With most modern Americans employed in a field that has them sitting at a desk and working a 9-5 schedule that leaves little free time, it’s no wonder that gym memberships are becoming a thing of the past. Luckily, there are sneaky ways that 9-5 workers can get a bit more exercise throughout the day.

Take the stairs.

Simple and easy to do, yet this is the first thing that gets forgotten about or ignored.  If your workplace or school has a set of stairs, take them! Taking the stairs at least once a day doesn’t seem like it will do much- which is true to an extent, as taking the stairs won’t burn a ton of calories. However, studies show that small amounts of exercise throughout the day increases the body’s levels of GLUT4, which is responsible for the storing of calories in muscles instead of in fat cells.

Stand up.

Taking an important phone call on your lunch break? Instead of sitting down to chat, stand up and, if you can, walk. Take a walk to the other side of the room or go around your desk a few times. If you don’t have enough room to walk, simply standing will benefit your body more than sitting. Standing burns more calories than sitting and it also helps to keep your muscles from getting stiff.

Have conversations.

That’s right- talk to your coworkers! But do it by walking over to them instead of calling, emailing, or texting. Although this won’t burn off that extra cookie you had for lunch, it aids in muscle health and get your body moving.

Skip the coffee.

No, we don’t mean that you shouldn’t have your morning coffee. We mean that a great way to sneak in some exercise is to skip the sit-down cup of coffee with your best friend, and instead, convince him or her to go for a walk and have a chat instead.

Fidget.

Sitting down all day? No problem. You can keep your body active by moving. Fidget with things in your vicinity, bounce your leg up and down, shift your body weight, roll your neck…anything you can think of that moves a part of your body can be classified as fidgeting. Over the course of a day, an avid fidgeter can burn a few hundred calories. Not to mention that your body will thank you, as all parts of the body will get adequate amounts of blood and no extremities will fall asleep.

Ditch the office chair.

Sit on the floor…just kidding. You don’t have to sit on the floor to get a workout, but if you switch out your office chair for an exercise or stability ball, you’ll be working out all day. The point of stability balls are to get the user to use his or her body to balance, building muscles. Stability balls are way more fun than office chairs as well, as frequent users often find themselves bouncing.