Exercising benefits us; physically and mentally. Although not all of us have time to do it, we have different variations of exercise. If you do not have time to go to the gym, you can do a supreme amount of exercise by walking or jogging. In fact, standing up more than you sit down is a good exercise already. As we all know, sitting down has its health risks because our bodies are built to be moving eighty percent of the time.
“Sitting is the new smoking – BetterHealth“
Not only does sitting endanger our physical health, it can also worsen our mental attitudes as well. However, we can’t escape the idea that we sit down most of the time in a day, right? This is why there are exercises you can do while you’re sitting down.
Exercises while we’re sitting down? Interesting…
Yes we know that your actions are in limit while you’re seated down but that doesn’t b**t the fact that we can. Your stomach is one of the pillars of our bodies; our torso, in general. According to the Daily Health Post, there are various belly exercises we can do while we’re sitting down either in our offices or in our homes while we run our daily routines. A study in 2016 which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimated that prolonged sitting is linked to 430,000 deaths in all-causes in over 54 countries.
Read: No More Exercise To Burn Fat?
These exercises doesn’t have to be frantic. In fact, you can just allot around 30 – 45 minutes a day while doing these exercises. What a good way to b**t sitting down, right?
What belly exercises can we do while we’re seated down?
Although there are a lot that counter this idea, it’s actually a good one because we counter the idea of being seated for a prolonged period of time. You can do this in your office, while you’re sitting down at home, in your bedroom, etc.
Double knee lift
Now this exercises would require a chair that has armrests. The armrests would become the platform for your balance since your legs won’t do the work for you.
- Start by sitting on a chair while your knees are touching;
- Place your arms on the armrests. If however the seat doesn’t have armrests, place your hands and arms on the seat. But having armrests would be better for tighter leverage and more balanced movement;
- While your back is straight, slowly pull your knees so it touches your chest.
- Lower your feet and legs back but work on them not touching the ground;
- Repeat this for 15 – 25 times.
It’s important and better to remember that while doing this, you need to clench and squeeze your abdomen. This works your abdomen and the lower torso of your body. The less pressure you apply to your bottoms, the better the results of the workout will be for your belly.
Floor reaches
Now this specific exercises doesn’t necessarily require you to be sitting down on a chair. It can be a bench, or any type of medium that you can sit on. You would need ample space around you, however because you would need to span your arms and move.
- Start by sitting down tall and ensuring that your feet are planted firmly on the ground;
- The next step is by straightening your arms out to your sides at shoulder level;
- Then, twist your torso and reach the floor with your back still straightened and your other arm in place;
- One tip is to reach your left toes with your right arm and your right toes with your left;
- This works on alternate so repeat the steps 25 – 30 times while alternating both arms.
This is good for the overall belly that you have. Your frontal belly and sides would be worked enough that you would feel the intensity just after eight proper repetitions.
Read: Who Knew That Standing For Six Hours A Day Could Help You Lose Weight?
Pull up
Again, this workout would need a chair with armrests. In this workout, we won’t recommend chairs without armrests because it can causes strains to your wrists. This can be done in your office with office chairs, your living room, or literally anywhere as long as the chair you’re sitting on as armrests.
- Sit on a chair without wheels and with armrests. For better results, press it against a wall;
- With your back straight, lift your body using your abdomen while your arms are pulling your body up;
- Hold it for as long as you can and lower your body down slowly.
Being still and in place is a sign that your pull up is strong and established. Hold it for as long as you feel pressure in your belly and in your torso area; if you feel pressure in your wrists, you might be doing it wrong so you have to adjust how you handle the armrests.
Knee pull-ins
This exercise for the belly is slightly similar with the double knee lift. Although it quite differs on the main focus of the workout. In this workout, you wouldn’t require a chair without armrests although it would be better if the chair you’d be sitting on wouldn’t have wheels.
- Start by sitting on the edge of the chair with a straightened back;
- Plant your feet firmly on the ground, hips apart;
- While your back is straight, pull one of your knees to your chest while the other leg is planted firmly on the ground;
- You can use your arms to support the lifted leg by holding your shin while it’s pressed up;
- Repeat these for 10 – 15 repetitions each leg.
Oblique pull ups
This is like a combination of the pull ups and the double knee lift workout, although the focus of this exercise of course as you can see is the obliques and not focusing on the abdomen.
- Start by sitting with your back straight while you’re holding onto the armrests;
- While sitting down, twist your torso so your belly is squeezed and a partial part of your bottom is not touching the seat of the chair;
- Do the double knee lift exercise while you’re leaning on one side;
- Repeat the same steps while you lean on the opposite side;
- Do and repeat steps for 15 – 20 repetitions each side.
Would this help decrease the size of my belly?
As we mentioned, exercising is not just about strengthening or improving your physique, it’s also about making sure you’re mentally in tact. In addition to that, people who sit down more not only increases the chance of a big belly, people who tend to sit down a lot are more likely to suffer from: Dementia, Type 2 diabetes, C****r, and heart and cardiovascular diseases. Sitting down also impairs sugar and fat metabolism. Moreover, sitting down consumes 30% fewer calories than when you’re standing, leading your body to start storing energy as fat.
Read: This Is What Happens To Your Body When You Start Walking More
So instead of letting yourself be consumed by the fact that you’re sitting down, do these exercises while working, while preparing for dinner, while reading, etc. Besides, this won’t consume even two hours from your daily regimen. It won’t just lessen the belly fat you’ve had for years, it can also be the start of a healthy lifestyle for you and your friends and family.
