As much as I love the idea of getting up from my desk to do a bit of exercise, I’m bad at actually following through on those intentions. I recently installed a Chrome extension called WFH Wakeup (also available as a Mac app) that makes it easy.
By default, it interrupts you every 55 minutes (though you can change the interval) and prompts you to do a set of three exercises. The app costs $US4 ($5) but comes with a one-day free trial so you can use it for a day and see whether it drives you nuts or whether it’s worth the commitment.
I’ve tried other apps that also attempt to get you out of your chair, but WFH Wakeup does its job particularly well. You get a reminder five minutes before the break, and then 30 seconds before. (You can delay the break when you get those reminders if you need a minute to finish up a task.) There’s also a huge pause button you can hit if you’re headed into a presentation or a zoom meeting.
When time is up, you get a screen like the one at the top of this post. There’s no timer stopping you from getting back to work, just a fullscreen reminder that maybe you should do a few exercises — and they give you three suggestions. Sometimes they’re upper or lower body exercises, sometimes stretches, sometimes core moves. You can turn this opportunity into a small version of a real workout, aiming to get in a full routine over the course of the day — or you can just do the three things listed for a few reps each and get back to work.
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