Step up your lunchtime routine with expert-approved exercises

Looking to make the most of your lunchtime? Embrace the power of your midday break with these accessible yet transformative exercises from trainer Remus Petrescu, lead tutor and assessor at the fitness education training provider The Fitness Group

In just 20 minutes, incorporating low-impact exercises and movements can offer a multitude of health benefits, from supporting healthy bone density to regulating blood sugar levels. Regularly moving away from your desk throughout the day can also help strengthen your musculoskeletal system and fortify your defences against chronic diseases.

Try these exercises for a few weeks, or even a couple of days, and see how you feel.

1. Climbing stairs

According to multiple medical studies, to have a healthy heart, it is more efficient to climb a set of stairs instead of going out for a walk. There are multiple reasons why this is more effective, but to sum it all up, when you are climbing a set number of stairs you are engaging more muscle groups and core. This counts as a vigorous activity which often gets you out of breath. More vigorous movements or exercises give a metabolic boost and allow the oxygenated blood to circle through the arteries quickly.

That being said, try going up and down the stairs four or five times during your lunch break. Your body will get a quick and effective workout. On top of this, you can strengthen your knees as well. As an at-home alternative, you can use a stepper or set of stairs where you can do step-ups.

2. Wall kneel

We generally live in a technology-dominated era. Having a bad posture is something that many of us struggle with. According to many health and fitness professionals, it is important to add rotational movements to aid the body and spine. Living in a dominant sagittal plane world (walking forward or hunching forward on the desktop or laptop, which causes an overuse of spine flexion) it is important to use all planes of movement to unlock your joints and feel more functional.

This can be done by adding some thoracic rotations. When doing these rotations (or any rotations for that matter) you will be working in the transverse plane. Your spine, shoulders and neck will thank you later. These exercises can be done from either a standing or a half-kneeling position. It is recommended to do 20 to 25 reps on each side, for one to two sets.

3. Side-to-side leg swings

Continuing with the idea of being functional. It is important to do active movements that engage the core muscles. A great simple exercise (but not necessarily easy) to do during the lunch break or at home, is the standing side-to-side leg swings. It is recommended to hold onto a piece of furniture at first (chair for example) so that you have a better balance to start with. From standing, raise one leg and swing it in a control motion to the side and back in the way.

When swinging the leg try to not rotate the foot outwards. Keep the foot pointed forward. Remember that we all have different backgrounds and mobility. Try to control the swing and at first use a shorter ROM (range of motion). This will work for your adductors and abductors muscle group, and it will lubricate, mobilize and strengthen the hip joint(the strongest but laziest joint in the body). When doing this exercise, you will be working in the frontal plane, which adds benefits to the spine and core, as explained above(second exercise). As a progression, you can do this exercise with no hand support. As a regression, you can try to do this exercise from a side-lying position. Two sets of 25 repetitions are more than enough to get those muscles engaged and get the benefits.

4. Standing march

Stability, core, strength. These are only part of the benefits that you will get when performing this exercise. Oftentimes we get used to walking a lot. Although waking is a great and easy physical activity to do, it is important to consider joint stability to be more functional if we ever need to jog, run, get out of balance etc. This means working the deep stabiliser muscles as well. I would strongly recommend this exercise at least two times per week, two sets of 16 alternated repetitions.

From the standing position, you will coordinate with raising one leg forward at a 90-degree angle at both hip and knee. While doing this, try to mimic a march and raise the opposite arm at a 35-degree angle at the shoulder, and a 90-degree angle at the elbow. Hold this position for 3 seconds, and then return back to the starting position. Then do the same with the other leg. You can alternate sides for 16 repetitions. Progression, try to increase the seconds held or even add a band. Regression: try to hold on to a wall at first. 

5. Squats

Compound exercise specifically targets the lower body more, especially if it is done with body weight only. It is very efficient and can be done in multiple varieties.

The advantage of this exercise is the fact that it can be done in any particular environment, and it requires very little space. Thus making it perfect for a lunch break or at-home exercise to do. How to squat? Take a wide stance (hip-width apart) and try to sit down by hinging at the hips and knees. Try to mimic sitting down a chair motion by pushing your glutes back while having your back straight and opening up your hips as much as you can. While doing a squat, remember to drive through your heel and not get off balance.

Tips for beginners: do not worry about ROM (range of motion). Try focusing on the key teaching points and use a chair to sit down, in case of losing the balance. Here are a few progressions for this exercise: squat jumps, banded squats, sumo stance squats, and split squats. We recommend 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps.