Undo The Damage From Sitting All Day

This routine could off-set your day-job

Sitting all day is bad for our health, yet more and more of us spend most of our day at our desk or on the sofa. The NHS (the UK’s national health service) recommends we do at least 150 minutes a week of exercise and to reduce sitting time.

But hitting the gym three times a week isn’t enough to undo the damage from sitting. You need to actually get up and move throughout the day too.

Studies have linked being inactive with type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer and even early death.

The NHS says:

Sitting for long periods is thought to slow the metabolism, which affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat.

“Physical inactivity often plays an independent role as a direct cause of speeding the losses of cardiovascular and strength fitness, shortening of healthspan and lowering of the age for the onset of the first chronic disease,” according to research. This “in turn decreases quality of life, increases health care costs and accelerates mortality risk.”

Essentially, sitting still all day is effectively killing you.

But before you panic, the evidence suggests getting up to move for a minute or two every 30–60 minutes could potentially make a pretty big difference.

Alongside generally moving more: go for a walk every day, stand when you could sit, walk when you could bus, cycle when you could drive — I’m sure you get the idea.

Simple anti-sitting routine (Level ONE)

Every 30–60 minutes do one or two of the below exercises. The idea here is to get up and move and get your body out of that desk shape and into some other shapes, strengthening the muscles you’ve been neglecting.

If they’re all new, just pick two to repeat all week to give you a chance to practice.

Band pull-aparts: 20 reps Just what it sounds like, get a resistance band, hold it out in front of you, and pull it apart.

1. Hold the band at shoulder width, palms facing up or down
2. Tighten abs, keep your shoulders down and chest up
3. Retract shoulder blades and pull the band apart
4. Return to the start position under control

Here’s a video explaining how to do these well.

ATG split squats: 10 reps per side

1. Step back into a lunge position — front foot can be elevated to modify the movement
2. Squeeze your back glute to keep the back leg straight and hips square as you bend the front knee forwards
3. Aiming for complete flexion through that front knee — allow the heel to come off the floor if necessary
4. Push through the front leg to get back to your starting position, keeping glutes and abs engaged and torso upright

Banded T-spine twists: 10 reps each side

Here’s a link to a video demo for this move.

1. Start in a half-kneeling position, with one knee on the ground under your hip and one knee up with the foot under the knee.
2. Place the opposite hand on the floor under your shoulder by the forward leg. You want to balance something (I’m using a foam roller in the video) between your knee and your arm. This is to stop you from moving your hips.
3. Hold a band in both hands, one hand still pressed into the ground.
4. Then, keeping everything else still, twist your torso away from the floor, taking your arm up to the ceiling (the other hand is still on the floor)
5. Return to your starting position under control

Scapular drills — EDPR: 10 reps in each direction

Click here to watch the video

EDPR stands for Elevate Depress Protract Retract and refers to the movements of your shoulder blades. This drill is designed to get your shoulder blades moving up, down, forwards and backwards on the ribcage.

1. Start in a neutral position. Lift your shoulders blades up, then pull them down. (Elevate-Depress)
2. Lift arms out in front of you, like you’re doing a wall push up, and push your shoulder blades forward, then pull them back towards each other. (Protract-Retract)

Once you can do EDPR standing and as two separate blocks, you can try drawing circles (or squares, really — 4 sides and all). Watch this video to see how.

Jefferson curls: 5–10 reps

Jefferson curls are one of my favourite moves for getting your spine moving.

1. Start standing upright, feet close together
2. Tuck your chin and roll your shoulders forwards, keeping your glutes and abs engaged, and legs straight
3. Use your abs to pull your torso down, trying to move vertebrae by vertebrae down your spine
4. Take your time to focus on control to the bottom, then pause before reversing the movement back to standing, vertebrae by vertebrae

Now it’s totally normal for you to not ACTUALLY be able to move your spine piece by piece, but keep trying anyway. The more you practice the more control you’ll have and the easier it becomes to segment your spine.

Prone Ys: 10 reps + 10s hold

1. Start lying on the ground, arms overhead in a “Y” position, thumbs up to the ceiling. Brace your glutes and abs to keep your body still
2. Then pull your arms off the ground, using your upper back, reaching away from you the whole time
3. Control the descent back down and repeat

Straddle side bends: 5 reps per side

Start without a load and then build up. I’m using 5kg in the demo but you can also hold on to a book or a yoga block instead of a weight.

1. Start in a seated straddle — legs out wide, active all the way to the toes
2. Bend sideways towards one foot, thinking about dropping your shoulder inside your knee
3. Brace your core to pull yourself up out of the stretch and reach over to the other side. Repeat

Neck rotations: 5/5 in each direction

When was the last time you took your neck through it’s full range of motion? Let’s do it now.

1. Cervical extension/flexion. Start by tucking your chin and then bend the neck so your face is facing the sky. Move back and forth in this position, keeping your rib cage down. Perform five reps of this
2. Cervical rotation. Turn your head to the left and right to look over your shoulder — without letting your torso move. Five reps
3. Cervical side bends. Tip head side to side to draw ear towards shoulder. Don’t pull your shoulder up to your ear. Five reps
4. Rotation + Flexion. Rotate your head towards one shoulder, then bend your head forwards. Tilt head back up, then rotate back to the centre. Rotate towards the opposite side, then tilt chin down. Repeat. Five reps on either side
5. Full circles. Draw as big a circle as you can in a controlled manner in both directions. Five reps each way

Anti-Sitting Routine (LEVEL TWO)

1. 20 Band pull-aparts
2. 10/10 ATG split squats
3. 10/10 EDPR scapula circles
4. 10+10s hold Prone Ys
5. 10 Jefferson curls
6. 5/5 Straddle side bends
7. Neck drills (5 reps per direction)

If you want to be more thorough, and you’re more familiar with most of the shapes, level two is the one for you. Run through this full routine throughout the day — making sure to still be breaking every 30–60 minutes.

This way you’re hitting more areas every day, so you’re body gets more chances to move.

Daily movement

The idea is that you move often and you move well. Break your day up, whether you’re at your desk or you’re in your armchair, with blocks of moving throughout the day.

I am a big believer in an exercise snack. Especially right now with many people still in lockdowns, still with nowhere to go but heightened levels of stress. Just doing small amounts of something throughout the day could be exactly what you need.

We all spend too much time sitting. Let’s do something about it.

You can find more strength and flexibility training tips on my Instagram page @superpennie. Or drop me a DM to discuss online coaching options.

Pennie Varvarides is a strength and flexibility coach, nutritionist and run coach. She helps (re)build strong humans both in the gym and online. Find out more at pennievarvarides.com.

Pennie has a 30-day flexibility protocol designed to get you moving better than you’ve ever moved before. If you’re ready to take your flexibility to the next level, check out 30-Day Bender.