Thanks to computers, video games, TV, and the internet (of course), more and more jobs are being done at a desk. This makes it hard to burn calories and keep fit while you’re working. You sit in the office all day and when you come home it’s to your computer or a TV. No wonder the US obesity rate is skyrocketing. But hold on a second. For those of us who work at a desk, are there things we can do at the office to help us get fit or stay fit without going to a gym and breaking a sweat? The answer is, of course, yes.

Here are three exercises for legs and those great buns of steel that you want but don’t think you’ll ever get with a desk job. Do these exercises on alternating days, and you will be giving your legs an exceptional workout.

Now let’s set some ground rules first.

Stand up.

There should be no slouching in the chair, leaning to one side or another in this office space.

You will also take the stairs whenever there is the option to, and no sitting on the escalators.

And of course, try and stand when you can. Standing burns calories because you need to use your muscles in order to stand. Sitting destroys them.

Now back to the exercises.

Glute Bridges

To perform this exercise, lay on the ground on your back. Place your feet flat on the ground around a foot away from your butt. Begin to raise your hips to create a straight line from your knees to the shoulders. The most effective way to do this exercise is to really concentrate on squeezing the glutes as tight as you can and imagining they are pushing your hips up; hold this top position for 2-5 seconds. This exercise can also be performed a number of ways to increase intensity, such as one leg at a time or on to a bench with weight placed on the hip flexors.

Raise and lower the hips in a bridging exercise. This is a great exercise to help people who just can’t feel the glutes working in other exercises. The bridge, which targets the hamstrings as well as the glutes, has been found to provide one of the highest readings of muscle activation in a study by the American Council on Exercise.

Squats

To perform a bodyweight squat with proper form, start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart. Put your arms out in front of you and then begin to lower your body by bending your knees and pushing your hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair. Try to lower yourself so that your thighs are parallel to the ground and your knees are directly over your feet. The lower back should remain slightly arched and your head should face forward. Now your bodyweight is loaded on your heels, so the key is to push from your heels when standing back up. A great way to perfect this is to practice in front of a mirror and concentrate on pushing from the heels and using the glutes to stand back up. This will make sure you are loading the glutes properly.

Squeeze your glutes and stand back up.

To make proper squats, doing them correctly is very important. Tabitha of BFT recommends her clients to work with a kitchen chair pushed against the wall for balance. Another way to work with good form is to practice doing a squat by pretending to sit, then getting back up without sitting on a chair.

Lunges

When you lunge, keep your knee in line with your ankle. Go low to recruit the glutes and avoid adding too much quad muscle. Static lunges are a great exercise because you can really go deep and get good glute activation if you have correct technique. Walking lunges are also excellent for the butt and great if you have tight hip flexors. The glute of the back leg is put under great stretch and has to contract hard to bring you back up, helping to increase range of motion in the hips.

The added benefit here is increased hip flexibility and for some, this alone increases the booty pop and makes the butt look perkier. Stance and also cause poor posture and low back pain from underdeveloped glute muscles in these individuals. In addition, the sitting phase of the pulse will give the quads a brief rest when they are fatiguing from the wall sit position, changing the focus to the quads which is something we want to avoid to keep this an effective butt exercise.

Exercise is crucial for physical and emotional wellness. Working from a desk job can be an obstacle to remaining in good condition since there are various temptations to avoid. Desk jobs are infamous for adding to a widening waistline and an increasing cellulite belly, however many of us people with sedentary jobs are mostly concerned with the effects on our lower body, particularly how to avoid saggy buttocks. This focus does not exclude the importance of overall body fitness and the great ideas presented on other parts of this site – maintaining tone and fitness in the entire body is crucial for an overall attractive and healthy appearance, and spot reducing fat or increasing definition in one part of the body is not possible, as much as we wish it was.

Unfortunately we just cannot choose where the fat is going to be taken from, or where the muscle will be the first to tone. But spot treating a problem area is feasible and potentially fixable. Rest assured that if you are someone with a desk job and have noticed a change for the worse in the shape or size of your buttocks, you are not imagining things. Muscle bulk decreases quickly without use, and low blood flow to the muscle and high fat in the surrounding areas can cause degradation in muscle quality and skin tone. This is not a life sentence however, since muscle strength and tone can be improved with targeted exercise, and many aspects of the desk job can be counteracted with a few habitual changes.

It’s my belief that fitness should not be a source of stress to oneself, and a habit should be both manageable and enjoyable. Therefore only exercises that can be done with minimal or no equipment, and are contractible under the constraints of bad weather or busy schedule, have been posted on this site. Once exercise becomes a chore the chance of quitting becomes high. The above 3 exercises alone can be a good start to maintaining lower body tone, and should in no way be felt as a complete routine. They are no nonsense, and will require little thought to remember, freeing mental resources for anyone super busy. Each has its own specific trait, so if one is particularly enjoyed or found beneficial, it may be later incorporated into an entire routine targeting all muscle groups.

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