By Kayla Rivers With every new year comes new resolutions. One common goal for people in a new year is to become more fit. This involves more than just eating more fruits and veggies. Exercising is crucial in maintaining a healthy body. If you’re anything like me, you know how difficult it can be ...

By Kayla Rivers

With every new year comes new resolutions. One common goal for people in a new year is to become more fit. This involves more than just eating more fruits and veggies. Exercising is crucial in maintaining a healthy body. If you’re anything like me, you know how difficult it can be to do that while working at a desk job. Being sedentary for 40 or more hours a week can definitely put a strain on your body. These tips and products will help you combat the effects of desk job life and get you fit for the new year.

We live in a day and age where wacky but useful gadgets are in abundance. There are tons of products geared towards fitness in the workplace. One such product is an under desk elliptical. That’s right, an under desk elliptical. It’s exactly as it sounds. It’s small and fits perfectly under your work desk, providing you with exercise while you work. If you often forget to get up and move around throughout the work day, a standing desk may be right up your alley. With a spot for your computer, keyboard and mouse, you place the standing desk on your desktop and raise it to the perfect height when you need to stretch your legs. It’s helpful for people who can’t slip away from their desk often but still want to get the blood flowing back into their legs from time to time. Pair that with a comfy mat for your feet and you’d be all set!

There are also products to remind you of things that can help with your health. A more obvious product to discuss are fitness trackers like Fitbits and iWatches. I’ve personally owned both and found them extremely helpful. Since both sync up to apps, you can easily track your steps, heart rate, and exercise activity throughout your day. You can also track meals and water consumption on some fitness trackers. Speaking of water, there are smart water bottles out there now that help you track your water intake and even remind you to drink water throughout the day. Especially useful for those that struggle to drink enough water.

There are other things that you can do to increase your fitness during the work day that do not involve purchasing products. Everyone loves take out. There’s just something infinitely more delicious about food that you don’t have to make yourself! Unfortunately, take out food is often loaded with junk that isn’t good for you. Consider brown bagging it during the week. That way, you’ll know exactly what’s in your food and will have an easier time tracking it if that’s your type of thing. You can also do small exercises at your desk to strengthen your muscles. Work your glutes, squeeze a stressball. Both are things you can do without having to stop your work to do them. Finally, good ideas have to come from somewhere, suggest a before or afterwork company sponsored workout class of some sort. That would be a great way to get the company as a whole involved in taking their fitness seriously!