Get up, stand up: how simple new workouts can fix your desk-bound body

With new exercise classes focused on fixing your desk-bound body the ‘workout’ has taken on a whole new meaning, says Phoebe Luckhurst
Take a stand: the fitness industry is formulating workouts that emphasise the importance of the simple movements (Picture: Getty)

It’s been a long day sitting at your desk submitting to the inactive routine of the daily grind. Now — finally — you’re curled up in the coveted corner seat on the Tube or reclining selfishly across the double-fronters on the number 38 (move your bag, you toerag) or perched in the kitchen with your legs twisted around the chair.

Are you sitting comfortably? Get up then — you’re doing yourself real harm. A study released by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) this week states that 77 per cent of the 2,006 people it surveyed have experienced back or neck pain at some point, and nearly a quarter of those who responded say they suffer on a regular basis. The Office for National Statistics says 35 million working days are lost every year due to neck- and back-related problems. And — since good news comes in threes — a study from Bristol University shows that 80 per cent of the population are failing to hit government fitness targets.

Sedentary lifestyles are to blame. Londoners work some of the longest hours in Europe and until treadmill desks hit the mainstream (watch this space. For a long time), those hours are likely done while sitting at a desk in an old office chair that regularly plummets floorwards unexpectedly.

If you can’t change the game, change the rules. The fitness industry is formulating workouts that emphasise the importance of the simple movements that have largely disappeared from everyday life.

Leading the pack is Virgin Active. Early next year it is launching a targeted programme that focuses on the “six fundamentals” required to “unlock your freedom of movement”: pull, push, bend, twist, lunge and squat. Translated, this means that the gym is launching four new workouts: Grid Fit, Grid Lean, Grid Active and Grid Strong (virginactive.co.uk). Each workout is done on a grid employing equipment including free weights, Bulgarian bags, rowing machines and bikes. In each workout, activities and equipment build around one of the six fundamentals. Grid Fit is a cardio class; Grid Lean is a Tabata-style workout that burns calories fast; Grid Strong is a high-intensity circuit to build strength and resistance; Grid Active is an obstacle course.

Virgin is also emphasising the importance of incorporating recovery into your workout by using foam rollers at the end of sessions in order to aerate the muscles, speeding the recovery of the proteins.

Frame, the hipster fitness chapel whose tagline is — fittingly — “Move Your Frame!”, runs Dynamic Stretch (moveyourframe.com) — the hour-long class kicks off with a sequence of stretches to warm yourself up before homing in on specific muscle groups with targeted, isolated stretches. It’s billed as “perfect for those who have tight muscles but aren’t into yoga”; it promises a supple, lithe body. Frame also runs Rebounding: a cardio class on a trampoline — meaning you get the benefit of a cardio workout like running, without the punishing impact on the legs. It also kick-starts lymphatic drainage, in order to battle the quiver of cellulite — which is also thought to be made worse by sitting with our legs plaited around a chair all day.

And then there’s Psycle (psyclelondon.com), the spin workout that has seduced Soho fashionistas. It’s a high-intensity but low-impact workout: you work an exercise bike while wielding light hand weights, engaging muscles all over the body (particularly focusing on the core). The simultaneous movement of legs and arms stretches out hunched silhouettes.

Get out of your seat: it’s your move.

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