7 Best Lunchtime Workouts to Help You Stay Fit

Lunchtime workouts are a great option for those days when you cannot get yourself out of bed to work out. Due to stressful desk jobs and sedentary lifestyles, fitness is often neglected - for lack of time, motivatio, or both.

However, it's still important that you move your body and perform simple exercises, even if just to stretch your muscles and relieve tension. A few simple workouts can be performed anywhere and any time, without any equipment. They can help your body relax and release pent-up tension in your muscles from sitting too long.

Working out during your lunchtime can also make you more energetic, prevent you from falling asleep after lunch and burn calories (if you're looking to shed a few pounds).

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Best Lunchtime Workouts to Help You Stay Fit

Try these seven lunchtime workouts to help you stay fit and counteract those long hours of sitting.

1) Touch your Toes

This is one of the best, low-impact lunchtime workouts you can do. It improves flexibility in your hamstrings, calves and lower back and also strengthens your abdominal muscles. It's a great exercise to relieve your muscles if you have been sitting for a long time.

Here's how you do it:

• Stand upright with a straight spine, relaxed shoulders and feet shoulder-width apart.
• With a deep inhale, stretch your hands out towards the ceiling.
• Exhaling, bring your hands down to meet the tips of your toes or touch the floor. Make sure to bend at your waist, and bend your knees slightly if you are unable to reach the floor.
• Hold the position for a brief moment before returning to the starting position and repeating.

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2) Chair Dips

Chair dips are a great lunchtime workout for your triceps and are often considered the best exercise to work out these muscles. Use a static, sturdy chair that will be able to support your weight and will not move or break.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

• Seat yourself on a chair, with your arms at your sides and your feet flat on the floor and hip distance apart.
• Place your hands with the palms facing down next to your hips. Your fingers should grip the seat's front edge.
• Move your torso forward off the chair while extending your arms. Your buttocks should rest lightly on the floor, and your knees should be bent slightly. A few inches in front of your knees, your heels should touch the ground.
• Inhale as you lower your body slowly, bending your elbows till they formsa 90-degree angle.
• Exhale as you push up to the starting position with fully extended arms.

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3) Side Lunges

Side lunges develop your balance, stability and strength while working out your inner and outer thighs. They also train your body to move from side-to-side.

Here's how you can perform this lunchtime workout to stay fit:

• Start by standing with your feet wider than your hips.
• Take a step with your left leg out to the side. Each toe should point in the same direction, and your feet should be flat on the ground.
• While taking an outward step, bend your left knee, and keep your hips back. It should feel as though you are trying to sit with only one side of your lower body.
• To return to the starting position, release the position by pushing off your left foot.
• Perform one set of side lunges on the left leg before switching to the right.

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4) Bodyweight Squats

Bodyweight squats are one of the easiest exercises you can perform just about anywhere. Squats work out your glutes, quads, hamstrings, adductors, hip flexor and calves. They are one of the best lower body exercises you can do.

Here's how you can perform this easy lunchtime workout:

• Begin by standing with your feet slightly further apart than hip-width apart.
• As you push your hips back into a sitting position, keep your chest up; engage your abdominals, and shift your weight to your heels.
• Reduce your hips till your thighs are parallel or nearly parallel to the floor.
• The squat should be felt in the thighs and glutes.
• Your knees should not extend past your toes.
• Exhale, and return to the starting position by pushing upwards.

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5) Jumping Jacks

Jumping jacks are an easy lunchtime workout that can help you burn calories and strengthen your glutes, quadriceps and hip flexors. They also work out your abdominal and shoulder muscles.

Proceed as follows to do them:

• Begin by standing with your arms at your sides and your legs straight.
• Jump up and spread your feet wider than hip-width apart while nearly touching your arms above your head.
• Jump with your arms lowered and your legs together. Return to the initial position.

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6) Lunges

Lunges strengthen your abdominal and back muscles, glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. It's a great exercise for those who sit for long hours, as it helps strengthen the lower body.

Here's how you can do this lunchtime workout:

• Start off in a standing position, keeping your feet hip-width apart.
• Longer than a normal walking stride, step forward so that one leg is in front of the torso and the other is behind. Your foot should land and remain on the ground flat. Your heel will be lifted off the ground.
• As you descend, bend your knees to approximately 90 degrees. Remember to maintain proper posture and core engagement.
• Return to the starting position by launching with force from your front leg.

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7) Walking or Stair-Climbing

Walking and stair climbing are easy exercises that are accessible to you almost everywhere.

These exercises can relieve your muscles from prolonged sitting hours, and help release pent-up tension and stress. Moving can also make you feel good and improve your mood. Both exercises are especially good for a lunchtime workout if you don't feel like performing any other exercise.