I need to get out of my desk chair more, but lately I’ve been trying to walk my neighborhood since the weather’s nice. What kinds of things do you do to stay active? I’d love some suggestions for good stretches and simple/effective exercises. Thanks!
I break up working day with small 5 min breaks where I rest in a squat. I do this a minimum of 6 times. It helps to stretch the whole posterior chain.
First 30 days I had a 4cm block bellow my heels since I severly lack the mobility. After a month of daily practice I’ve been able to reduce the height of the block to 2 cm. Will continue for another month and hopefully the full squat will be available to me.
The goal is to be able to have the squat as a natural resting position that I can use on a daily basis to break the chair sitting banner.
I love this idea! Tie it into your existing routine! I decided a year ago to stand on one leg while brushing my teeth. Started as a teeter-totter, now I just sway a bit. I change legs when I change quadrants & do each for 30 seconds.
Also, squares are great. I avoided them (and lunges) for 20+ years because of my knee. Then I worked with a trainer for about 8 months last year. She slowly got me working the knee and after a few months I realized I could do squats! My pampering the knee for decades did nothing for it while her slow but steady working on it has me pain free and able to hike for 5+ hours now.
I also found the book: Built from Broken: A Science-Based Guide to Healing Painful Joints, Preventing Injuries, and Rebuilding Your Body by Scott Hogan
Really helped me out.
Did you typo squares for squats? I think some folks are legitimately curious if you’re talking about an exercise we haven’t heard about
Oof! It’s squats, not squares. That’s what I get for not proof reading my posts.
What are Squares?
That idea of standing on one leg seems interesting, a simple way to introduce balancing on a daily basis, will try it out.
That’s a cool idea. I’d like to start doing this. I hope my knees can cope, I’m very heavy.
I suggest you take a different approach then.
Instead of doing in 5 min blocks, do it in smaller intervals, say start with 30 seconds. And also you can aim for a smaller total daily time like 5 min, and work your way up to 30 dailly minutes over the course of weeks if not months. It may seem small but the goal is to accumulate the work and slowly induce adaptations.