I apologise for the slightly clickbait title but I needed something to grab your attention and “things to do that improves your health and grappling during an office toilet break” does not exactly trip off the tongue!

As regular readers know I am far from a full time athlete and my time is precious, so I thought I’d share a quick insight into how me (and my hubby) genuinely do try and squeeze some jiu jitsu friendly activity into literally every little break that we get!

Essentially it breaks down into two areas:

Checking Nutrition and Hydration
It’s gross but it’s well know that paying some attention to what lands in your toilet bowl can give you an insight into your health and nutrition. Essentially your looking for pale straw coloured wee for a good level of hydration but this chart shows you the full spectrum. Apparently the smell of your pee can also tell a lot about your health as a female athlete including infections, ovulation and if you’re pregnant. I’m not an expert of that by any means but this article by Women’s Health provides a light outline. Finally the poopy question. Literally. I’m not going to go into details but I’ll just leave this handy little infographic here!

Getting Moving
Sitting for too long simply isn’t good for your health or your hip flexors. Even if you don’t do anything else the quick two minute walk to the loo (often via the kettle for a brew or to pick up things from the printer). Is beneficial to both your health and your grappling.

However recently I found an additional usage to my bathroom breaks and that was rehab, stretching and general support work. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t do anything silly like roll about on the bathroom floor but in a good size stall I’ve managed to do basic stretches and some basic prehab exercises. It’s amazing what you can do when your injured and told by a physio or sports therapist that you need fit a certain number of exercise repetition in a day! So have a think about what you can do in your loo at work!

If you need some inspiration Nano Workout has some general bathroom suggestions (I’m a fan of one legged balances)  Here is also a really basic and simple 1 minute workout for the bathroom – as the article explains doing it 6 times a day can add another 60 push-ups, squats or lunges to programme. Now don’t get me wrong it won’t transform you into a mega grappler but if you’re struggling to do any conditioning at all or are simply trying to get in shape then every little helps!

One word of warning though – it is all about time management. This is about quick and easy bursts of activity. Nothing too strenuous as you won’t have warmed up, plus you’re doing it in your work clothes and during a toilet break at work so you can’t take too long to do it. If in doubt remember work pays for your training fees!

I hope these couple of tips helps to make your bathroom breaks more grappling friendly. Feel free to comment and share any other tips that you may have!

Image Credits: HealthWorks.my and Nano Workout