# Kitchen

> Cooking or in the kitchen, has counters and cabinets to use as props.

- **Canonical URL:** https://wakeout.app/exercises/kitchen-exercises-while-cooking
- **30-second demo video:** https://wakeout-assets.b-cdn.net/demos/kitchen.mp4
- **Exercise count:** 60
- **Positions:** standing
- **Where:** kitchen
- **Time of day:** morning

## When to reach for this pack

Cooking or in the kitchen, has counters and cabinets to use as props.

## Why this happens

The kitchen is the most under-used gym in the house. You are already standing there, probably waiting on something, with a countertop at elbow height, cabinets you can hold onto for balance, and a stretch of floor big enough to move. Most people use that time to check a phone. This pack uses it instead — counter-supported squats, cabinet-assisted calf raises, side steps along the island, hip openers while the kettle boils. The mechanism is the same as every good movement habit: interrupt prolonged postures, drive a little circulation, load the legs and hips against gravity, repeat. The advantage of the kitchen is that the prompts are baked in. Water's boiling, coffee's dripping, pasta's cooking. Those are movement windows, not scroll windows. The no-excuses framing is the whole point.

## About this routine

Best for anyone who cooks, boils water, or stands in a kitchen for more than a few minutes a day. Movements use a counter, cabinet, or wall for support — anything stable at hand height. Skip or modify if balance is impaired, if you have an acute knee or hip injury, or if the floor is wet. Barefoot or flat shoes only, obviously. Not medical advice, just a reminder that kitchens are places bodies move in, not only places you wait in.

## Exercises

1. **Back Kicks**
2. **Back Leg Raises**
3. **Batter Mixer**
4. **Cabinet Squats**
5. **Calf Raises**
6. **Chopping Board Cleaner**
7. **Clean Up**
8. **Counter Knee-ups**
9. **Countertop Cleaner**
10. **Countertop Climbers**
11. **Countertop Dips**
12. **Countertop Push-ups**
13. **Countertop Rotations**
14. **Countertop Squats**
15. **Countertop Walks**
16. **Cross-armed Rotations**
17. **Delicious**
18. **Double Pancake Flips**
19. **Double Skillet Hold**
20. **Egg Beater**
21. **Egg Therapy**
22. **Food Processor**
23. **Food Too Hot**
24. **Fridge Openers**
25. **Fridge Scan Squats**
26. **Fridge Sits**
27. **Kitchen Burpees**
28. **Knife Sharpener**
29. **Lunge Pick-ups**
30. **Lunges**
31. **Microwave Check**
32. **Onion Choppers**
33. **Oven Opens**
34. **Overhead Arm Extensions**
35. **Paper Towel Raises**
36. **Paper Towel Rolls**
37. **Pizza Roller**
38. **Plank Counter Reaches**
39. **Reverse Microwave Check**
40. **Salad Tosser**
41. **Salt Bae**
42. **Salt Shaker**
43. **Scare Off The Flies**
44. **Shine A Plate**
45. **Skillet Hold**
46. **Skillet Marches**
47. **Skillet Opens**
48. **Skillet Sashay**
49. **Skillet Swings**
50. **Skillet Twists**
51. **Slice It Up**
52. **Sprinkle Pepper**
53. **Stir The Soup**
54. **Top Cabinet Reach**
55. **Weighted Arm Raises**
56. **Weighted Bicep Curls**
57. **Weighted Curve Punches**
58. **Weighted Punches**
59. **Weighted Uppercuts**
60. **Wide Push-ups**

## Who this is for

- **Make Me Stand Up** — Standing-only pack with energy-boosting exercises that forces users to stand up and move actively
- **Activate My Legs** — Kitchen time becomes intense leg activation with standing movements using counters for balance during leg lifts, squats, and dynamic kicks.
- **Gain Mental Clarity** — Standing kitchen exercises engage full body with household items as props, creating oxygen-pumping activity that sharpens mental focus.
- **Engage My Core** — Pack includes 'abs' tag indicating core-focused movements, and kitchen-based standing exercises naturally incorporate twisting and reaching that engages the core area

## Frequently asked

### What kitchen exercises can I actually do while cooking?

Counter-supported squats, calf raises against the cabinets, side steps along the island, and gentle hip openers while stirring are all realistic cooking-time movements. The point is not a full workout — it is loading the legs and hips while food does what food does. Anything that uses the counter for balance and the floor for base leaves your hands free for the stove. A five-minute simmer becomes a short leg circuit, and you barely notice.

### Is the kitchen really a good place to exercise?

Yes, because the bar for useful movement is low and the kitchen clears it easily. You have a stable counter at elbow height, support for balance, some open floor, and predictable waiting windows. That is enough for the kind of short, frequent loading that actually changes how your body feels. Nobody is saying skip the gym — but waiting for pasta while leaning on a counter is a missed movement window, and this pack fills it.

### How long should a kitchen movement break be?

Three to eight minutes is the realistic window for most cooking contexts — the time between putting a pot on and taking it off. That is enough for a small circuit of hip, leg, and thoracic work without any of it feeling like a chore. The design principle is that the food determines the clock, not you. When the timer goes off, you stop. If dinner is a long braise, run more rounds.

### What if I don't have a lot of kitchen space?

Most of the movements use vertical space, not horizontal. A narrow galley kitchen is enough if you can stand with arms slightly extended and reach a counter. Squats, calf raises, hip openers, and thoracic twists all happen within a body's footprint. If your kitchen genuinely will not fit a full squat, the Kitchen Timer (/exercises/kitchen-timer) pack is a shorter, more constrained version built for exactly that case.

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Wakeout — desk exercises that break the sit habit. iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1242116567 · Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/wakeout-new-tab-desk-exer/pgepchplpmblclpfgklclelgdiinoihb