You know how in those mommy/lifestyle magazines (Real Simple etc) they're always urging you to fit in some healthy exercise time while at the office? You know, tummy scrunches etc. Does anyone really manage/remember to do this? If so, how? If not, why not.

Does hoisting my coffee mug count?

Sure, I exercise at my desk. Here are a few of the exercises that I do:

- Legs Workout: Rock my baby´s bouncy seat to put him to sleep.

- Tummy crunches: Bending over from a seated position to scoop rocks, buttons, crayons and whathaveyou out of the baby´s mouth.

- Twists: Twisting regularly in chair to see what toddler is getting into, who is hitting whom, etc.

- Aerobics: Scooting my chair in to my desk, only to have it dragged back by toddler. Repeat 100x per day.

- Neck exercises: Swiveling head frequently to see what is on the TV, which my husband keeps on most of the day.

That´s my daily workout at my desk. ;)

Ha ha! I guess I totally see the wisdom in doing exercises while at your desk, but I also feel that when the source is a mommy magazine or similar fluffy media piece, it's just another way to make moms feel there's yet one more thing they should be doing. Ugh. I feel a rant coming on... This is why I got rid of all my mommy mag subscriptions!

Genesis, your post made my day!

Diane- I feel you on the mommy mags...they're like beauty mags, they advertise that they make us feel better, but so often they make us feel worse.

My favorite deskercises:
1) Ditching emails-builds agility, speed
2) Mug lifts--alternate left and right for the total upper body work out
3) M&M crawl--great stretch while chasing those strays
4) File Hunt--gets that heart rate up while you frantically search your hard drive--Race up and down the entire 'C' drive for maximum benefits
5) Can't see the font on my cell phone stretch--holding cell at arms length, lengthen from the shoulder blades. Feel that stretch!
6) Desk Chair Wind Sprints: 1) to the file cabinet and back 2) to the printer and back 3) to the doorway and back. Repeat..Feel the burn

I've gotten in the habit of stretching while I'm waiting for something to heat up in the office microwave. I sit most of the day at my desk, so I get stiff. The microwave is in the back room where meetings sometimes happen, but it's usually an empty room. There's a table there, and what I do is hoist a leg onto it so it's at about a 60-80 degree angle from my standing leg (with my foot dangling off the end so that I'm not putting a dirty shoe on the table) and just lean over the leg, stretching that hamstring and back. Feels great, and the microwave timer gives me an indication of how long I'm doing it. If someone walks in and they make a comment, I just say something like, "Oh, you don't know how much I needed this!" and they understand. - Paula.

I'm with Lylah...have mug will curl.

Actually I do workout 5 days a week and work full time and have a baby. I work out whether or not I've gotten 5 hours of sleep or 8, caffiene helps! Even a week after I had my C-section I would get up and walk for however long I could manage around the neighborhood. We don't have a lot of money or anything like that (that's usually the reason why people think celebrities are able to work out so much). In fact, we don't even have any family that lives within 1500 miles of us to help us with our son. Of course, I only have one baby. But a good friend of mine who has 2 kids, one only a couple of months old, and works full time, also fits in working out every day. I fit in about 30 mintues each day of either aerobic or weight training in between dropping him off at daycare and starting work. I used to go during my lunch break but I had to cut my lunch break in half so that I can leave earlier to pick up my son. However, it does help that he has to be at daycare by 8am and i don't have to be at work by 9am. So instead of going back home, i just go to the gym as its closer to work.

It's not easy to do this but I was raised very active and it's just always been a priority. However, here are some suggestions. Find a gym right next to work and go on your lunch break or walk for a 1/2 hour on your lunch break and eat at your desk. Find a gym 5 minutes from your house (or walk around the neighborhood) and get up an hour early (make your husband watch the kids), yes this sucks but I do it anyway and soon it just becomes part of your daily routine. Or, many gyms offer baby sitting for a nominal fee, my gym is $10 a month per child unlimited, so take them to the gym with you for an hour. If you have a daily routine, you just have to sit down and really figure out how to stick it in there somewhere. It's kind of like figuring out when you have time to get your haircut - only it's every day.

I"m usually so "in the zone" while at my desk I don't even think about trying to do isometrics or crunches or whatever.

Plus, we're in an open cube-farm environment, and I really don't want my manager to come up while I'm counting crunches in my chair.

I make it mandatory too. I took spin classes till I gave birth...After dealing with a baby that had colick for 6 months. I needed a break and this was how I did it. I too had a c-section and I was able to move around easily a few days after my c-section. I work at a desk all day and now more than ever its either get moving or get fat. It only gets harder with age to lose that baby weight or any weight for that matter. I do stretch at my desk and walk around the office instead of calling or emailing.