Remember working at the office back in the day? Your office is on 2nd floor while the bathroom and the break room are downstairs. Either it’s pee breaks or just joining Kyle and Megan for your 3rd cup of coffee of the day, you put in step. You stand up. You move.
What else gets you move around while you were back in the office? Meetings. We used to have to close our laptops, stand up, walk to the designated meeting rooms to have a meeting.
What is different nowadays as we work from home? We stare at our computer screen, get a Google Calendar notification that “Design Critique” meeting is happening in 10 minutes. We continue to stare at our laptop, open the Google Hangout Meeting, join, and sit there until the end of that meeting.
It’s highly recommended that you put in at least 10,000 steps a day. How often do I walk 10,000 steps/day? Very rarely :(
This is the Data from my phone’s Health app. As shown in the picture above, my 2020’s daily step every month could barely reach 5,000 steps/day. However, it does look like that I’ve been doing slightly better since the December of 2020. With working from home being the new normal, I think it’d be nice to get creative with 7 ways we can do to make ourselves move as much as possible.
1. Take advantage of that 10-minute time period between meetings to move!
Having back to back meetings with a weird 10–15 minutes time period in between meetings that isn’t long enough to really get your mind focus on any project? Stand up. Walk around. Take couple of deep breaths.
My Team Standup meeting starts at 9:45am everyday usually lasts around 15 minutes. Then I have my Design Standup meeting at 10:15am. During that 15-minute time frame, I usually can’t focus on actual work. Instead, I would stand up, go to the kitchen and make myself a hot cup of coffee and probably some snacky snacks! I then walk back to my room, open the curtains, look outside at the trees for awhile (my eye doctor said it’s a good thing you could do for your eyes).
Having dishes on your drying rack? Put them back to the cupboard.
Having Laundry in the washer that needs to be transfer to the dryer? Do that.
Your walk-in closet has a bunch of clothes on the floor? Pick them up and put them away.
Forgot to make your bed this morning? Now it’s the time to do that if you want to.
Benefits: You move, obviously. And you feel productive. Having a cleaner space also helps improve your mood!
2. Schedule quick exercise breaks on your Work Calendar
We have a Company Meeting every Wednesday morning at 8:30am and our CEO always asks all of us to stand up to do at least 10 jumping jacks. Just 10 seconds of exercising can give us a boost of energy and help us focus.
Back in the day, I used to think that if you work out, you should always dedicate at least a solid hour for it. However, as life gets busier and busier, as long as your body is moving, any minute counts. With that being said, I started to sprinkle in quick workouts in my work calendar (I set those private, of course! :P)
I usually pick exercises that I enjoy doing the most, like Jumping Jacks, Push Ups, Squats so I have no reason to back out. 50 Jumping Jacks might sound like a lot, but trust me, it will only take maximum 2 minute for you to complete it.
3. Change up your Work Station
One of the perks of working from home is being able to work anywhere in your home, as long as you have a laptop to carry around with you.
How about starting your day off in the kitchen where you can check your emails while waiting for your coffee to be made. Working in the kitchen also allows you to stand for a little longer. Then you can move back to your office room to focus on big projects without any distraction. In the afternoon, when the weather is nice and sunny, working out in the porch isn’t a bad idea at all. And the best thing of all? You move. You pick up your stuff and move around the house. More steps and different working environments.
4. Try Working out during Lunch Break
I was lucky enough to work at a Company that has an on-site gym. When I used to be in the office, I would work out for an hour everyday during my lunch break. How about my lunch? I usually packed my own lunch and ate at my desk afterwards!
From my personal experience, there are so many great benefits of working out during lunch. My energy level usually goes down at around noon. I couldn’t concentrate. I started thinking about food. That’s when I would go to the gym, where I start off with 15 minutes on the treadmill then weight lifting for another 50 minutes. I would end my workout with either a 5 minute abs workout or some stretching/yoga.
During my workout, I usually drink a decent amount of water. And believe it or not, it does help with my hunger. Working out also helps raise my heart rate and bring more oxygen to my poor tired brain. I always feel like a new person after my workouts.
I then go back to work, eat, and continue working.
5. Invest in an Apple Watch or other wearable fitness trackers
I’ve learnt since the day I started working from home that Apple Watch can really help you stay active despite being inside all day long. Apple Watch has this cool feature that tells you to stand and take deep breaths every couple hours. Besides, I love closing all of my 3 rings (Blue Ring for Stand, Green Ring for Exercise, and Red Ring for Move/Calories Burnt) every day. Apple Watch also allows you to add and see your friends’ daily progress. I usually compete with my close friends Jack, Kyle, and Katie to see who close all 3 rings every day. You are alone in your home but you still feel connected!
