This is an idea I've had for a while now. I spend a lot of time at a computer and on the phone. Ergonomics experts say that you should take frequent breaks. So here's the plan. I have a kitchen timer set to count down from 20 minutes. When it goes off I do one minute of exercise and then restart the countdown.
I'm rotating between three exercises: situps, pushups and squats. I'd like to get a pullup bar in the office for my swimming lats. And I may add some calf raises. While this whole thing sounds incredibly easy I've already learned that just one set an hour of each exercise adds up over the course of a morning. I'm doing 30 situps (with twists), 25 pushups and 40-50 squats. First few hours were a breeze. But now I'm feeling some burn. Interesting.
My plan is to make it a habitual behavior to turn on the timer any time I'm at the computer. Given that on non-meeting days I'll spend fourteen or more hours there this could mean some good strength. Let's just say it's an eight hour work day. That's 24 minutes of strength workout hidden throughout the day. Or eight sets of each exercise, 24 sets total.
I may fiddle with the time. I like the once-per-hour synchrony of having three exercises and three sets per hour. So if I move to four exercises I may bump the time down to 15 minutes. I don't want it to distract me too much from work though. There will be limits, of course.
The goal is to build up my strength component. I'm just finding it hard with my time constraints to get specific strength workouts in. No P90X in months. No pilates in months. No plyometrics in months. My hope is that by combining it with my daily process I can get the strength component and improve work efficiency.
The kitchen timer requires me to restart the countdown each time. As do four of my workout watches. What's up with that? I remember my $10 Casio from 1984 had a repeating countdown timer.
I'll let you know how it progresses. You already know that Heather thinks. As she walked through she heard the beep, saw me doing a set of pushups and said "what the heck?"
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