles. In fact, properly performed office gymnastics at home can be a form of pain prevention. In addition, such exercises are physiologically more global and have a greater effect on reducing body fat and building muscle. Especially if you are not using additional weights, which would increase the mechanical tension and thus increase the training effect.
Seated exercises for back and stomach
Seated gymnastics exercises are more suitable for active movement breaks and stretching in between. These are great for loosening up stiff muscles and improving blood flow to the tissue. It is particularly important for the intervertebral discs to be able to refill with fluid, as they lose it throughout the day.
Image: Jochen Arndt, Image rights: GU Verlag München
Office gymnastics at home at your desk can be very easy. The following video shows 3 simple stretches that can be done from time to time in your home office directly on your office chair. They loosen the back extensor muscle and the neck. The exercises at the desk can be easily linked to routines. More on this in the next section:
Easily integrate exercises at the workplace into your daily work routine
In order to integrate office gymnastics into the home office in the long term, these new routines should ideally be linked to existing ones. If you deal with your emails first thing every day, you could, for example, send yourself an email the day before with the message content "Reminder office gymnastics stretches at the desk" and open this email as the last message, so that after you have dealt with the previous one, you can then do the movements at home directly before the next tasks in your daily office routine.
Office exercise of 30 to 50 minutes is best scheduled as a regular appointment in your calendar. Be it early in the morning, during your lunch break or after work. It is important that you really think about when exactly you want to do the office exercise. Home Workout Sometime on Monday and Thursday is not enough, something like that always gets lost.
Fit in the office – fit in the head – the connection
Yoga exercises for the home office, office gymnastics in the form of sports in the home office, stretching exercises for the office but also walks, shopping by bike or going for a run again, clears the head. Our body's own signals, the hormones and Neurotransmitters are responsible for our energy levels and whether we can work with focus and motivation. A balance of hormones and neurotransmitters depends largely on diet and exercise. If we eat carbohydrates and sugar early in the morning and hardly move during the day, the signals for relaxation, well-being and sleep mode are primarily activated. We actually want these in the evening or during rest breaks and not all day. However, if these are active during the day, they are (to put it simply) used up in the evening. Due to the lack of activating hormones that we need for exercise, active work and focus, these are neglected and then go crazy in the evening and at night. This then leads to sleep problems. Neither side is good or bad, it is more about a balanced interaction between the two.
Image: Jochen Arndt, Image rights: GU Verlag München
If we Eating protein, good fats and fiber for breakfast and eating a low-sugar diet, exercising a lot during the day and reducing internal stress will help us to switch off better in the evening. The power signals are active during the day and can then retreat in the evening when the relaxation hormones do their job. A few good carbohydrates can support this mode in the evening and are mainly useful if you have been training more intensively. Stretching exercises in the office at home after work can also have a relaxing effect and help you end the day. Office gymnastics in the form of exercise in the office can activate and bring the hormonal system into balance.
How to stay fit in your home office and control yourself
Working healthily in your home office? Yes, it is possible:
Nutrition in the home office is the be-all and end-all. As already written above, you should start the day with the right breakfast. Scrambled eggs, coconut yogurt with berries and vegan protein powder and nuts or some low-carb bread with beef ham are just a few simple examples. Regular meals are essential to avoid unconsciously snacking on sweets. This avoids cravings and stabilizes blood sugar.
In addition to the three main meals, there should be two healthy snacks, such as olives, nuts, berries, sugar-free homemade protein balls or nut butter with vegetable sticks. In my book FIT@HOME you will find numerous delicious and simple recipes for the perfect breakfast, the right snacks and treats as well as lunch and dinner. Basically, the less muscle and the more body fat you have and the less you move, the fewer carbohydrates you should consume. If you have more muscle and move a lot, you can reach for carbs more often.
Image: Jochen Arndt, Image rights: GU Verlag München
These nutritional measures alone will help stabilize your blood sugar. However, exercise in the form of office gymnastics in the home office, walks, stretching and stretching exercises directly at your desk are also an important factor for stable blood sugar and thus a balanced hormone system that allows you to work in a focused and healthy manner.
Important exercises for the office – stretching exercises
If you want to incorporate yoga and stretching exercises into your office workout at home, you can do this on a yoga mat. Such stretching exercises can last from 5 to 60 minutes. One option would be to first roll the entire body with a fascia roller.
This stimulates blood flow and metabolism, prevents pain and can even relieve pain points. After this rolling, you will feel much more flexible for any office gymnastics exercises as well as simple stretches and yoga. In the following two videos you can see some simple mobility exercises for the home office:
Getting out of the home office low is possible! With the right office gymnastics, a consciously structured daily routine and the right eating habits supported by the right Supplements things are looking up again.
