- Philita Jana Scholz, 39, is an accountant and professor in Columbus, Ohio
- She promotes her ‘Desk to Bikini’ workouts on TikTok after losing 20 pounds
- She uses resistance bands and weights to squeeze into workouts throughout the day
A former fitness competitor whose sedentary job caused her to gain weight revealed how she lost 20 pounds and cured her back pain by working out at her desk.
Philita Jana Scholz, an accountant and teacher in Columbus, Ohio, has more than 286,000 followers on TikTok, where she promotes her “Desk to Bikini” workout program.
In her videos, she tells people why they need to stay active while demonstrating how she sneaks through exercises at her desk throughout the day.
Scholz shared on her website that she was heavily involved in fitness competitions, but the long hours she spent at work caused her energy levels to drop and her weight to increase.
“People told me I gained weight because I was lazy. But I was sitting at my desk for 10-16 hours a day and stopped going to the gym right before the pandemic started,’ she explained in a viral clip that has been viewed more 6.1 million times.
“So I started doing my workouts at the office and lost the weight I had gained.” Now I’m helping other women do the same!
Scholz was seeing a physical therapist for her back pain when she started incorporating office workouts and home exercises into her daily routine in 2020.
The content creator pointed out that many people had poor posture and we sat hunched over at their desks for hours, causing a variety of body issues.
“For me, I know these posture issues put me in PT for eight weeks,” she said in a recent video. “My back was so bad that I couldn’t even walk into a store for 30 minutes.”
Scholz later discovered that her back pain was actually a core issue, even though she worked out regularly.
She pointed out that sitting all day can have disastrous consequences for your health that go beyond just weight gain and back pain.
Research has shown that prolonged sitting is associated with premature mortality, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
A sedentary lifestyle is also linked to mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and chronic stress.
“I shared all of these negative effects not to scare you, but to warn you, to educate you, to help you understand that you need to stay active at your desk all day in order to avoid all of these negative things,” says- She.
Scholz noted that she wishes she could get up and walk around during the day, but it’s “really difficult when you have a full-time job.”
“If you’re anything like me, you’re pretty much chained to your desk,” she continued. “Sometimes I forget that I even need to get up, which is why I do my workouts at the office.”
More than 80% of jobs in the United States primarily involve sedentary activities, with the average workday running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. That doesn’t include travel time, which on average is about an hour round trip for someone who isn’t working. of the House.
Scholz keeps a resistance band at her desk at all times, so she can do exercise bursts throughout the day to get her blood flowing.
In her videos she shows how she works throughout the day, whether she’s using resistance bands and weights in her office chair or doing bodyweight exercises standing up at her desk.
To exercise her legs, she will squeeze a weight between her inner thigh. She advises starting with a folder of files and working your way up.
When she takes a quick break, she stands up and does leg lifts or squats using her resistance bands.
If she’s waiting for a Zoom meeting to start, she’ll do arm exercises in her chair, with her camera off until everyone has connected. She’ll even sit on her desk and pull her legs up to her chest for a quick workout.
“It’s not like I’m sitting here sweating it out during my office workouts,” she explained. ‘Yes, some of them can make you sweat a bit if you work really hard…but they’re not meant to make you work hard. (They are) meant to keep you active at your desk, so you can help reverse some of those effects of sitting.
Scholz has inspired a number of people to start working out at their desks with his motivational videos.
“I literally try at least one workout every working day…Love it…thank you,” one fan gushed, while another added, “Now why isn’t there I didn’t think. Catch those groups tomorrow.
Others shared how they increased their movement throughout the day, including one viewer who lost 20 pounds when she left her desk job.
“I got a treadmill and lost 10 pounds (immediately),” someone else commented. ‘Now I barely sit! I definitely need more office exercises to do! »
“I bought one of these pedal machines under my desk and I ‘bike’ it while I work,” replied another.