​Exercising off the Holiday Pounds While Writing

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It’s come again. The holidays. With it came food, sweets, food, and more sweets. If you’re like most authors during the holidays you indulged. Now it’s a new year and time again to renew all those exercise and weight loss promises. But don’t forget to take down the decorations. Get that January blog ready to go. Oh, and don’t forget about starting on all your projects to hit due dates in time. .
A little overwhelming? Being an author, I find myself in this trap a lot. As an author you are never “caught up”, or “ahead of the game”. This leads to a lot of stress. Exercise tends to get pushed to the back burner, so we can fight the inevitable feeling of always being behind.

Well that can change. Here is an easy program for any author to help get back in shape and keep hitting deadlines.
 

Get your computer on a bar top, high table, or anywhere that you can stand and work. Yes, stand. Get upright. Use muscles. Studies have shown activity helps boost memory and brain function.
Squats- at you high rise desk perform mini squats down far enough that you can still type, but wouldn’t be able to if you go any farther.

Wall Sits- When you hit writer's block go find a wall. Place your back to the wall and then slide down until your hips and knees are at a 90-degree angle. Hold for 30 seconds while taking deep breaths.

Single Leg Stance- While writing, stand on one leg. Try not using your hands for balance and keep typing. Hold until you get tired and then switch legs.

Knee Squeezes- Place a pillow between your knees. While standing and working squeeze knees together as hard as possible on pillow and then relax. Repeat until the insides of your thighs feel fatigued.

Heel Raises- While standing and working on computer go up on your toes and then back down. Repeat until fatigued.

Chair Dip- With your back to a chair, put your hands on the seat of the chair. Slowly lower yourself down and then back up. Repeat until your triceps feel tired. 

Wall Push Ups- Get up and put your hands on any wall. Bend your elbows and try to lower your nose to the wall and then straighten your arms. 
 

Keep at it. Every time go until you feel fatigued. After a while you’ll notice you can do these exercises for longer and longer periods of time. You should feel more energized while writing. Utilize your times of writer’s block for you and your health.