Easy Chair Exercises You Can Do in the Office for Weight Loss

Burning fat is not something that you need an intense workout regime for. Once you have the right information, there are chair exercises for weight loss that you can do in the comfort of your office.

If you're interested in learning more, you can have a look at some of the benefits below, as well as 15 exercises to get you started.

The Benefits of Chair Exercises for Weight Loss

Convenience

A lack of downtime often keeps people out of the gym, meaning that their resting calorie burn rate is much lower than it needs to be. Thanks to the free chair exercises for weight loss you're about to learn, it becomes possible to get in some activity at your convenience. Now, your busy schedule is no longer a hindrance.

Cardiovascular Health

The awesome part about learning 15 of the best chair exercises for weight loss is the extent to which you can improve your cardiovascular health. Once you stay consistent while tracking your active calories vs. total calories burned, you’ll notice both numbers progressively getting better.

This is to be expected as you're giving yourself a cardiovascular boost. Not only are you making your heart more efficient, but your body will also begin to use more energy, which translates to fat loss.

Accessibility

Not everyone will have the same fitness or mobility level. Many traditional exercises have physical requirements that are just too much for many people. There's no such concern when dealing with chair exercises for weight loss for beginners.

Regardless of what your age or experience level may be, it's possible to adapt many of these movements to your specific needs. Sure, not all of them will be comfortable for everyone, but you will certainly find a few that are ideal.

Variety

Unless you have a lot of gym equipment to work with, you'll find yourself confined to a certain set of movements. However, that doesn't need to be the case when you're getting in some activity at the office.

Sure, there are yoga chair exercises for weight loss, but there are also seated workouts that feel more akin to standard cardio or resistance training. There’s nothing like being able to add some variety to your routine.

The best part is you don't need a lot to get started. Grab your ergonomic chair, and you're good to go!

Low-impact Movements

Remember the conversation about many traditional chair workouts for weight loss having high physical requirements? Take the barbell squat, for example. Should you have any kind of lower back problems or issues with your knees, you will find the movement painful to get through at best, and impossible to do at worst.

With time, joints become worn. That wear and tear happens even faster for those who may have certain injuries. If you don't have completely healthy joints, then low-impact activities should be on your agenda. Such movements are known to induce as little strain as possible.

After all, the last thing you want is to cause inflammation or aggravate your injuries. The next section focuses almost exclusively on chair exercises for belly fat reduction that fall under the low-impact category.

15 Chair Exercises for Weight Loss

Now it's time to move away from your standing desk. Grab whatever you sit on, even if it is a cross-legged office chair. Note that the point isn't to do all 15 of these workouts every day. Instead, focus on about three or four in any single session.

1. Chair Marches

Sit as straight up as you can on your chair, ensuring that your feet are firmly planted on the floor. This is your starting position. To begin the movement, lift your right knee toward your chest, then lower it slowly.

As you lower your right leg back to where you started, bring the left one up to your chest. You're now going to repeat the cycle of lowering one leg and bringing the other up.

If this feels too easy, feel free to add arm swinging to the motion. Start by doing these for one or two minutes at a time, and then work your way up to longer durations.

2. Incline Mountain Climbers

Note that you'll need to be able to hold your weight up, as this is not one of the seated leg exercises on the list. Start by getting into a plank position and resting your palms on the chair seat about shoulder-width apart.

Keep your core engaged, your back flat, and your head in alignment with your torso to get into your starting position. Quickly pull your left knee as close to your chest as you can. As you return it to the ground, bring the right one up. Doing both sides counts as a single rep.

Continue the alternating movement, ensuring to keep your hips down. Get in at least 10 reps, though you want to aim for 30 over time.

3. Torso Twists

This has the same beginning position as the chair marches with your back straight and your feet flat as you sit. Next, put your hands on your hips. From here, you're going to slowly twist your torso to the left, after which you will do so to the right.

Do not try to rush the exercise. Ensure that you go as far as your body will allow in either direction.

As you're doing the movement, try your hardest to maintain the position of your feet, which should be straight ahead of you. Getting the best out of this requires that only the torso moves.

The aim here is to work on your obliques, so you can improve your overall core strength. You're going to want to repeat the motion for one to two minutes at a time.

4. Seated Oblique Crunch

Instead of sitting normally, you want to be at the edge of your chair, keeping your spine as straight and tall as possible. As always, ensure that your feet are planted firmly on the ground, but this time, you want them to be shoulder-width apart.

Put your hands behind your head, and if done right, your elbows should be pointed out to the sides. Now, you're in the starting position.

Shift your weight onto your right leg, and crunch to the left side. As you're doing this, bring the left leg up to its corresponding elbow. From here, lower your left leg to the ground. Switch sides, repeating the same motion. Both sides column as one rep, and you want to get in about 15, working your way up to 30 over time.

5. Seated Boxing

This is exactly what it sounds like. Boxing is known to be one of the more effective types of cardio, so doing a seated version is a great idea. Of course, the intensity is not going to be as high here, but the workout happens to be very helpful.

Ensure you're sitting up straight, with your feet firmly planted for stability. From here, make fists with both hands holding them in front of your chest. Punch straight ahead with whichever arm feels natural. Pull it back while punching with the other arm.

Try to keep this up for one or two minutes. You'll notice over time that you're building muscular endurance here, alongside getting your heart rate up. If it starts to feel too easy, feel free to lengthen the exercise.

6. Seated Lean Backs

You're again going to be sitting on the edge of the chair for this one with your feet flat on the ground. This time, though, they're going to be just about hip-width apart. Now, cross your arms across your chest, ensuring that your palms are touching your shoulders.

Focus on learning your upper back towards your chair's backrest. It's very important that your spinal alignment doesn't change throughout the whole thing. The aim is to touch the backrest or to get as far back as you possibly can. Once you do either, return to your starting position to complete the rep.

When you just start doing this, try to get in 15 reps, but you want to work your way up to 30. Note that you should be doing this one slowly. Try to feel the muscles working as they resist gravity.

7. Leg Extensions

Begin by sitting with your back firmly against your chair’s backrest. Your feet should be touching the floor. Extend your right leg until it is straight out. Lower it down, then extend the other leg. Repeat this movement on both sides for about a minute or two.

Note that if it feels more comfortable to extend both legs at the same time, you may do so. Feel free to plant your arms on the armrests for stability.

If you have knee pain, focus on contracting your quad muscles to get your leg to extend, as opposed to kicking your feet out.

8. Seated Alternating Toe Touches

You want to start by sitting with a straight and tall spine. Your feet should be flat on the ground and slightly shoulder-width apart. Now, raise both arms above your head with your fingers pointed to the sky. You are in the starting position.

Lower the right hand down while bringing your left foot up to meet it halfway. As you tap the inside of the left foot, both limbs should be straight ahead of you. Return to the starting position, and repeat the same motion on the other side.

Doing both sides counts as a single rep, and the goal is to get through 10 of them.

9. High Knees

You're going to be sitting at the edge of your chair for this one, but you want to stabilize yourself as much as possible by planting your feet firmly on the floor. Keep your back straight, hold the sides of the chair for balance, and lift your left knee towards your chest.

The aim is to go into a marching motion, so as you bring your leg back down, the right knee should be coming up. Try to do this for one or two minutes consistently.

10. Seated Cross Body Kick Punches

Apart from doing longer rounds, switching to this exercise is another way to make the standard boxing movement more intense. Sit with a straight spine, ensuring that you're away from the chair’s backrest.

Punch with your left arm. As you're doing that, you want to simultaneously kick your right leg forward. Don't forget to flex through your heel as you do so. Drop the leg, pulling the arm back from the elbow. Quickly do the other side to complete the first rep. Try to get in 10 to 15 of these.

11. Seated Jumping Jacks

Sit comfortably in your chair with your back straight, holding on to your armrests for additional stability. Extend your legs to the side and raise your arms overhead. Return to the starting position, and continue to repeat this motion for about two minutes.

12. Seated Skater

Start by sitting on the edge of your chair. Your feet should be slightly shoulder-width apart and flat on the ground. Keep your left foot planted, and extend your right leg straight to the side, keeping your toes pointed straight ahead. As you're doing this, extend your arms straight. You want to reach your right arm down to the inside of the left foot.

Your other arm should naturally end up behind your body, and your torso should twist. Quickly switch to the other side to complete your first of 15 reps.

13. Shoulder Shrugs

Keep your back straight with your feet firmly planted on the floor. Raise your shoulders towards your ears as if you're saying, “I don’t know.” Keep them there for a few seconds, after which you can relax. Continue to do this for about two minutes.

14. Chair Leg Lift

Stand behind your chair, holding on to it with one or both hands for stability. Your feet should be hip-width apart. Extend the left leg as far as you can behind you without either letting your hips tilt forward or letting your back arch. Try to squeeze the left glute at the top.

Hold it for two seconds, then return your leg to the floor to complete the first rep. The aim is to get 10 on one side, after which you will switch to the other leg and do 10 more.

15. Incline Push-up

Place your hands on the seat of your chair about shoulder-width apart. Get into a plank position. Engage your core, keep your head aligned straight ahead, and bend your elbows to bring your body down. Stop when the elbows get to about 90 degrees and push yourself back up to the starting position. This is a single rep, and you want to get in about 10.

Are You Ready to Get Active?

As you can see, you don't need to worry about having a ton of desk exercise equipment. None of the recommended movements require much more than your chair. Now, are you ready to get going?