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The Working Woman’s Workout
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Chair-sized balance ball
Do you work 8 hours a day, spend an hour in traffic and then come home and think, “yeah right” when faced with an opportunity to workout? Don’t worry. You can workout in the morning…yeah…no. You like your sleep, and your best sleep is in the morning. You are less likely to sacrifice good sleep on a longer time frame, so I say workout when you’re routinely awake, and you’ll be more likely to stick to it. While not get a little bit of it out of the way, at work?
What you need:
- Ankle weights about 2 to 2.5 pounds a piece ($14-19 at Walmart)
- A chair-sized balance ball ($19 at Walmart)
- A treadmill or bike (see your free apartment gym or join 24 fitness, if you find the right promotion, the latter can be as little as $24 a month.)
- Some workout DVDs such as Pilates, belly dancing, Carmen Electra’s In the bedroom…whatever.
- A realistic approach to dieting: You’re not going to suddenly stop eating the foods you like. Let yourself eat the things you want—you’re less likely to binge until you wind up eating whatever you want anyway—but after one fatty dinner and one chocolate-filled dessert. Stop.
Instructions:
Wear ankle weights at work for 3 hours a day (after 3 hours stop or you can strain your knees) and find reasons to get up often. Print often. Drink a lot of water so you have to pee, talk to co-workers about work especially if they’re down a flight of stairs—whatever. Just remember to walk carefully.
Sit on a balance ball at your desk for 4 hours a day or even more, depending on your preference. Sitting on a balance ball forces you to tighten your core muscles to keep you on the ball. But be aware that balancing for long periods of time can put you at risk of migraines because of the strain it puts on your neck, so don’t overdo it and have some days when you just use your chair.
When you get home (if you’re lucky enough to have a treadmill or bike) or your local gym, do about 30 minutes to 45 minutes of cardio. If you don’t feel like hitting the gym on a certain day do a 45-minute to an hour-long workout DVD. Do at least 30 minutes of working out a day—no exceptions. Aim for an hour a day but accept it if you can only do 30 minutes but no less. That’s the key. Don’t take days off. Don’t stop. Do it everyday. With the conditioning you do at work 5 days a week you’ll be inspired to workout when you get home because you would’ve been challenging yourself all day and it won’t feel as hard. You’ll think, “I didn’t wear ankle weights all day for nothing. I can’t quit now.”
Then on the weekends, hit the gym hard. Do an hour of cardio on Saturday, then spend an additional 30 minutes to an hour experimenting with various weight machines. Then repeat on Sunday. You have more flexibility in your schedule since you aren’t working those days so use it. You’ll be shocked at the results.
Take it from me. I’ve lost 8 ½ pounds in 2 weeks, I haven’t had to sacrifice much time outside of work, and I have terrible eating habits. I'm dipping Oreos in milk right now.
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