Image
NursePower - Stock image - Strong Nurse
NursePower Empowers Nurses

Energizing, Nurse-Friendly Exercises You Can Do at Work: Part 1

Time is something none of us have enough of, right? 

As nurses, mothers, daughters, spouses, and friends, we rarely have enough time to take care of ourselves. But when we neglect our physical and mental health we not only put ourselves at risk, we put those we care for at risk.

Fortunately, we already get a bit of a workout while at work — one 12-hour shift usually results in 10,000 steps, easily. And we can add a few simple exercises to our work day that will build our muscles, boost our energy, and keep our brains alert.

Adding muscle-building exercises to our daily routine is not only easy, it is essential if we want to avoid the body aches and pains that ruin sleep and make us miserable. Stronger muscles make us feel better and they protect us from any number of potential injuries.

Now we all know what we should be doing. We are nurses, after all. It’s not like we don’t all know that exercise is good for us. The problem is that we are so busy ALL...THE...TIME...that we don’t fit those exercises in. 

Since NursePower Empowers Nurses! is all about giving you the tools, tips, and techniques you need to take better care of yourself, we’ve created a 3-part series of energizing, nurse-friendly exercises you can do while at work in the small moments you have.

What small moments? 

Think “standing at your desk” small, or “waiting for the microwave to ding” small, or “walking down the hallway” small.

The point is that we all have tiny moments — and I know we’re usually tired already or preoccupied in those moments — but they are moments we can take control of and commit to doing something with them that will make us feel better

Don’t we all want to feel better?

 

Okay, one more thought about these exercises: you may feel silly doing them. 

 

I know, I know, nursing is a dignified profession and doing walking lunges down the hallway may not seem particularly dignified. But listen, we could all use a laugh, too. If you get some exercises in and put a smile on someone’s face then you’ve done two great things at once.

Plus, we know the second you start doing these exercises at work, someone else will start doing them too. And wouldn’t that be a sight to see half a dozen nurses walk-lunging down the hallway?

In Part 1 of our Energizing, Nurse-Friendly Exercises, we’re going to focus on our legs...since we’re usually standing on them all day!

 

Nurse-Friendly Exercise #1: Walking Lunges

Image
NursePower - Stock image - Exercise - Lunges

Take elongated steps, trying to bend your front knee to a 90 degree angle. Don’t worry if you’re not at 90 degrees yet — you’ll get there. Make sure your knee stays over your ankle and doesn’t go beyond your toe as that will put undo stress on your joint. 

When you take your walking lunge, you can either keep your back leg straight or if you’re feeling really strong, you can bend the back knee almost to the ground. Given how hard hospital floors usually are, I prefer the straight leg technique so I don’t risk banging my knee-caps off the cement-tile. Rise up and step with the opposite leg. Do as many as you can between rooms or on your way to the cafeteria.

You can keep your arms down by your hips, straight up above your head, or out to the sides depending on your balance (and how silly you’re willing to look!)

As an alternative to walking-lunges (if you want to be more discrete), you can do reverse lunges. In a reverse lunge, you stay in place and instead of stepping forward you step backwards. Step backward with your left leg, keeping it straight, while your right knee bends to 90 degrees. Stand up and repeat with the other leg.

 

Nurse-Friendly Exercise #2: Squats

Image
NursePower - Stock image - Exercise - squats

No, I don’t hate you! We all dread squats but they are soooo good for you. I promise that if you just start doing them in small moments during the day that you’ll get stronger, your joints will feel better, and you’ll be less tired.

There are several variations for squats but the important thing to remember is that your goal is to work your muscles, not hurt yourself so be cautious in how deep you go into your squat. If you can bend your knees and touch the floor, awesome. If you can only bend your knees slightly, that’s awesome too. Work the muscles, don’t hurt the knees.

Feet Parallel Version: With your feet parallel and shoulder-width apart, bend your knees and lower your butt. Focus on lowering your butt and keeping your knees above your ankles instead of tracking out over your toes. Try to keep your back straight and not hunched over.

Feet Pointing Out Version: With your feet wider than shoulder-width and your toes pointing out at 45 degree angles, bend your knees and lower your butt. Focus on keeping your knees wide and not letting them crumble inwards. As always with knee-bending exercises, keep your knees above your ankles and not out over your toes. Keep your back straight and not hunched over.

Holding On Version: This is all about giving yourself some support and balance. While you squat, you can hold on to a chair, desk, or wall rail to help you. 

If you’re not holding on to something, you can raise your arms above your head for an extra challenge. Or, if you’re like me, you can just keep your hands in prayer position...as in, please Lord, make me stronger faster!

 

Nurse-Friendly Exercise #3: Calf Raises

Image
NursePower - Stock image - Exercise - calf raises

Calf raises are my go-to exercise whenever I am standing still. It is easy to bang out 10 or 20 quick calf raises while waiting for the elevator or waiting for a print out. 

I like to vary my foot position with my calf raises to work different parts of the muscle.

Foot position #1: Feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. This is the classic position.

Foot position #2: Feet pointed out at 45 degree angle and shoulder-width apart. If you took ballet, this position may feel a little more familiar to you.

Foot position #3: Feet pointed in (pigeon-toed) and shoulder-width apart. This is the most awkward feeling position and your feet are going to fight to correct themselves so you have to focus on keeping the toes in the heels out.

As with all calf raises, the goal is to lift yourself up onto the balls of your feet or toes, depending on your calf strength and ankle flexibility.

 

NursePower Empowers Nurses!

Hey, we all know how strong nurses are...Look at everything we do everyday and look at how we’ve survived the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

We know we’re strong.

But we have to protect our bodies from the physical and mental stress that comes along with the job. Adding simple, easy-to-do exercises into our daily routine will help us stay fit, boost us with energizing endorphins, and make us feel better.

In Part 2 of our Energizing, Nurse-Friendly Exercises we’ll focus on arms and shoulders. Be on the lookout!

Share this post:

Leave a Reply

Restricted HTML

Allowed Text Inputs
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.