Author: Leigh Ann P. and Aimee L.
It’s that time of year again! That time when you say, “I can’t work out on the elliptical machine today because I ate too many cupcakes. And I brought some cupcakes home so I’m going to eat more cupcakes.” Or, “It’s too cold to walk the one block to the gym. I’m going to drink some eggnog instead.” Or, “I’m not going to have my usual Houston Hall salad for lunch since there is a giant pile of cookies, cakes and tortilla chips right behind my desk.”
You probably already experienced the Freshman Fifteen in college. This is what causes the Sweeten Fifteen.
This is the culture of Sweeten during December and it doesn’t change much throughout the year. There is a constant influx of food infiltrating our 2nd floor counter – an endless barrage of party leftovers and gifts from kind, generous, good-looking alumni – and it ultimately ends up on our collective spare tires (but, so worth it, kind and generous alumni!). It is a mere three feet away from our desks, and it catches our eyes, destroys any shred of willpower we have, and asks us to stop staring and just give in. We’re still a couple of months away from our annual exercise competition (which Emily S. and Cecilia R. smoked in 2011), and if you are anything like us – you know, normal(ish) – you are probably experiencing a similar struggle with holiday eating, so we put our heads together and came up with a few exercises you can do in the office during a break to ward off that extra holiday poundage!
*Disclaimer: The illustrations below are a rendering of Leigh Ann P. and Leigh Ann P. only. Any resemblance to any other person living or dead is merely coincidental. Unless that person is Kate Middleton, in which case, wow, THANK YOU!
Try sitting on a large exercise ball instead of a regular office chair! This is fantastic for your core. Leigh Ann P. tried this at work a few years ago and the ball put her just slightly too low for her desk. But – if you have an extremely long torso, this may be just the solution for you!
You could simultaneously balance a common office supply, such as a stapler, on your head while walking backwards up and down your office stairs. Jillian Michaels would be so proud of you for multitasking with your different muscle groups. What could possibly go wrong?
Marge T. suggested dropping a box of paper clips on the floor and forcing yourself to pick them up one by one.
What do you do to stay in shape during the holidays? Do you have any other office-related workout suggestions? Let us know in the comments!
Congratulations to Lisa, who will be receiving a free Penn T-shirt for her participation. Thank you, too, to our enthusiastic and responsive readers, many of whom also correctly identified this somewhat obscure piece. You can view more of Penn’s art work on campus by going 
Frankly Penn 