NCF member, Belinda Butler of Pazzazz Me, was our speaker at a recent online networking meeting. Having ‘threatened’ to put us all through our paces on several occasions, what fitness and dance instructor Belinda actually gave us was a twenty minute ‘taster’ of one of her Movement and Mobility classes. These fairly gentle exercises are designed for people of all abilities (and none!) to help keep mobile.
As a group of people who spend so much time sitting at our desks, Belinda’s moves would also be great as a refresher to keep the brain and body moving at any time of the day. You can see from the photo that we all gave it our best shot! And, as Belinda said, “there are very few health conditions that wouldn’t benefit from some light exercise” so we should all try her sample online class, here, whenever we need it.
Belinda’s full twenty minutes included many more stretches and exercises than the following but this would be a great top-to-toe ten-minute workout any time you’re feeling a bit sluggish at your desk. Have fun!
1. Roll your shoulders
Sitting comfortably on your chair with a straight back and relaxed shoulders, roll your shoulders backwards, one at a time, for about ten times each. Then swap and roll them forwards about ten times. Finally, shrug them both together about ten times. You should start to feel your shoulders and neck relax.
2. Now raise your arms
Making sure there is nothing around you to get in the way, lower your arms down to your sides with your thumbs facing upwards. Keeping your arms straight, lift both together as high as you can above your head, then bring them gently down again. Do this five times; you should start to feel your sides, chest and back muscles relaxing.
3. Curl down
Moving your chair away from anything in front of you, slide your bottom to the front of your chair. Keeping a straight back, slowly lower your body down towards your knees. Keep both hands on your legs and slide them down as you go for support. To come back up again, imagine that someone is pulling you up by the middle of your shirt; allow your spine to lead while your head follows behind. Again, do this three to four times and you should feel a nice stretch in your back muscles.
4. Lower leg stretches
Still sitting towards the front of your seat, place both feet flat on the floor directly below your knees. Lift and lower alternate toes about ten times each. Now swap and lift alternate heels ten times each. Finally, do both toes together, then both heels. This works your calves and shins, helping the circulation to your lower legs.
5. Leg stretches
Sitting in the same spot on the front of your seat, move one leg out in front of you and place that heel on the ground. Curl your toes back towards you to feel a stretch in the back of your leg. If you want to increase the stretch, keeping your back straight, lean forwards slightly. Keep one hand on your bent leg for support as you do this. Hold for a count of twenty then swap legs.
6. Do the twist!
From this spot on the front of your chair, place one hand across your body and place it on the opposite thigh. Move the other hand behind you to reach hold of the back of your chair. Use your hands to encourage your body to twist round as far as you can. Hold for a count of eight and then swap to twist the other way. You should be able to see the same things immediately behind you each time, but your flexibility will improve each time you do this.
7. Clench
Finally on your chair, sitting with your feet comfortably on the floor in front of you and with your shoulders relaxed, clench your buttocks. Clench both together about twenty times then see if you can do each separately about twenty times. (No need to tell the ladies why this one matters but, actually, it’s great for chaps too!)
8. Seat to feet
Standing up should be a controlled action, transferring your weight from your bottom to your feet in one steady movement. From your sitting position on the front of your chair, stand up as slowly as you can – preferably without holding on to anything! Then, just as slowly, lower yourself back into your chair again. Do this five to ten times as slowly as you can. To increase the difficulty, see if you can ‘hover’ for a bit before finally sitting down.
9. Leg swings
Now standing up, behind your chair if you’d like to use it to balance, check that there is nothing around you to accidentally kick. Standing on one leg, swing the other one forwards and backwards as high as you can about five to ten times, allowing your body to swing and relax as you do. Then swap and swing the other leg. You should feel this relaxing and loosening your leg muscles.
10. Finally, windmill your arms and stretch
Still standing, and as a final relaxing move, bring your arms up, out and above your head, breathing in as you do so. (Think about the movement you would make if you were laying down to make a ‘snow angel’!) Hold at the top for a moment before bringing them down, wide apart as you give a big breath out. Repeat this five to ten times.
Hopefully you now feel revitalised and ready to get on with your day!
You can find Belinda’s exercise class timetable – both online and in person – here.