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5 Strategies | How To Be Fit Where You Sit?

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How to be fit where you sit?

What if I tell you that I am bringing you some health as a token of respect for your hardships? 

We always hear,

Health is wealth!

But in our busy lives, we rarely make time for ourselves. It’s not that we don’t want to, but in the race of survival of the fittest, we fail to manage our lives in a healthy.

Here I am going to give you some tips to stay fit where you sit.

5 Strategies How To Be Fit Where You Sit

1. Hydration

Hydration is vital in physical jobs, but office jobs also hold a hydration standard. No matter what, your body requires 3-4 liter water consumption daily to regulate its physiological functions.

It keeps your mind and body active and makes you more productive. It does detoxification for you while you are doing your work.

 

2. Ambiance 

Keep your surroundings clean and fresh. A pleasant ambiance works as an anti-depressant. The positive vibrations from your space will keep you mentally healthy, and mental health is equally important to physical health, if not more. When is the last time you cleaned your truck or vehicle? Consider using essential oils like lavender, peppermint, or citrus oils to help keep your space smelling great. And watch your stress levels drop too.

 

3. Lumbar Support

Long sitting hours generally reward you with annoying back pain and muscle cramps. The reason for this unwanted gift is our slouching sitting posture. Using lumbar support can solve this problem efficiently. BackShield is an excellent ergonomic lumbar support that helps you straighten your back, correct your position, and relieve you from bothering pain. It is a portable device you can practically carry anywhere with great ease. Keeping yourself fit isn’t just about exercising. It’s also about how you support your body while you aren’t. 

Backshield - seat for truck drivers

 

4. Intermittent Breaks

Our bodies tend to get tired and stiff after a certain length of time while sitting. Sensing the tension, our body releases stress hormones called cortisol, which causes mental stress and hampers the body’s biochemical reactions.

Taking intermittent breaks keeps you fresh and energetic, saving a lot of trouble both physically and mentally. It can be tough to be stopping knowing your destination is on the horizon continually. But if you take a few minutes each morning to plan out where you will stop and when this will not only lighten the stress load mentally but help you plan your time accordingly. Worried about traffic and delays? What is your backup plan? Check out TruckerPath App to know where to stop and when!

 

5. Exercise

It’s so easy for your body to become tense, especially when you spend the majority of your time sitting as a truck driver. Most truck drivers’ fitness is focused on an exercise routine, and I’m here to tell you that it’s much simpler than that. It’s about small micro moves you can add to your day throughout your day, every day. 

You can do the following exercises to release any tension or stress in your body:

 

Neck 

Gently flex your neck in all directions (forward, backward, to the left, and the right side) whenever in half an hour.

Shoulders

Bend your arms to place your hands on each shoulder to look like wings. Simultaneously move one arm in a clockwise fashion and the other in a counter-clockwise manner. Make sure your elbows touch when they come forward to face each other. It will release the tension from your shoulders.

Another exercise you can do is shrugging your shoulders. Raise your shoulders towards your ears, then slowly roll them down.

Wrists

If you have a computer job or you clench a steering wheel all day as a trucker, your wrists tend to get stiff and painful. To avoid such circumstances, keep your arms steady and move your wrist ten times in both clockwise and anti-clockwise fashion. Truck driver fitness is about the little things, open one hand pull back each finger one at a time to stretch your joints, and open your hand from a closed-off fist.

Finger Stretches Mother Trucker Yoga Blog 

Eyes 

Working non-stop can easily affect your vision as the muscles of your eyes get tired doing the job their ass off. 

Make sure you blink your eyes more frequently.

Gently massage your eyes and do some vision exercises.

Abdominal Exercises

Long-term sitting leaves your core and back muscles underactive and out of order. This means when you go to use your body your core and back are vulnerable to injury. Do some abdominal and core muscle exercises like chair rollback (sit tall in the chair and gently lean your body back like you are in the reclining dentist chair and then come back up).

Legs 

Our legs tend to get numb with prolonged sitting and we can struggle with issues like sciatica and clutch leg when driving manual. To keep the circulation under regulation, do some light walking or stretching of legs. When you are in the driver’s seat regularly roll your ankles and think about marching in the driver’s seat by lifting and lowering your knees without leaning your body back to keep blood flow and circulation up to par.

Want the details on how to do these movements and exercises safely and effectively?

Check out our Mother Trucker Yoga Membership Site.

Easy 3-5 minute videos to get you the relief you need fast! Even while driving!

Mother Trucker yoga membership site

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How To Move More When You Sit All Day!

When you spend time at a desk or behind the wheel of a truck all day, it gets much harder for you to want to move and exercise. Sitting all day can be a pain in the back (literally), however, as the pressure on your backbone and bottom can cause pain in the legs and cause you to slump. Sitting for long periods of time can also lead to long-term health problems, including anxiety, depression, diabetes, and weight gain.

how to move more when you sit all day mother trucker yoga blog

When you increase your daily movement, you can reduce the risks of any of the issues that long-term sitting can cause. A sedentary lifestyle is actually pretty hard to maintain because your body wants to move. Perhaps on your down days, you can start bulking up at the gym – and you can learn all about that here. When it’s time to be at home again, you can start adding in some more movement. Increasing your daily movement may be tough at first, but with these strategies, you can start getting moving! Incorporating trucking fitness into your day isn’t difficult when you break it down.

5 Ways to Increase Daily Movement:

Go for a walk.

Whether you are at a desk or not, you can get up and move around. Walk around the office, go out for lunch and walk the block a couple of times. If you’re a trucker, you can get out at rest stops and go for a walk to stretch your legs, too. Even if you are on long drives, you can schedule a walk for 20 minutes at a time each time you stop for something.

Stretch your body.

For each time you stop on your route, stretch your arms and legs. You need to make stretching a habit so that you build it into your routine every single day. A stretch doesn’t have to be a full yoga routine, but you do have to do what you can to make your body feel supple. 

Sit up straight.

When you are sitting for long periods, you need to train your body to remain upright. Slouching your shoulders and hunching over is awful for your spinal health, so make sure that you are sitting up straight. Putting some time into learning how to sit up can make a huge difference to your ability to move well and it stops you from being so stiff!

Move while you watch TV.

When your show is on, move your body. Run-on the spot, do some jumping jacks, and even do some strengthening exercises and stretches. All of these things are so beneficial for the body and it’s a good way to relax before bed. 

Make your movement consistent.

Park your truck or car far away from your destination and walk more. Use the stairs and not an elevator. Get off public transport early and walk the rest of the way. There are so many ways that you can be consistent with your movement and add it into your day, even when you are spending most of it sitting down or still.

 

Moving more has to be a part of your day – make it so!

Are you or your trucking company looking to take their truck driver fitness and truck driver wellness up a notch? Let Mother Trucker Yoga be your trucking fitness company and show you how with small simple changes you can feel better wherever you are.

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Common Issues From Sitting In A Truck All Day And How To Fix Them

Common Issues From Sitting In A Truck All Day And How To Fix Them

When you are on the road all the time, you are at increased risk for certain medical conditions. Of course, not every trucker is going to experience the same things, but there are some common themes running through the industry when it comes to health due to all the sitting that has to be done. In this article, we are going to be talking about some of the common issues that truckers face from sitting in their trucks all day, and some of the things that you can do to fix them. If you would like to find out more about this topic, keep reading down below.

 

Sore Back And Neck

 

The first thing that you are more likely to experience is a sore neck and back. Seeing as you are not using the muscles in your back and you are holding your neck up all the time, it’s no wonder that it begins to hurt. This is a problem because there’s not much you can do to avoid this other than to stop every so often and take a short walk, or lay down in your seats for ten minutes. Give your neck a break, and let your back muscles stretch in order to keep them in good condition.

 

If the issue persists, then you should see a chiropractor. They might be able to do something to help you, such as give you small exercises to complete, or you never know what!

 

Obesity

 

Another huge problem is obesity. When you are on the road a lot, you’re not getting the exercise that you need, you’re probably eating fast food more often than not, so really obesity is to be expected. Even though this is the case, it doesn’t make it okay and you need to avoid this at all costs. We recommend that you try taking some food with you for your meal while you are out. If you are going to be on a long trip and you can’t take that much food with you, then at least try to pick some of the healthier options when you take a break.

 

Swelling In Your Legs

 

When you sit down for so long, your legs become more likely to swell. If you’re not using your legs other than the slight movements, you are at risk of deep vein thrombosis as well which is not a pleasant condition. There are a few things that we can suggest here such as drinking enough water while you are on your drive, managing the amount of salt that you eat on the drive and before, as well as doing feet and ankle exercises while you are stopped in traffic for example. When you can, get up and have a walk around outside to get your blood pumping and your legs moving, and this should help you avoid the issue.

 

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the common issues that you can get when you sit in a truck all day. Not only that though, but hopefully now you see how you can fix these issues as well. We wish you the very best of luck, and hope that this has helped you!

 

Want more help when it comes to your fitness and health? Join the movement!

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