Never Be a Sedentary Fitness Buff

You ever heard of a sedentary fitness buff? You may be one. It's someone who regularly workouts but then becomes sedentary after. Yes, you probably workout 45 minutes or even an hour a day, but then after that you do nothing all day but sit at your desk doing paper or computer works. Fitness experts say, that's a big no-no.

Aside from your regular workouts, you need to keep active the rest of the day. Nope, you don't jog or lift weights all day. What I mean is, you need to get out of your seat or office and do some walking or stair climbing now and then. If you need to stay in your office, at least get up and walk around or jog-in-place periodically. What I do is isometrics with my bare hands.

Blood should circulate well all the time, not just during workouts. If you remain stationary 60 percent of your waking time, that means your blood doesn't have enough good circulation more than 60 percent of the day. You need to move now and then. Try sitting actively. Do some arm and back stretches now and then while sitting. Or press your palms against each other as you stretch your arms in various directions.

I stand up now and then to do squats and sometimes pull together chairs and do 10 to 15 push-ups on them. Jogging-in-place for 1 or 2 minutes every 2 to 3 hours is also ideal. The idea is to move around to get your blood circulating well and your heart and lungs a bit stirred up. That's good fat burning as well.

And talking of fat burning, it will be a good idea to live an active life at least 8 hours a day, not just during your workout. Minimize asking people to do things for you, like getting you a glass of water to drink, getting files from the steel cabinet, or taking a short trip to the canteen to see what's for lunch--things like that. You can also start using the stairs more than the elevator.