9 to 5 Exercise: 10 Ways to Work Out While You Work

Who wants to pop a squat on a Minion? The Zenergy Ball Chair attempts to maintain the supposed posture, balance, and core strength benefits of sitting on an exercise ball, while adding wheels and a mesh slipcover that I guess they think makes the chair blend in better, and look like a real piece of furniture.

Functionally, the Zenergy Ball Chair lets you sit without being sedentary. The backless, flexible domed seat encourages movement - forces it, really - during use, which fans of the chairs say helps you concentrate, and molds better posture and balance. Zenergy adds stability (and height) with a quad of powder-coated steel legs.

Is the standing desk fad still standing strong? If not, the Revolution Focus standing desk balance board is sure doing a stand-up job of making it interesting to me again. Not only does the possibility of falling on my ass at any given moment seem like a good way to stay awake at work, but the rocking and tilting motions the board makes possible look like good times.

Better times than staring at my computer screen sitting in some creaky IKEA POS with one wheel that refuses to move in sync with the others anyway.

The Gaiam Balance Disc is mostly a wobble cushion for your desk chair, but also partly an accessory for core strength and balance exercises out of your chair. It's a great mate for anyone with visions of improving their posture in 2022, plus eases those of you with more lofty fitness goals into the process more gently than a gym membership or Peloton.

If you're sitting there reading about this SitFlow contraption right now, know what you're doing? Restricting blood circulation. Contributing to the obesity epidemic. Sucking your productivity and concentration dry. Basically, by sitting at your desk or in your car or on your couch all day, you're killing yourself. At least that's what the latest research and the "Sitting is the new smoking" buzz phrase suggest.

SitFlow is a bar with a pair of discs on its ends that hangs from a strap either mounted underneath your desk, or to a portable stand. When you place your feet on the discs, you can move the strap, and your body, in all planes of motion. Legs and feet can move in sync or separately with full forward-back or side-to-side swings. Both the arm mounting the and the discs themselves can also rotate independently for smooth, unencumbered motion that should feel natural, and ultimately unconscious to you.

Walk. Work. Walk while working. Work while walking. Ugh. It's like a bunch of F-words in a row, but with Ws.

Walkolution treadmill desks have no motor or electronic components, just a belt that moves around a solid beech wood base in sync and at pace with your feet. If you don't tread, neither does the Walkolution. The moving belt comes in two versions: a series of break-proof birch wood slats with slight elasticity; and a premium Kybun surface material, a Swiss product design that simulates the feeling of walking or running on a soft forest floor. The wood belt can be used with or without shoes, the Kybun surface begs for bare feet only.