Associated Content and Your Office Fitness

Quite a few employees in AC's Denver and NYC offices sit on big exercise balls instead of desk chairs for at least part of their day. Its a small but effective change that makes the ball-sitters less passive as they inhabit their desk and stare at a computer screen for long periods of time. Its also highly entertaining to watch your colleagues bounce up and down slightly as they furiously type away.

Office fitness (or "home office fitness", or simply "desk fitness") is an important issue for Content Producers. Many of you use computers fairly constantly, and as a result are susceptible to all of the afflictions that the lifestyle is accompanied by. I've cribbed a few suggestions from AC articles (with links to the originals) in the hopes of inspiring you (and myself) to be more active in your daily office routine.

The first and easiest is to simply make sure that you get up and move around frequently. A general rule of thumb is to get up at least once every 30 min and move around. Instead of emailing a coworker, go and have a conversation in person. Make a coffee run for your office mates. Simply stand up and stretch--you'll get used to the odd looks from cube mates soon enough.

While you're sitting, clench different muscle groups for 10 seconds at a time. Start with your abs, then move to your glutes and finally your thighs. Repeat 3 times each. This is good for airplanes, too. Sometimes they're called Deskercises, which is just so cute.

Rest your eyes. Your eyes tire out while you stare a computer screen for long periods of time and deserve some attention, too. Close your eyes for 1 minute every half hour and use it as a time to mentally regroup. Or just count that stroll around the office every 30 min as your eye break.