5 Ab Exercises You Can Do At Work

Office work often resembles Sir Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion: An object at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Though her work as a columnist requires her to spend hours at the computer, Yeager employs a number of subtle exercises to keep her muscles, and particularly her abdominals, engaged. "We need those little bursts of activity (throughout the day)," she said [source: Yeager].

One of Yeager's favorite office exercises is the core leg lift, which works the deep abdominal muscles, the quadriceps and the hip flexors. To try it:

Up next, we've got your suitcase … but you're staying at work.

April Bowling, a Level 1 certified coach with USA Triathlon and owner of TriLife Coaching, knows a strong core improves performance in all three disciplines of swimming, cycling and running, in addition to overall fitness. The chair suitcase, she says, targets all the main abdominal muscles except the obliques. You'll need to:

The sole caveat, she says, is to maintain good posture and keep your back straight, supporting your upper body on the arm rests.

"You never want to arch your back," Bowling said. "As soon as your back begins to arch, it means you need to take a break and rest" [source: Bowling].

According to Boston-based strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle, who has worked with athletes ranging from national collegiate champions to Hollywood celebrities, the key to safe abdominal exercises is minimizing flexion.

"Sit-ups and crunches are not something you should be doing," he said [source: Boyle]. "They're probably contributing to more back issues than helping."

Instead, Boyle recommends doing planks, which require holding a static position on your elbows:

To work your obliques, do a side plank. Start on your right side, on your right elbow, with your feet on the ground, holding steady, keeping the spine straight. Then switch to the left side.

Ready to ride your bike? Don't worry -- you're still not leaving your desk.

The late, great Jack LaLanne, who passed away in January 2011 at the age of 96, was the original television fitness guru, and he enjoyed simple exercises that got big results. "You've got 640 muscles," LaLanne said in a 2008 interview [source: LaLanne]. "They all need a share of work."

For LaLanne, core strength set the tone for the rest of the body. Though a tireless advocate of weight training and swimming, LaLanne also was a big believer in isometrics, or using the body's own weight to provide resistance. One of his favorite exercises was the seated bicycle pedal:

Variety, LaLanne said, was the key to making this, or any exercise, enjoyable. "Every 30 days, I do something different," he said. "So, for 30 days, I'll do everything real fast. The next 30 days, I'll do everything real slow."

According to Bowling, the most important element to doing the Seated Bicycle Pedal safely is to keep your back straight. "Tuck the tailbone to prevent arching," she said [source: Bowling].

Up next, it's the twist -- Russian-style.

To incorporate more of your office furniture, Bowling likes the desk Russian twist, which also targets all the major core muscle groups, but primarily the obliques.

You'll need to:

Proper technique, like most core exercises, is essential in the Russian Twist. If you can get to that 45-degree angle without arching your back, great. If not, don't. The moment your back begins to arch, you need to come forward to a point where you can hold that angle.

Want more than these five ways to work your abs? Keep reading for bonus coverage.

Both Yeager and Bowling are big fans of the physio balls, the soft, inflatable exercise balls (also known as therapy balls) that you can use to replace your desk chair for a portion of the day.

"When you're sitting on the physio ball, you're constantly having to compensate for the instability of the ball," Bowling said [source: Bowling]. "So all of your core muscles -- your lower back, your obliques, your rectus abdominis, your hip flexors, even up to your rhomboids and your lats -- everything is firing in order to keep you steady on the ball."

Yeager agrees. "You're not burning tons of calories (sitting on an exercise ball)," she said [source: Yeager]. "It's not some magical way to lose weight. But it definitely reminds you to move."

And that is vital, especially for anyone who sits at a desk all day. Need more resources to plan your office ab workout? There's lots more information on the next page.