A 10-Step Guide to Not Dying at Your Desk

Illustration by Brown Bird DesignBy GQ

Stretching, kick bridges, and yes, even planking, in your office will help you avoid the perils of office death. Use our guide to defeat the desk doldrums.

Your daily gym run is great-but it may not be enough. "If you do everything right in the gym and everything wrong the rest of the day, it's eight hours to one," says Craig Friedman of Athletes' Performance in Phoenix. Try these moves at home or (if you have a door) in the office.


See fully illustrated office workouts at GQ.com

Core Competency

It's the most important muscle group in the body-abs, glutes, lower back, etc.-and it softens to Jell-O in a desk chair

Plank Plus

Do a plank, then lift your left arm and hold it. Return to the starting position and raise your right. Do eight on each side.

Kick Bridge
Okay, this one's embarrassing in public. Lie on your back with your knees bent and push your butt off the ground into a bridge position. Lift one leg, then lower it. Switch legs. Do eight reps for each leg, two sets.

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Upper-Level Strategy

Bad posture can lead to knotted-up shoulders and, potentially, the dreaded turtle neck. Here's how to unwind

Air Traffic Elbows
Bend at the waist and raise your elbows toward the ceiling to ninety degrees. At shoulder height, rotate your forearms upward. Reverse the motion and repeat eight times.

Massage Thy Self
Roll from your shoulders down the middle of the back and then up again. If a spot feels sore, hold it there a sec; that muscle needs a good rubdown.

Stretching your hips and calves prevents a witches' brew of joint and flexibility problems.

Modified Reverse Lunge 

Step back into a lunge with your right leg. Lean forward and bring your right hand to the floor and your left elbow inside your left knee. Hold it; then, with both hands down, raise your hips to the sky. Return to lunge, then stand. Do five times each side, two sets.

Mini-Band Shuffle
Take ten lateral steps left, then right. Do two sets.

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Your Laid-Back Posture Plan
Bad
Don't be the office Quasimodo-head forward, back arched, shoulders slumped. Spineless dudes never get the corner office. Plus, bad posture opens a Pandora's box of health issues (back problems, reduced core strength, etc.).

Good Posture
It's simple: Just relax. (1) Pull the monitor forward. (2) Use a keyboard extender. (3) Support your feet. (4) And sit with your back flush against a good chair. Our pick? The recliner-like Freedom Headrest from Humanscale.

Three Steps to Mobility

1. 
Act Like a European: It's a good idea to get up every thirty minutes. But we like to have a reason to get up. One idea: Exchange your supersized coffee for a few single espressos throughout the day. It's the Italian thing to do (just skip the smoking).

2. Or a Hunter-Gatherer: Move your desk stuff (Scotch tape, printer) out of your cubicle. Oh, and go get your lunch instead of ordering in. It's the small things that could save you from a big coronary.

3. Or At Least Homo Erectus: You don't have to run a half marathon at lunch-the simple act of standing improves blood flow and engages your muscles from feet to trunk. (How bad is sitting? Tests show that seated schlubs have zero muscle activity.)

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