I am sure you know about the overall benefit of physical activity to your body. You also know that sitting for a long time at work is bad for your health. You may find it difficult to start and stick to a regular workout routine. You may not have time to exercise during the day because of a demanding and busy work schedule. We are here to help!
However, small amounts of exercise (10 minutes) that is done at intervals throughout the day can give lots of benefits. You can use squats to break the vicious cycle of sitting for a long time at work.
In your work life, you may spend hours in a sitting position with barely enough time for proper workouts. That is why squats are great to help you break that harmful cycle.
Whether you work from your office space or your home, here is a video to guide you on how to do squats. Repeat the movement for three sets of 12-15 reps.
Muscles that you work with squats
When you do basic squats, you’re strengthening and transforming the leg and back muscles. Your;
- Muscles of the front thigh
- Muscles of the back of the thigh
- Muscles in the buttocks
- Abdominal muscles
- Calf muscles
Starting and adhering to a regular squatting workout strengthens your heart and enhances blood circulation. This creates a more efficient oxygen flow to your brain and other vital organs in your body.
So, here’s what happens behind the scenes in your system when you squat.
During squatting exercise, your heart pumps more oxygen-rich blood to the working muscles which help in releasing waste products such as lactic acid from your system. This increased blood flow helps lower your blood pressure and risk of heart diseases such as heart failure and coronary artery disease.
The muscles also become more sensitive to insulin and absorb sugar from the blood. By absorbing sugar from the blood into the muscles, the amount of sugar in the blood is reduced. This reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the long run.
Squats also burn a lot of calories and this is vital for weight loss.
Knowing how vital your cardiovascular health is and the risk of sitting for a long time, you should consider exercising at regular intervals when at work.
The fact that you can do squats anywhere makes it a great workplace exercise program.
The benefit of a workplace squatting program on your health
The benefits of workplace squatting exercise on your health is a lot. It helps you to stop sitting down in one place for a long time.
Just so you know, this is what happens to your body when you sit for long hours at work every day;
- prolonged uninterrupted sitting can increase both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
- It increases your body’s resistance to insulin, which may lead to type-II diabetes.
- Also, the chances of your body producing “bad cholesterol” (LDL) are high. High LDL interprets that you’re at greater risk for cardiovascular diseases.
However, experts propose that simple regular resistance activity like squat exercise to engage your muscles and heart can cut down these effects and the risks associated with them. This Improves blood flow and enhances heart health.
Hence, the importance of taking breaks to work and stretch your muscles, heart, and blood vessels. Feel free to fall back to this guide when starting your squatting program.
Or, better still, contact us for a more detailed session on how to improve your cardiovascular health while coping with your busy work schedule.
Sources
Hanson, P et al. “Squatting revisited: comparison of haemodynamic responses in normal individuals and heart transplantation recipients.” British heart journal vol. 74,2 (1995): 154-8. doi:10.1136/hrt.74.2.154
Nystoriak, Matthew A, and Aruni Bhatnagar. “Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise.” Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine vol. 5 135. 28 Sep. 2018, doi:10.3389/fcvm.2018.00135
Dunstan, D.W., Dogra, S., Carter, S.E. et al. Sit less and move more for cardiovascular health: emerging insights and opportunities. Nat Rev Cardiol 18, 637–648 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-021-00547-y