Office Chair Exercise

Office chair exercise is a fitness method that utilizes an office chair for workouts, suitable for sedentary scenarios such as offices and homes. It helps relieve fatigue and includes various exercise types and versions.

Specific Exercise Movements

1. Full-Body Activation Training
   • Bulgarian Split Squat: Take a large step forward with your left leg to support yourself on the ground, with your knee and toes pointing straight ahead. Place the front side of your right foot on the chair. Inhale as you squat down to the maximum extent, then exhale as you use your left glute and thigh muscles to rise back up. Keep your core engaged throughout and maintain a straight back. Repeat by switching directions.
   • Incline Push-Ups: Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the seat. Inhale as you bend your elbows and lower your body, then exhale as you use your pectoral muscles to push your body back up. Keep your body in a plank position throughout, with your shoulders pulled back and down.
   • Bodyweight Squats: Face away from the chair with your legs shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly turned outward. Inhale as you sit back onto your hips and lightly touch the chair, keeping your knees in line with your toes throughout.
   • Seated Lat Pulldowns: Raise your arms overhead. Exhale as you use your latissimus dorsi muscles to pull your shoulders back and down, bringing your elbows down to the lowest point behind your body. Pause briefly.
   • Tricep Dips: Support yourself behind your body with your arms, keeping your palms and elbows shoulder-width apart. Exhale as you use the tricep muscles on the back of your upper arms to push up, keeping your elbows close together without flaring them out. Avoid shrugging your shoulders.
   • Incline Plank: Place your palms directly below your shoulders, with your shoulders, hips, and ankles in a straight line. Engage your core abdominal muscles and avoid arching your back or over-arching your hips.
   • Plank Shoulder Taps: Maintain the incline plank position and tap your shoulders alternately with your hands. When your hands leave the support surface, try to keep your hips from twisting.
2. Chair Exercises: Include neck stretches, trunk rotations, Russian twists with object passing, and other movement types involving stretching and twisting exercises. Some movements require holding static poses and repeating a specific number of times.
3. Abdominal Training: Movements such as opposite elbow-to-knee touches, under-leg claps, side crunches, hand-supported crunches, and leg raises. Pay attention to avoiding arching your back during practice.

Different Versions

There are various versions of chair exercises. In 2020, a team led by Professor Huang Kuanrou from South China Normal University created a home workout version for the pandemic period, including acupressure and jumping activities. In 2021, a team of teachers and students led by Huang Kaiqi introduced a version with 18 standard movements, using a chair and a water cup as aids. In 2023, the Shanghai Popular Science Network incorporated it into the elderly home training system, designing six safe movements such as toe raises and hip abductions. In 2024, the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau promoted this exercise through the "Scientific Fitness Weekly Practice" program as a workout option for middle-aged and elderly people and those with limited mobility.