Get a Life!: Funky chicken

If you have the winter blahs, don’t want to go out in bad weather and can’t make it to a gym, try “deskercize.” This is exercise you can do sitting and working at your desk.  Here are a few from an occasional blog site called LiveSmarter which my colleague Susan Miller pointed out to me:

1. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Are you seething over an e-mail from someone about a project issue that you already know about or maybe it’s beyond your control?  Try some Tae-Bo, punching your arms out in front of you and switching sides. But sit back far enough so you don’t actually punch a hole in your computer screen.

2. Up, up, up
Place your hands on the arms of your desk chair and lift yourself up. Do it several times if you can.

3. Cherry picking
To help release tension in your upper body, stretch your arms up high, one at a time, as if reaching to pick fruit out of a tree. Repeat  and alternate sides. 

4. Buns of steel
Tighten your backside (i.e. buttocks), hold five to ten seconds, and release. Repeat the squeezes as many times during the day as you want.  You’re supposed to see results in just a few weeks.

5. A-OK
Fingers are clearly important tools for work at computers. Touch the tip of your thumb to the tip of each finger, one at a time, making round circles. Straighten your fingers in between touching. This will keep your fingers nimble.

If these don’t do it for you, and no one is looking, you can also do the funky chicken (remember that? Flap your wings – arms bent.)  Read about more exercises here.

Got any other suggestions to shake it out? Post a comment (registration required) or send an e-mail to letters@fcw.com.