If you don't have time to get to the gym and are tied to your desk all day, use the resources around you to do a bit of strength training. A study to determine how yoga rated as a fitness program conducted by researchers from the University of California at Davis, found that the test subjects' muscle strength increased by 31 percent after two months. Yoga is just one of many exercises that use your own body weight as resistance to build muscle. Body weight exercises for the office take just a few minutes and can be performed throughout the day.
Chair Lift
If you're tethered to your chair all day, then use it to assist you with a body weight exercise that will strengthen your shoulders and chest muscles. Bring your thighs together. Grip the arms of your chair and lift yourself off the chair a few inches. Hover above the chair for a couple of seconds and then lower back down not quite touching the seat -- repeat 15 times.
Magic Carpet Ride
Enlist your chair again for a body weight exercise to work your core and arms. Slip off your shoes if you are able and sit cross-legged on your chair. Tuck yourself in as tight as you can. Put your hands on the arms of the chair and contract your abdominal muscles. Pushing down with your hands, lift a few inches off the chair and hold for 10 to 20 seconds. Lower back down and rest for half a minute and then repeat the sequence five more times.
Chair Pose
This body weight exercise for the office is one that you can do throughout the day. Borrowed from yoga, the Chair pose uses the angle of your legs and your upper body weight to make this static exercise a must. Stand up from your desk chair and move it back about 12 inches. Place your feet together or hip-width apart. Bend your knees and start sitting back as if you were going sit in your chair. When your upper thighs are parallel with the floor, raise your arms toward the ceiling. Hold Chair pose for 30 seconds to one minute.
Desk Pushups
Test your desk to see if it will bear your weight. If it seems too flimsy, slip into one of your workplace conference rooms and use the conference table for a series of desk pushups. Place the heels of your hands against the edge of the desk or table shoulder-width apart. Keeping your hands against the desk, straighten your arms and take a few large steps back with your feet. Bend your elbows and bring your chest close to the desk and then straighten your arms. Do 15 reps.
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