Day 10 - Tricep Dips

Difficulty - Easy
Muscle Groups Addressed - Triceps, Shoulders

Tricep dips are an incidental wellness no-brainer. An exercise that you can literally do anywhere, there is something simply sweet about something so sweetly simple. Exactly the same in the gym as it is in your hotel room (or home/office), you'll need two elevated surfaces (or you can perform it starting in a table pose on the floor) to perform a dip.

Start with your hands under your shoulders, arms extended on one surface. Your legs should be straight with your heels resting on top of the other surface. Here, I used a chair and the bed... You can easily use two beds, or a chair and a desk, two chairs, or just do this exercise on the floor. Slowly lower your body down until your triceps and your forearms form a right angle, then come back up. If you want to add an element, pick one of your feet up slightly and hold it there. If you have a friend with you, have him/her place a weight (books, boxes, suitcase) on top of your lap.

Day 9 - Knee to Chest Stretch

Difficulty - Easy
Muscle Groups Addressed - Lower Back, Hip

So I was traveling today, and a friend smartly suggested that I post an exercise that you could perform on an airplane. Your options are limited here, especially if you're crammed into a window seat like I was, but I've been preaching that you can discover wellness opportunities anywhere, and this circumstance is no different.
I was going to get the passenger next to me to snap a picture, but he was literally asleep from the moment the doors shut to the moment they re-opened. So you'll have to use your imagination as I try to explain this stretch as thoroughly as I can.
In your seat, assume proper posture - feet flat on the ground, shoudlers square, pelvis tucked in. Wrap your hands under one of your knees and gently start to bring your knee up towards your chest. Continue to pull your knee up until you feel a slight stretch in your lower back (you may also feel a little tension in your hip). Hold this position for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat. This stretch will help release tension in your lower back, which is most likely screaming from having to sit in a terrible airplane seat for a few hours (mine definitely was!). Come back for more tomorrow!

Day 8 - Super Wide Pushups/Crucifix Rolls

Difficulty - Advanced
Muscle Groups Addressed - Pectorals, Deltoids, Lats

Let's throw in an advanced move for kicks. Start slow with this one, as there is a distinct possibility that you may smash your face. The gym version employs the use of 2 round dumbbells (don't use hex, you won't be able to roll them...). Start in a close-grip position, back straight, head down. Slowly roll your hands out as wide as you can and hold the position for a second. Keep your core tight... this is a very difficult hold. Then, with all the might of He-Man, keeping your arms fairly straight, start to bring your hands back to the starting position. Tough, eh?

A simpler variation that doesn't work the shoulders nearly as much is the pec fly. You can do this easily with dumbbells on a bench, as shown here. For this modification, keep your back flat on the bench (push down with your pelvis and resist the temptation to arch your back), and do not let your hands fall below the plane of the bench. Over-extending here will hurt your shoulders.

The office/home version is as follows: start by lying face down in a T-position. Be aware of how much force you'll have to exert to lift your body off the ground in this position. As a general rule, I'll start with arms fully extended (as big a wing-span as I can muster), and I'll note where my wrists lie on the ground. Then I'll pull my hands inward until the tips of my thumbs rest where my wrists were. This position allows me enough leverage to get my body off the ground but is still wide enough to mimic the move. Put all your energy into your hands and force your body upward... hold for 3 seconds, then come back down. If this is too much, do pushups with your hands slightly more than shoulder width apart and work towards getting wider and wider.

Day 7 - Wall Squats

Difficulty - Moderate
Muscle Groups Addressed - Glutes, Quadriceps, Hamstrings

A favorite of mine, wall squats have so many great benefits, not to mention they work all the primary muscle groups involved in proper sitting posture. It's bad enough us desk jockies have to sit in front of a screen most of the day... compounding that is the fact that most of us don't even sit properly.

Over time, poor seated posture can lead to spinal misalignment, joint degeneration, weak shoulders, and even a potbelly. As you slouch forward, your shoulders and back round in, loosening your pectorals and pushing your belly out. Wall squats done correctly will firm your core, build a strong lower back, and work your hips to help give you a balanced seated posture.

These work the same in the office as they do in the gym. Simply find a wall and lean back against it, standing up. Bending at the knees, slowly lower yourself down into a right angle seated position. Squating down too far and not having your feet out far enough will be unneeded pressure on your knees... envision sitting on a box. Stay "seated" for 10 seconds, then straighten your knees and come up, still leaning against the wall. Give yourself a 5 second break, then come back down and hold the squat for 10 seconds.

To really kick it up in the hamstrings and lower back, try raising one leg at a time, and holding.

Day 6 - Military Press

Difficulty - Easy
Muscle Groups Addressed - Deltoid (Delts), Triceps, Pectorals


Today's exercise is fairly traditional, but I'm going to show you how you can modify it to do the same work with minimal effort. That's the point of this, after all - make the traditional untraditional. You've seen the military press performed by hundreds of grunting juiceheads all across America's gym scene. Use dumbbells or a barbell for the gym version. Start with your arms up at a right angle, holding your weights at head-level. Lift the weights up, keeping your core engaged and your back straight and pause with them above your head. Do not fully lock your elbows. Then bring the weights back down to head-level and repeat for a total of 8-12 reps.

To work the same muscle groups, here's a simple isometric exercise you can do right in front of your computer. Press your palms together firmly and push. Hold for at least 10 seconds then release. You should feel the same pressure in your shoulders and arms as in the military press. Someone may walk by and think you're wishing for something... maybe bigger delts?

Day 5 - Weighted Overhead Lunges

Difficulty - Moderate
Muscle Groups Addressed - Glutes, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Shoulders

The lunge is a ubiquitous exercise... perfect training for every sport and great at improving general mobility. Here, we'll add an overhead weight to simultaneously work the upper body. At the gym, start in a comfortable standing position, with either a dumbbell or a medicine ball held at your chest. Now, step one foot forward so that your front knee forms a 90 degree angle and your back leg is parellel (but not touching!) the floor. Simultaneously during the stepping motion, lift your arms up, driving the medicine ball or weight to the sky. Hold the lunge position for one breath, then, using power from both the front and back leg, lift up and bring the weight back to your chest. You should feel tension mostly in your glutes and shoulders as you hold the lunge position and extend your arms. Keep your back perpendicular to the floor the whole time... if you pitch forward or backward, you'll put unwanted pressure on your lower back. At work, it's the exact same principle. Either try it with a ream of paper, a book, or a box full of random desk junk. You can always do this exercise unweighted as well.

Try for 8-10 lunges per leg in the gym with good form. Keep it to 4-5 at the office to avoid grunting noises and sweating on your co-workers. 

Wellness Ninja 1

This little guy will be making appearances all around my office in the next 100 days. A little subproject to the project...

In the spirit of incidental wellness and all the recent protesting, I'm boycotting elevators.

Join the charge! Below is a full-rez file so you can download it and put it up around your office!