The 3 Most Important Exercises For People Who Sit All Day.
Contrary to what most people think, sitting is not easy.
Well, holding one posture isn’t easy. Just ask any life model or street performer!!
That said, it can be easy not to realise. Have you ever caught yourself staying still for too long?
Sometimes we are so focused on what we’re doing, we sit for too long. No matter how supported you are, the body was not made to be in one position.
Free Insurance For Sitting
Sometimes, like if you’re driving, pulling over frequently to stretch isn’t very realistic. Or sometimes when you’re in the flow, you just lose track of time. So, you might not notice your muscles fatigue until they’re screaming at you. (1)
For those guilty (who isn’t!?), to support your flow, and hold the posture for longer than you should, or, if you’re subject to pain when sitting, we’ve created a list of exercises for you to include in your gym program. So, if you can’t avoid sitting for longer than you should, at least you’ll have some backup.
Top 3 Exercises for Sitting Fitness
These exercises should be a priority in your current program, if not already 😉. Or, if you don’t have a strengthening program at the moment, these ones are a great start!
These exercises are in addition to the stretches and activation exercises you could be doing during your Postural Breaks. (2)
We’ve chosen these exercises because they focus on the muscles that have a lot asked of them while holding you up at your desk. The stronger they are, the more load they can take.
#1 Romanian Deadlifts
Romanian Deadlifts not only challenge your core, including the back, but both stretches and strengthens your glutes and hamstrings. We want to stretch the hamstrings because with the knee half bent in a usual seated position, the muscle is being held in a shortened state. Some of the glute muscles get tight with the hips bent.
But wait, there’s more!
It can also directly improve your upper back posture as well, as you keep your chest up and shoulders back to safely lift the weight. Plus, because it’s a full-body workout, it even gets your heart rate up a bit.
Tip: to open up your shoulders even more and challenge your forearms differently, you can try a supinated grip (face your palms away from your body).
Not into deadlifts?
Back Extension is another great exercise, working similar to a deadlift. Although, it should really be called “Hip Extension” as the spine should be kept neutral throughout the movement. Make sure you’re following us on social media, where we’ll provide some extra tips!
⚠️The Deadlift and Back Extension are quite advanced, with some injury risk if performed incorrectly. Seek instruction from your exercise professional.
No gym?
You can try the same Deadlift movement without a weight, with some home-made weights (a bag of books?) or a resistance band.
(Again, stay tuned on our social media pages, we’ll throw up some videos for you)
#2 Incline Row
It’s really common to get upper back pain, in between the shoulder blades, from sitting too much at a desk or car.
This is can because the arms are extended too far away from the body, you’re slouching, both, or you’re trying to sit up too straight. The first two scenarios elongate these shoulder blade muscles, but at the same time they’re having to take the tense to counteract the forward load that is created. Trying too hard to sit up straight, past your tolerances, or even past what is considered straight, tenses the muscles and therefore they may fatigue and get sore.
So, the Incline Row is a great exercise to increase the strength of these muscles, particularly the rhomboids and mid-traps. Keeping perfect technique (shoulders down, neck retracted), it also adequately challenges the neck.
Not into it?
A Barbell Row is another great option to target the upper back. The Incline Row is preferred because it keeps your hips extended, opposite to the flexed position they might have been in most of the day.
Alternatively, any form of Row, or a Reverse Fly will be beneficial.
No gym?
Mimic the movements with just your arms or whatever equipment you have! Watch our Social Media for some examples
#3 Plank
The Plank doesn’t need to be held for 5 minutes. And despite the obvious core strengthening, that’s not the main reason it made it to number 3!
Yes, the core holding up the torso is helpful but the plank exercise, if performed correctly, strengthens the neck as well as postural muscles around the shoulder blades, the Serratus Anterior. Both which can be really weakened by prolonged posture driving or desk postures.
You can also modify the plank to make it more challenging by trying a side plank or adding controlled movements. Straight arm plank is also worth considering as it gives the biceps a bit of a break from the 90 degree elbow position it’s so often constrained to.
Runners Up
Some other awesome exercises that didn’t make the cut are: Split Squat, Chest Fly, Running and Swimming. Can you figure out why!? Let us know if you have some favourites that you think should be on the list!
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(1) If a “Muscle is screaming at you”
Sore muscles don’t mean they’re injured. Pain is a warning sign. So, it usually just means it needs some movement and sometimes if you’ve really upset them the muscles need a few days of TLC before they properly recover and trust you again:
Movement, walking and mobility
Stretches
Self-massage
(2) Postural Break Exercises
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