Although working from home is a desirable concept for many, those who work remotely know it’s not always easy.

Even if you get tasks done in your pj’s while sipping coffee and abiding by your “own routine,” things can get out of control pretty quickly.

As a remote worker, you get out of touch with your healthy habits, be it hitting the gym on your way home, or even walking to the conference room for five minutes to catch up with your co-workers.

The result? You end up with a sedentary lifestyle with little to no ways to stay active, alongside increasing the risks of poor mental and physical health.

Importance of Physical Activity when Working Remotely

When the discussion of staying physically fit while working comes up, we often express tons of excuses. Especially if you’re working from your own home, the day-to-day chores and constant distractions are unavoidable.

However, it’s necessary to remind yourself of the need for a daily workout routine that will not only keep you active, but also benefit you in the following ways:

• Improve mental health

• Maintain physical fitness

• Strengthen muscles

• Lymphatic detoxing

• Stronger immunity

Tips to Stay Active when Working from Home

While there are about many ways to stay active as remote workers, we’ve listed a few tips to add to your daily routine at home. Make sure to follow them and avoid sitting at your desk working hour after hour!

Try the Pomodoro Technique

This method is an easy fix for home workers to keep the body up and moving with little effort.

Simply set alarms every 25 minutes and take a quick break for 5 minutes. Just walk around the house, get something to drink, take out the trash or play with your precious fur baby.

As long you find a balance between sitting and staying agile, you’re good to go!

Fix a Workout Routine

We know how it can be difficult to find time or motivation to go to the gym when you’re working from home. Once you’ve settled being a home worker, you hardly have any energy to spare after a long tiring day to get out to the gym.

A quick solution to this? Bring your workout home!

Set up an exercise routine and adjust as you go. With time, a home workout session will surely help improve both your physique and psychological state, without the need to pay hundreds of bucks to the fitness center.

wake up with workout clothes

Certain tricks for motivating us to exercise can be used on a regular basis. One such strategy could be waking up in your workout clothes. Not only will you be “workout ready,” but you’ll find the sweet encouragement to do a little stretching at least, if not a full-body exercise.

Arrange your Workout Gear

Yet another sneaky way to fool your mind into workout is setting up workout equipment beside your workstation. That way, you can grab a dumbbell even during your 25-5-25 break.

Besides, what better way is there to remember to exercise than looking straight at what needs to be done and just go with it?

Strength Training

Strength training or resistance training can also be a great way to stay active when working from home. This type of workout involves the use of weight or force against your muscles to strengthen them. It also increases anaerobic endurance and enlarges skeletal muscles.

Since it’s an arduous process, strength training should be limited to 2 to 3 days weekly. If not, and you choose lifting every day, your body will be devoid of chances for tissue and muscle recovery.

Calisthenics/ Bodyweight Exercises

Calisthenics or bodyweight exercise is a type of strength training that consists of various movements using your bodyweight against gravity to ensure a lean and defined body.

Stimulation of muscles via calisthenics requires both time and tension and guarantees well-stabilized and controlled muscle movement and flexibility. This exercise regime may include push-ups, pull-ups, squats, etc. to ensure core strength. Keep sessions between 30-60 minutes.

Push ups

Push ups should be included as a part of your exercise routine. You can target multiple muscle groups, increase upper-body strength, improve your posture and get your heart pumping.

As push ups are good for your core and quite convenient to implement, the number should be anywhere around 20 per day as a warm-up. However, remember to divide it into segments of 3 sets of 12 reps each day once your body gets familiar with the routine.

Pull up

One thing that most of us get wrong when we choose to exercise is train in the same method every day. To be frank, this will only lead to soreness and straining of the muscles and eventually hinder your daily progress.

In order to avoid doing so, train yourself with this technique 2-3 times every week. Carrying out 15 to 25 pull-ups per session should be enough to build your muscle strength without any adverse side effects.

Squats

Squats are a great exercise to add to your routine. They aid in strengthening the tendons, bones and ligaments around your leg muscles, thus improving the condition of your quads, knees, calves and ankles.

However, make sure to not exceed 3 sets of 12-15 reps per session for the first few weeks if you’re new to this exercise. Avoid over-doing it and keep this exercise limited to 2 to 3 times each week.

Resistance Bands

A resistance band functions by increasing your capacity for muscle growth. As they’re easy to use and carry around wherever you go, you can easily make this a part of your daily training program.

According to personal trainer Mike Matthews, certified by the International Sports Science Association (ISSA), if you’re planning to add this to your exercise routine, make sure to do two sessions every week consisting of 30 minutes each with 12 to 15 repetitions.

As your strength increases, you can shoot for up to six times per week.

Full Body Workout

This type of exercise targets all the major muscle groups in a single session. Be certain not to repeat the same workout every day, as it will cause fatigue to your muscles by not allowing them sufficient recovery time.

Following a full-body exercise 2-3 days weekly is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Treadmill

Taking a walk on the treadmill even for 5 minutes can be a great way to add aerobic exercise. However, remember to warm up beforehand by walking at a relaxed to moderate pace to avoid muscle pulls and strains as a beginner.

Gradually increase the speed and time of your session, keeping a limit of 15 minutes.

Stationary Bike

Depending on your fitness goals, 30 minutes on a stationary bike should be more than enough for staying active while working from home.

Quick Jump Rope workout

Jumping rope can be added to your exercise regime and requires no special equipment—just a rope. You will need to make room for this enjoyable activity!

Skipping rope will allow your muscles to strengthen with improved endurance.

As a beginner, your aim should be restricted to 10 per session combined with other exercises.

Join Online Classes

In case you experience burn out trying to adhere to a daily workout regime, joining online classes can be the perfect way to keep yourself committed to your goals while working from home.

Online yoga class

Yoga classes can be an ideal way to kick start your day while working from home. Turning this into a daily habit will definitely release tension that you build up as a remote worker, while keeping your blood flowing for healthy heart function.

So, we’d suggest you to sign up for a class, order a yoga mat and get started with your yoga poses right away!

Martial arts

MMA training is considered to be a top-tier workout, which beats regular gym training by a fair share.

The perfect alternative to hitting a gym, martial arts allows building knowledge, confidence and discipline alongside helping you stay fit. Karate, Krav Maga, Jiu-Jitsu, basic boxing, etc. are all good choices.

Solo Dance Party

If you enjoy time out with friends, dancing to fun music, why not try this activity at home? Sounds exciting, right? You can organize a little solo dance party by yourself. Whether or not you fancy this idea, give it a shot! You won’t regret it!

Cannot Afford Gears or Classes?

Often times, financial issues or lack of a fixed work schedule might keep you from participating in online classes or creating an at-home gym.

No worries, because we’ve got your back! Here are some easy solutions:

Follow workout videos

Simply explore well-known fitness gurus and subscribe to a few. Stick to at least one workout video channel for a few weeks as a test run, and you’ll end up with a way to stay fit while working at home!

Seven minute workout app

Available for both Android and iOS, apps such as this will keep you under strict supervision, which typical YouTube videos fail to do.

You can easily track your day-to-day achievements as well as get valuable tips and tricks to staying healthy and fit once you sign up for their premium accounts. Be it a core workout session, a strenuous cardio or even a DIY schedule, they have it all!

Get a Specialized Desk

Desks are a must have when you’re working as a remote employee at home. In particular, a standing desk can be a great tool to encourage you to stay active while working.

A standing desk can help you stay alert while working and avoid sitting for hours at a time.

Additionally, you can utilize the desk for walking in place, stand while taking calls or merely just march in place to keep your leg muscles from cramping.

Don’t forget to use your chair, too. Doing hamstring curls while holding onto your chair for balance can be an effective way to stay physically active while working!

under Desk exercisers

We’ve all heard of this recent invention that has gotten the attention of remote employees. You may opt for a treadmill, a stationery bike or even an elliptical, whichever you wish, to stay active at home.

So if you’re struggling to meet a deadline and working non-stop without a break, your body will stay as fit as a fiddle with not much effort!

Walking Meetings: Walk and Talk

Virtual meetings can go on for hours, leaving us mentally exhausted. However, taking a walk while listening or talking can be a good way to stay fit and avoid spending more of your time sitting at your workstation.

E-Fitness

Time and again, we’ve heard complaints that at home employees may discontinue workouts due to lack of motivation. Assuming that you’re struggling with the same, try joining an e-fitness program with your friends or family to keep yourself engaged.

Perhaps employers can encourage physical fitness for at home workers by reimbursing them for joining online workout programs or for equipment for staying fit while working,

Also, employers can create a fitness challenge to encourage staying active while working from home.

Chores as Fitness Goals

When you find yourself taking a 5 to 10 minute break, vacuum the carpet, clean windows or scrub the shower or tub. You’ll get a squeaky-clean home and stay active as well!

Although we could go on and on with all sorts of ideas to stay fit as a home worker, this should do for now. We hope you’ll find some of our tips useful while working from home.