Posts Tagged ‘ work out ’

Daily Motivation


Quick Office Cardio and Strength Exercies

Do you sit at your desk most of the day? How many times do you get up and move around or stretch? Are you too busy to get to the gym? Here is a solution for you! A short workout you can do throughout the workday that will get the blood flowing and help you stay in shape and stay focused.


Cardio Ideas:
When exercising, you want to get your heart rate in your target heart rate zone. To figure out your target heart rate zone you first need to figure out what your max heart rate is. To do this, subtract your age from 220. This number will be your max heart rate.  Multiple your max heart rate by 55% and this will be the lower limit of your target heart rate zone. Next multiple your max heart rate by 85% and that will be the upper limit of your target heart rate zone. Going from a resting heart rate into this zone will strengthen your heart muscle and benefit you in many ways. Below are a few ways to get your heart rate into the target zone.


  1. Walk or run a set of stairs in your office building. If you need it to be little bit more challenging take two stairs at a time. Do this 5-7 times throughout the day.
  2. Do jumping jacks in your office for about a minute.
  3. Run in place for 30 seconds.
  4. Imitate the motion of jumping rope for 30 seconds to one minute.


Strengthening Ideas:

  1. Squats with one leg (while holding onto the wall or desk) or with two legs while waiting for your fax to send or the copier to
  2. Push-ups with your hands on your desk. After you place your hands on your desk, walk your feet out behind you until your body is in a straight line and then do 10 pushups.
  3. Grab the edge of your desk and push your chair back until your arms are fully extended. Using your arms, pull yourself toward your desk and repeat. This works your arms and stretches your lower back.
  4. Replace your desk chair with a stability ball. This will strengthen your core muscles and can also be used to do wall sits or
    crunches during breaks.
  5. Do bicep curls with small hand weights while sitting or standing.
    *Note: Any exercise that is done while standing will burn more calories than if it was done while sitting.


All of these cardio and muscle strengthening ideas are great quick workouts for short breaks that you take during your workday. You may not have a lot of time throughout the day to hit the gym, but with a little bit of creativity, you can create a fun little workout to do while at the office. Give this a try and you will see an increase in energy and a better ability to focus.

By: Samantha Lawton


Resources: Lawrence, Jean. “Exercise at Your Desk.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. <;.

Daily Motivation

Daily Motivation

Daily Motivation

Warming Up

Are you one of those people who jump straight into lifting and strenuous exercise as soon as you get to the gym? If the answer is yes, then this is for you. Many people are so eager to begin their workout that they skip the warm up. But as you finish reading hopefully next time you hit the gym you’re going to want to take a few extra minutes and warm up.

Why Warm-up?

It gets the body ready for the physical exertion that follows, enabling the body to cope more easily with the activity.

It reduces the risk of injury (cold muscles and joints do not stretch very easily) and it reduces the risk of premature fatigue which can occur if the cardiovascular system is unprepared for strenuous activity.

It prepares the cardio-respiratory system for increased activity and reduces the risk of excess stress being placed on the heart.

How to warm-up

Loosening Exercises- A typical warm-up may involve some ‘loosening exercises’ followed by a few minutes of low-impact aerobic activity and stretching. 5-15minutes of this will prepare the body for the exercise that follows.

Loosening exercises may include walking, running in place, jump rope, or jumping jacks.

If you are not regularly active these are especially important to prevent injury!

Cardio- It is important to engage in some exercise prior to the workout that will increase the heart rate and amp up muscles. A few minutes of brisk walking, jogging, cycling, elliptical etc. will get the job done. These activities should be regulated based on the intensity of the workout that will follow.

It is very important to gradually increase your heart rate during the warm up phase. So do not hop on a machine and increase the intensity, speed or resistance drastically (you do not want to be exhausted and out of breath before the workout even starts).

Stretching- make sure to gently stretch all muscles, especially those that are being targeted in your workout after you’re warmed up. This will prepare the joints as well as the muscles and help prevent injury during the workout and soreness after the workout.

Now you may begin your workout!

By: Erica
Source: Article Source:

Target Heart Rate

Heart Rate

Heart rate is an important aspect to consider when doing any type of physical activity. Your heart rate is how many beats per minute (bmp) that your heart exerts and is calculated by measuring your pulse. A normal heart rate also known as your resting heart rate is taken when your body is at rest with no stressors affecting it. On average, an adult’s resting heart rate can range anywhere form 60 beats per minute to 100.

Measuring Heart Rate

In order to measure your resting heart rate, simply take your first two fingers and place them either on your wrist or neck until you find where you are able to feel your pulse. Once you can feel your pulse, count the amount of beats you feel over the course of 30 seconds then multiply that number by two in order to get your bmp or beats per minute.

Target Heart Rate

When working out or participating in any sort of physical activity it is important to take into consideration your target heart rate.  Your target heart rate is the desired range at which your body benefits the most from your workout. It is usually in the range of 50-100 percent of your maximum heart rate. In order to figure out your maximum heart rate, you must take your age and subtract that number from 220. This number is going to be your maximum heart rate and depending on the percent, at which you desire to train at, multiply your max heart rate by that specific percent.


Source: WebMD

Image source:

Written by: Heather Coffman


***Below is a chart to reference the range at which you would like your target heart rate to be at.