June 27, 2025, 3:02 pm | Read time: 4 minutes

After a long workday, many people find it difficult to muster the motivation for a gym session. Tired and drained, they just want to relax on the couch. For those who still want to incorporate exercise into their daily routine and make their work time more effective, trainer and FITBOOK fitness expert Alina Bock recommends short push-up sessions as brief breaks during the workday.

The Importance of Exercise in the Workday

Exercise during the workday leads to a range of benefits, including improved physical fitness, mental health, and performance, as well as increased enjoyment of work. A study published in 2020 in the “American Journal of Health Promotion,” which divided 36 office workers into a training group and a control group, showed that exercise sessions during work hours can significantly improve health, overall fitness, performance, and work enjoyment.¹ The training group, which participated in a six-month supervised program of two small training sessions (15 to 20 minutes) per day in small groups at the workplace, showed an increase in lean mass, respiratory function, and maximum strength, along with a reduction in body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, and musculoskeletal pain. These factors did not change in the control group. Additionally, 94.4 percent reported a high level of work enjoyment.

Benefits of Push-Ups During Work

An effective way to benefit from the positive effects of small training sessions during work is through short push-up sessions. Push-ups, in general–and also as mini-workouts–can efficiently strengthen the upper body muscles, including the chest, shoulder, and triceps, while also promoting core stability. Additionally, the cardiovascular system is stimulated, which can lead to increased productivity and concentration in subsequent work hours. The release of endorphins after training also boosts enjoyment and motivation.

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Designing Short Push-Up Mini-Workouts

For those convinced of the positive effects of short training sessions during work hours, it’s time to implement them.

Integration into the Workday

To best integrate push-up mini-workouts into the workday, set aside 15 to 20 minutes of your work break to perform a mini-workout while still having time to eat a meal. The break room is a recommended location. For more privacy, you can also train outside. In a home office, you can be more flexible and integrate the short training session when it fits best.

Frequency of Small Training Sessions

To achieve success and maintain performance, it is recommended to perform the exercise session daily. However, if you experience muscle soreness from the previous day’s session, take a day off or train a different muscle group instead. For example, you can switch to leg muscles.

Strategies to Maintain Motivation

To add variety to push-up sessions and the workday, and to continually challenge the body, vary the training design. For instance, narrow push-ups, decline push-ups, Spiderman push-ups, or one-arm push-ups can replace the classic push-up in mini-workouts over time. Other exercises targeting different muscle groups can also be combined with push-ups to bring new energy to the training. Without equipment, squats, lunges, lying lat pulls, planks, and crunches are suitable.

Additionally, setting goals is important to stay consistent. This allows you to continuously work towards a set fitness goal. Achieving goals can create a sense of accomplishment, which in turn increases motivation for future goals.
Goals can include a specific number of repetitions, time, or a particular type of push-up, such as the one-arm push-up.

Moreover, small training sessions can also be planned and conducted with colleagues. Work breaks can be used to exercise with one or more colleagues, encouraging each other.