Many of us have a desk job where we sit all or most of the day. Sadly, this builds up the stress in our bodies as we instinctively want to be out and about. Another problem is that while our bodies are completely engulfed by the chair, we are not doing our muscles any favors. Today’s workout will help with both.

Before I begin the workout, here is a simple suggestion for those who are trapped in an office or cubicle who want to make the best of it. Get an exercise ball. One of those over sized beach ball things and use it as a chair. You are forced to have good posture and use your core muscle to support and balance you on it. Use this for an hour or two everyday.

Now, since we are on the topic of sitting, this workout will be a lot of sitting; however, without the chair.

There are three exercises: the iron chair, squats, and the squat walk.

Squats: stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel with the floor. It is imperative to keep your back straight. Hold this for a three count and then stand. I like to put my arms straight in front of me for balance, but you can experiment until you find the position you like the best.

Iron Chair: this is a simple exercise in its execution, but will have you shaking at the knees very soon. All you do to complete this is the above squat; however, instead of a three count, you hold it for much longer. The time period for this workout will be 30 seconds, but you can go much longer if you desire. Our black belt fitness test called for a five minute iron chair. A variation is to back up to a wall and use the wall to support you.

Squat Walk: same as above. Get into a squat position and then step forward with your right leg trying not to raise your body too much. Then step with your left leg and continue to walk.

The workout:

Start by doing five squats with a three count. On the fifth squat, hold the pose for a 30 second iron chair. After 30 seconds, squat walk ten total steps and then take a one minute break.

This time do four squats with a three count. On the fourth squat, hold the pose for a 30 second iron chair. Again, do a ten step squat walk after the 30 seconds is up.

Continue this cycle all the way down to one squat.

The goal is to hold that squat position as long as you can throughout the entire workout and not to break stance. To make it more challenging, add some time to the iron chair.