Stay Active at Work

In this article we want to give you creative ways to stay active at work and give you fun suggestions for places to try out in your local community to continue your healthy lifestyle outside of the office. The key to getting healthy at work is movement. Activity at work can be difficult to accomplish, particularly if you sit behind a desk. Heck, being active outside of work has its challenges! So how can we implement easy enough ways to keep ourselves active all day long?

Here are some tips to keep you active but while allowing you to stay productive.

• Stand and walk more. Standing and walking increases energy levels, activity levels, blood flow, improves metabolism, betters your posture, tones muscle, and can even help with productivity.
• Take your calls standing up. It might seem unnatural at first, but this is a great way to get your standing minutes into your day.
• Use your ten minute break periods to walk around your office or building instead of sitting in the break room or surfing the net at your desk.
• Use the stairs instead of taking the elevator if you are above the first floor. If you work a couple floors up, this is the perfect way to increase the amount of activity you get in your day. Try alternating stairs and elevators if you work in a sky scraper.
• Hold standing or walking meetings. If you are an employer, this pertains to you. Come to your meeting with pre-written notes that you can easily add to and send out to everyone after the meeting. This system has been shown to boost productivity because your employees walk away happy, retain more of the information presented in the meeting, and are revitalized when they return to their desks.
• Walk over to your colleagues desks or offices instead of calling or emailing them.
• If you have the option and the means, invest in a standing desk or ball chair. Make sure you take note to stand and sit correctly with the ball or standing desk and do a little bit of research before purchasing either.
• Program reminders to adjust your posture or to get up and walk around. A simple solution to this is the Apple Watch which has a reminder system built in to tell you when it's time to stand up and lets you know when you’ve completed the allotted movement time goal. The Apple watch also has a heart rate monitor built in which is just handy to have. Or you can set reminders on your computer or smart device.
• If you have an office, arrange things that you frequently use so that you can't reach them all from your chair. This will ensure that you are moving and stretching all the time.
• If you sit at a desk and have a rolling chair, preform chair pushes. Don't know what these are? Position yourself facing your desk, place your arms by your side, and take hold of the edge of your desk with your hands. Then, using your arm muscles and abdominals, push yourself away from your desk, and repeat in the opposite direction to pull yourself back toward your desk. Do these while reading emails or doing research, anything that doesn't require the use of your hands such as typing.

Now that we have activity down at work, let's talk about after work. Most of us work hard and want to unwind at home, so creating a habit of being active and eating healthy isn't something that happens overnight, but you know you should start and we want to help you! Here are some fun ways to help you get started on the right path.

Here are some places to check out locally to  increase activity for every kind of person and liking.

• LA Boulders, 1375 E 6^th St #8, Los Angeles 323-406-9119
  This awesome gym offers so many fun classes and an exceptional bouldering wall with hundreds of boulder challenges to solve. Here, you can enroll in a fitness package and use your membership to access any of their fun classes that are included. Just in case you don't want to commit to a membership just yet, or don't live in the area but feel the urge to check this gym out, take any of the classes for just $15. Classes offered at this gym range from Acro Yoga (fun and trending right now) to TRX (a strengthening workout that only uses your own body weight and gravity to give you an intense muscle workout.) Included in your membership are free guest passes so you and a friend can go. You also get the use of the cardio equipment so that you can get a well-rounded workout every time you go. Your one-stop work-out spot.
• Urth Caffe with locations in Downtown LA, Melrose, and Beverly Hills is a great little place to do some people watching while eating a healthy, organic meal and drinking a delicious, beautifully crafted organic latte. You should be ready for the hustle and bustle before you arrive as it is not your typical low key café. Once you adapt to the feel, you won’t be disappointed.
• Greystone Mansion & Gardens, 905 Loma Vista Dr, Beverly Hills 310-285-6830
  This destination is kind of a cheat, it's not an actual hiking trail, but you can spend hours just wandering the expansive property. You can't actually go inside the mansion but you can explore the outside as much as you like. Every corner you turn gives you something even more spectacular to look at. Don't forget to bring water and a camera!

Moral of the story: Move, a lot. The more you move the more your heart will start to pump and in turn so many great health benefits will follow. You will be more likely to live longer, your mood will be better overall, your metabolism will accelerate, and you won't be so stiff all the time! Try it out! Ready, set, GO!