A leading sports scientist who has worked with Olympians, NRL players and the Junior Socceroos has revealed the seven moves everyone who works from home should be doing every day to stay fit and healthy.
A sports scientist who has worked with Olympians, NRL players and the Junior Socceroos revealed the seven moves everyone who works from home should be doing every day (Anthony Turri pictured)
Sydney-based Anthony Turri said the most important thing to remember when you’re working from home is you need to make the time to move.
‘If you spend most of your day sitting for work, study or play, it’s important to take regular breaks. The human body is designed to move, not hold prolonged static positions,’ Anthony told FEMAIL.
While one of the best ways to keep lightly active while you’re desk-bound is to stand up and move around for a few minutes, the expert also said there are seven key moves you can do to improve your posture, stretch your limbs and stay fit and healthy.
The best bit is that you don’t need to leave your desk to do them.
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While one of the best ways to keep lightly active while you’re desk-bound is to stand up and move around for a few minutes, the expert also said there are seven key moves you can do to improve your posture (pictured) – and you don’t need to leave the desk
Every so often, it can be good to stand up and move around a little bit, as we are not designed to sit static all day (pictured)
‘Millions of Aussies have been forced to work from home and not everyone has an ergonomic setup or room for a home office,’ Anthony said.
‘In fact, a lot are sitting at their kitchen tables with a laptop or re-purposing milk crates into school chairs.
‘Regardless of your setup, try and remember to move, be conscious of your posture and try these seven moves to help avoid or reverse any damage being done by your WFH setup.’
So what are the expert’s seven stretches?
NECK
1. Head tilts
The first simple move the sports scientist wants everyone to do is a head tilt.
‘Tilt you neck and head fully to the left and right,’ Anthony explained.
‘The movements should be gentle and pain-free.’
He recommends you hold each position at the end for at least 30 seconds to really feel the benefits.
2. Head rotations
You should follow your head tilts with some rotations.
‘Rotate your neck and head fully to the left and right as if looking over your shoulder,’ Anthony said.
Again, hold each position for at least 30 seconds.
3. Head pulls
The last head and neck exercise is a head pull, where you push your head out and pull it in, making a double chin.
‘Hold each position for a few seconds and repeat 10 times,’ Anthony said.
‘Do these exercises at least twice a day.’
The first simple move the sports scientist wants everyone to do is a simple head tilt (left). Anthony also recommends head pulls (right) and head rotations in his daily workout
SHOULDERS
4. Alphabet chair
The second area of your body you need to stretch is your shoulders, and you should do this by means of what the expert calls the ‘alphabet chair’.
‘Point your arms down beside the chair so you’re forming an A, and then move them to shoulder length to make a T, above your head into an I, then slightly to the side in the shape of a Y and finally make a W by bending at the elbow and rotate your shoulder backwards,’ Anthony said.
5. YMCA arms
In a similar way to the ‘alphabet chair’, so too does Anthony recommend you do the YMCA dance at your desk and ‘stretch your arms over your head as far as you can for each letter’.
‘Do the “C” both ways to get balance in the stretches,’ he said.
It might sound stupid, but this sort of stretch will really loosen up any mobility issues from sitting down for too long.
Anthony also recommends doing a version of the YMCA with your arms in order to stretch out the side of your waist and back (pictured in action) – do the C on both sides to stretch evenly
BACK
6. Trunk rotations
The last area that needs regularly stretching when you’re sitting down at a computer or laptop all day working is the back, and for this the sports scientist recommends trunk rotations.
‘When you’re sitting in your chair, twist around to the right and the left, using the arms of the chair to hold your twist,’ Anthony said.
As with all of the moves, hold the position for a few seconds to allow the stretch to go deeper and target your muscles.
7. Trunk tilt
Finally, Anthony said you should make time for the ‘trunk tilt’.
‘Stretch each arm diagonally into the air and lean sideways into the stretch,’ he said.
This will help to lengthen down the sides of your waist and back muscles and prevent you from becoming stiff and sore.
Anthony Turri is the National Program Manager at FIAFitnation and Endeavour College of Natural Health. For more information, please click here.