You Can Get A Good Ab Workout In Without Even Leaving Your Desk

Unless you're a surgeon, construction worker, or personal trainer, chances are you spend a lot of your time during the day sitting down. You sit down to have your coffee in the morning, you stay perched for breakfast, you take a seat on the commute to work, and then you do some more sitting at work. While leading a sedentary lifestyle comes with its own health risks, it could also mean that you have less time to dedicate to exercise. With the average office worker sitting for 15 hours a day, it's no wonder so many end up with muscle aches and other issues.

Very few of us pay attention to posture when it comes to sitting at our desks, especially when we're focused on what's on the screen in front of us instead of how we've positioned our elbows on a table. This often results in the all too familiar neck strain, lower back discomfort, and hip pain.

However, did you know that you can be doing both — getting in a workout and focusing on proper posture — by doing ab workouts while sitting at your desk? Who said ab workouts are reserved for the gym or the floor? Whether you're working out of an office or at home, it's completely possible to get in a good core workout without weights and without even leaving your desk. 

Leg pull-ins are a great exercise you can do without leaving your desk, and they involve working your glutes and hips in addition to your core. Begin by sitting down and gripping the sides of your chair with your hands, then stretch your legs out before you. Lean back a little, engage your core, and bring your knees up to you as you bring your upper body in towards your knees. Hold for a few seconds before going back to the position in which you started. You can do about 20 reps of these, and since leg pull-ins are known to help with posture, you're sure to see a difference.

Another very simple workout you can do at your desk is called vacuuming. No one will even notice you're doing this, it's that subtle If you find yourself zoning out of boring meetings at work, just sit up straight and tighten your stomach muscles as you draw your belly button toward your spine. Hold this pose for about a minute, release for a few seconds, before doing it again. 

If you don't have time for crunches on the floor (or you secretly despise them), you'll be happy to know that you can do them while sitting at your desk too. Scoot over to the edge of your chair and extend your legs a little before you. Lean back and engage your lower abdominal muscles as you crunch forward. Then, sit up straight again. Repeat.

Side bends are a good workout to work the sides of your stomach, also known as the obliques. Sit up straight in your chair with your shoulders and hips squarely facing the front and your feet on the ground. Now, imagine you're reaching to your right with your fingers to pick up something you've dropped on the floor. Tighten your core as you stretch down and come back up. Do a few reps on the right and repeat on the left side as well. 

Another ab workout that can work on the sides of your stomach is sitting waist twists. Again, start with a nice and straight sitting position on your chair. Pull your belly button in and tighten your stomach. While making sure your legs remain facing forward, rotate from side to side using your waist. You can do around five reps on both sides.

Making an ab workout much more effective has a lot to do with mind-to-muscle connection and engaging your core while you perform the movements. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be leaving your desk to see results.