Short workout for those who sit a lot

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Take just 20 minutes to exercise and your muscles will be toned.

The workout will help stretch tight shoulders and strengthen your hips, glutes, and weak abs. Each exercise uses several muscle groups at once, so one short workout will put the load on the whole body.

All exercises are performed in high-intensity intervals: alternating between hard work and short rest. This style boosts your heart rate, helps you burn more fat and increases endurance.

Warm up

Warm up well before exercising. Sitting for a long time loses the neuromuscular feeling - the connection between the brain and muscles. Tightened muscles do not respond well, exercise technique suffers, and the risk of injury increases. Warming up will activate the tight muscles and give you back control of your body.

Sideways slide

Activates the thighs, buttocks and calf muscles.

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees, and squat down until your hips are parallel to the floor. Keep your hands in front of you, straighten your back.
• Take four quick sliding steps to the right and then to the left.
• Repeat 10 times.

Spin lunge

It activates the hips and buttocks, stretches the chest, relieves the stiffness of the thoracic spine.

• Lunge deeply forward with your right foot. The knee of the right leg is bent at a right angle, the knee of the left is straight.
• Place your right hand on the floor outside of your right leg. Turn the body to the left so that the abdomen, chest and shoulders are in the same plane and perpendicular to the floor. Raise your left hand above your head, look at it. Hold the pose for two seconds.
• Without leaving the lunge, place your left hand on the floor, turn the body to the right and raise your right hand. Hold in the pose for two seconds and return to the starting position.
• Do the next lunge on the other leg.
• Perform 10 lunges.

Squat with a pelvis lift

Activates the hips, stretches the back of the thigh.

• Take the starting position: feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly turned to the sides.
• Sit down to the parallel of your hips with the floor, fold your arms in front of you.
• Without leaving the squat, push your pelvis up and straighten your knees. Touch the floor with your hands, try not to bend your back.
• Return back to the squat and return to the starting position.
• Repeat 10 times.

Cactus

Warms up the muscles of the shoulders and back.

• Stand up straight. Raise your straight arms to the sides to shoulder height. Bend your elbows at right angles, forearms facing forward, palms facing down. This is the starting position.
• Keeping the elbows straight, lift your forearms up. Now the palms are facing forward, and your silhouette resembles a cactus.
• Straighten your arms up so that your shape resembles the letter Y. Lower your arms to the shape of a cactus, and then return to the starting position.
• Keep your back straight. In order not to bend in the lower back, strain your abs and buttocks.
• Repeat 20 times.

Fire hydrant

Activates the gluteal muscles.

• Get on all fours. The back is parallel to the floor, arms under the shoulders, knees under the hips.
• Lift the leg bent at the knee to the side to parallel with the floor.
• Do 10 times with your right foot, then 10 with your left.

Intense supersets

Do each exercise for 30 seconds. Do them intensively, but don't forget about technique. It is better to move a little slower, but complete the movement in full range.

There is no rest between exercises, after a superset you can rest for 30 seconds. One superset takes two minutes: 90 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest.

Beginners perform the superset three times, advanced six.

Superset number 1

Twisting push-ups

• Stand in support, wrists under shoulders, abs and buttocks tense.
• Perform a push-up and return to the prone position.
• Bring your right knee to your right elbow and bring your leg back.
• Repeat the push-up, but now touch your left elbow with your left knee.
• Alternate sides each time.

Gluteal bridge

• Lie on your back, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor. Knees look up at the ceiling.
• Lift your pelvis up so that the body straightens in line with the hips.
• Tighten your buttocks vigorously at the extreme point for one second.
• Lower your pelvis to the floor and repeat.

Air squat

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes slightly turned to the sides.
• Squat down to the parallel of your hips with the floor or below, keep your back straight, do not round your lower back.
• Straighten up and repeat.
• Make sure that your knees do not curl inward, slightly spread them outward while squatting.

Superset number 2

Jumping lunges

• Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, hands on the waist.
• Lunge forward, touch the floor with your knee behind your standing leg. At the bottom of the lunge, both knees are bent at right angles, the back is straight.
• From this position, jump up, in the jump, change legs and land in a lunge with the other leg.

Superman

• Lie on your stomach, raise your arms and legs straight. Knees and shoulders should come off the floor, wrists and feet are at a distance of half a meter from the floor.
• At the top point, bring your shoulder blades together and tighten your buttocks.
• Hold this position for a bit, then lower your arms and legs and repeat.

Raising and lowering in a lying position

• Stand upright with your shoulders over the wrists, back and knees straight, buttocks tense.
• Place your hands on your forearms one at a time while maintaining your body position. Then return to the starting position.

Final complex

The final complex will help you cross the boundaries of endurance:

1. Climber - 15 seconds.
2. Sprinting 50 meters or 15 seconds of running in place with a high hip lift.

If you're outdoors, go for the sprint. If at home, run in place. Repeat the complex three or six times, depending on the preparation.

Rock climber

• Stand upright, wrists under shoulders, legs straight.
• Bend your right knee towards your chest and place your foot on the ball under your pelvis or leave it in the air.
• Change your legs so that your left foot is under the pelvis.
• Keep changing legs. Try not to toss your pelvis during the change of legs, tighten your abs and keep your back straight.

Running in place

• Run in place with your knees high.
• Do this as quickly as possible.

Stretch after training. Intense exercises warmed up the body, now you can stretch your muscles and ligaments well without risking injury. In addition, gentle exercise can help reduce the stress of intense exercise and bounce back faster.