5 Simple and Best Truck Driver Exercises When you are out on the road for days, even weeks on end, your mental health becomes just as big a concern as your physical health. And the two often play off of each other. If you are a truck driver and find yourself feeling depressed, anxious or sluggish, or tired physical exercise can help. Coming up with a simple daily truck driver fitness plan can make it easier to feel like you can get out and move. Most people struggle to add in exercise because they don’t have a plan, not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t want to look silly or feel they need to be already fit. All you need is 15 minutes a day. I call it the 15 Minute Wellness Method. What can you do as a driver in 15 minutes every day? It can be five minutes in the morning, five minutes in the afternoon, and five minutes in the evening. It all counts and all add up.
Try these five moves in five minutes: 1. Air Squats: Step your feet to a hips distance, keeping your spine long, slowly begin to sit back into your hips and heels, don’t let your belly drop or your weight shift into your toes. If you find it challenging to sit back, first stretch your calves. That will give your body more mobility on the way down. Do as many air squats as you can do in one minute. Set a timer and consider holding something heavy as you squat down, like a water jug or a tool bag. 2. Side Bending: Step your feet about two feet apart. Turn your feet parallel and bring your arms out like an airplane. Trying not to fold in the hips, shift your hips to the left and slide your right arm down your right leg as you reach your left arm up overhead. Hold this squeezing your glutes and core for five slow breaths on each side.
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3. Chair Running: Everyone needs a little cardio to help get the heart rate up, and running may not be ideal in the traditional sense, but chair running is a great cardiovascular and core workout just about anyone can do. Sit to the edge of your chair, bend your elbows, and slowly begging to run your feet up off the ground as you swing your arms. As you feel comfortable, increase the speed. Count from one to sixty for a 1-minute cardio boost. 4. Arm Circles: The less we move, the less we move. Our shoulders need dynamic movement daily to stay mobile and healthy. Standing tall, draw your arms back as far as you can and up over your head, drop them forward, repeat this circling ten times, and repeat the opposite direction. Do the same series but faster every time for two more cycles. Your shoulders will thank you. 5. Calf Raises: Your calves are the hydraulic pump for your heart, and all that sitting doesn’t allow proper pumping back of blood to the heart. Try this on the truck stop, a curb, or on flat ground. Step your feet a hips distance apart and begin to lift and lower your heels as high as you can. Start with three to five slow sets of ten, then pick up the pace. If you have cramping, try the truck or curb version and drop your heels low when coming back down. Each of these moves takes roughly a minute. That’s five minutes of movement built into your day. Do each of these three times a day, and that is 15 minutes of driver exercises you just added to your busy day.
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