Far from being an easy alternative, chair workouts can improve your upper and lower body strength, work your core, and increase your flexibility, all while sitting down.
Whether you have mobility issues and need an alternative, or you’re looking for a quick ab workout that you can do at your desk (just make sure you turn your camera off), this 10-minute chair workout strengthens your core and burns calories.
The workout, designed by trainer Lucy Wyndham-Read, promises to burn belly fat while sitting down. As a reminder, you can’t spot-reduce fat in your body — if you’re looking to target belly fat, you’ll need to focus on your diet, cardio levels, and overall fitness, rather than focusing on ab workouts alone.
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What is the workout?
The workout is 10 minutes long, and focuses on a quick warm-up, before moving onto the circuit of five exercises, that you’ll repeat twice. You’ll do each exercise for 45 seconds with a 15-second rest between. As always, if you need a longer rest you can press pause and catch your breath.
You can follow Wyndham-Read in real-time to ensure you’re moving with good form, she gives you useful pointers along the way to help you get the most out of the workout. As with all ab workouts, think about engaging your core, sucking your belly button into your spine. Move dynamically and complete as many reps as possible to get the most out of this workout.
The nature of this seated ab workout makes it suitable for most people, however, if you’re returning to exercise following an injury or pregnancy, it’s always a good idea to check with a physio before taking on a new exercise routine.
Here are the exercises involved:
- Cardio core punches
- Seated ab crunches
- Seated cardio taps
- Seated skipping arm and knee lifts
- Seated cardio abs
I tried the 10-minute chair workout — here’s what happened
To find out more, I pushed my best office chair back from my desk and gave the workout a go. Here’s what happened:
It was harder than expected
I’ll admit, I assumed any exercise that could be done sitting down probably wouldn’t be all that challenging. I was completely mistaken — this workout got my heart rate up and worked my core harder than I was expecting.
I found my upper body got a workout too — for the swimming arms during the cardio taps I felt my arm and back muscles engage, even though I was just using my body weight.
As a fitness editor, I’ll often recommend lifting the best adjustable dumbbells or heading out for a run, but this reminded me that sometimes, simple bodyweight workouts can be just as effective.
Plus, if you’re unable to get any other movement into your day, chair workouts are a fantastic way to get your heart rate up between meetings.
The chair wasn’t quite right
Working at Tom’s Guide means we know exactly what to look for when it comes to finding the best office chair, with a decent amount of lumbar support, that makes sitting down for hours a day more comfortable.
The problem is, my office chair wasn’t quite right for this workout. The arms, for example, really got in the way of the seated skipping arm and knee lifts, and the wheels on my chair meant I was a little more unstable than I’d have liked during the punches section.
While I’d definitely recommend my colleague’s choices when you’re choosing an office chair, if you’re looking to do this workout at home, you’re probably better off using a chair from your dining table, or a stool like Wyndham-Read.
I’d recommend this workout to a friend
As a general rule, I won’t recommend a workout I wouldn’t send to a friend. This one gets my stamp of approval — I was able to do it from my desk between meetings, and I really felt my core and shoulders had worked afterward.
I didn’t get the deep, inner-core shake I’d get after a Pilates session, but I didn’t expect to, and was impressed with the results of this workout, considering I’d done the entire thing sitting down.
Of course, I didn’t notice any difference in my core after just one workout. Sculpting visible abs is the result of a low body fat percentage, not just crunches and planks, but I’m always looking to add more movement to my day, and this workout is one I’ll repeat.