Whether you work from home or in an office, you likely spend most of your day sitting, hunched over a desk. It's a common issue—one in four U.S. adults sit for over eight hours daily, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study. While sitting is often unavoidable, there's a solution. A popular seated exercise on TikTok, known as the "soleus pushup" (SPU), is touted for speeding up metabolism and is backed by research.
The best part? You don't need to leave your desk to perform the SPU. Here's everything you need to know about this trending exercise and how it can help you add more physical activity to your desk job.
What is the soleus pushup?
Within your calf lies a powerful muscle called the soleus, which gives this exercise its name. The human body contains 600 muscles, and the soleus, though it makes up just 1% of your body weight, can significantly boost your metabolism. All you need to do is activate it!
We can thank Marc Hamilton, a professor of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston, for this revolutionary exercise designed for those who can't leave their desks. The soleus pushup significantly boosts your muscle metabolism for hours while you sit and work.
Hamilton's study, published in iScience, suggests that the SPU's ability to maintain high oxidative metabolism may be more effective than certain types of exercise and intermittent fasting.
How to perform the soleus pushup:
Here's how you can do the soleus pushup while seated at your desk:
1) Sit with your feet flat on the ground and your muscles relaxed.
2) Raise your heels, keeping the front of your feet on the ground.
3) When your heels are lifted to their maximum range, slowly lower them back down.
The goal is to shorten your calf muscles while engaging the soleus muscle naturally via motor neurons.
People on TikTok have quickly adopted this exercise and are eager to share their experiences.
In a video, Hulst Jepsen Physical Therapy explains, "A research study showed that doing the soleus pushup exercise continually while you sit boosts your metabolism and can regulate your blood glucose. The study had participants perform this exercise for 4.5 hours straight, which is possible due to the soleus muscle—a deep calf muscle beneath the gastrocnemius—not being very fatigable because it relies less on glycogen. So, do the soleus pushup while you sit, and you can negate many of the negative effects of being static for long periods of time."