But what are you putting off? What do you struggle to fit into your day? For many of us, finding the time to lace up our shoes and get in a solid workout can be a struggle—the couch looks so comfortable!—but the good news is, you don’t have to juggle your schedule all too much to get in a solid workout and get moving. There’s a new fitness trend in town and it’s called “exercise snacking.” It may be just the thing you need to get in regular workouts throughout the day.
What is exercise snacking?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could regularly get in a full workout without having to block out a solid hour of your day? The good news is that you can, thanks to exercise snacking, a trendy new fitness slogan that essentially means breaking your workout into bite-sized “snacks” throughout the day. Doing a few small exercise bursts throughout the day—versus a larger, “traditional” workout—can be a more attainable way to get a full workout in on a regular basis. There is no one right way to introduce exercise snacking into your daily life. In fact, you don’t even need to hit certain time constraints for each exercise burst. The World Health Organization (WHO) does recommend at least 60 minutes a day of activity, but their previous recommendation of exercise needing to last at least ten minutes at a time has been removed and in their 2020 guidelines they now recommend exercise bouts of any duration, as it has shown to improve health outcomes. “Think in terms of total time,” explains Dr. Rick Richey, an Everlast trainer, co-owner of Independent Training Spot and owner of ReCOVER NYC. “You could go for a 30-minute run or you could do three 10-minute runs and you’d accomplish the same total volume. You could break it down into five-minute runs as well.”
What are pros and cons of exercise snacking?
For some people, a major pro of exercise snacking is that it can make staying active much more attainable. For example, it can give moms the opportunity to do small bouts of exercise when their baby is napping, or allow you to fit in a round or two of exercise in between never-ending rounds of Zoom meetings. Exercising in short bursts doesn’t mean that it is easy—Jessica Mazzucco, a New York City-based certified fitness trainer, says you should work hard on one area of the body at a time—but you may find you recover more easily with the added rest in-between rounds. If you are just looking to maintain or build upon your general fitness, exercise snacking is a great way to stay active (and stop sitting as much throughout the day, which comes with its own health risks). However, if you have a specific goal in mind, such as burning calories or building specific muscle groups, you likely won’t achieve the same results as you would with a solid, continuous workout. “You wouldn’t get the same calorie burning benefits since the session is not being done in circuit, but your body can still benefit from a circuit-type program broken up throughout the day,’ shares Dr. Richey. “We see in the research that more regular movement throughout the day is very important. So exercise and movement snacks are a great way to maintain and build health and fitness.” Additionally, your heart rate won’t be up into higher ranges for long periods of time with exercise snacking. Because of this, Mazzucco does acknowledge that you may be less efficient breaking up your usual workout into exercise snacks. “Rather than performing one complete workout, you are having to split it into separate sections,” she explains. If you are looking to improve your aerobic capacity, then, you will want to add cardio into your routine on days you aren’t “snacking.”
Should you exercise snack every day?
How often you choose to exercise snack will be up to you and dependent on your schedule and goals. Often, participants in studies perform exercise snacking daily—a 2019 UK study had participants do two rounds of exercise snacking daily for 28 days—so as long as you are allowing yourself time to recover and are resting if you have injuries or other health conditions that preclude you from regular movement, you may find short bouts daily work for you. While having rest periods during a workout is important, Dr. Richey does instruct that minimizing breaks is best for certain goals, such as building muscle (in which case, “you cannot take a four-hour break between sets”). With other goals, such as improving your cardiovascular fitness, you may also find you need a few days of longer workouts added to your weekly schedule. “Since the little bursts will only get your heart rate up for a few minutes, it may be beneficial to incorporate longer periods of lower intensity cardio on other days,” shares Mazzucco. “This way your heart rate will be raised for more than 10-15 minutes. You will likely see an increase in your aerobic capacity by alternating longer periods of cardio with little bursts of HIIT.”
Is exercise snacking right for you?
The good news is there is no right or wrong here, especially if exercise snacking means you are making movement a part of your day. It doesn’t even need to involve lifting weights or having a lot of equipment stashed away in your office; stair climbing can even be a form of exercise snacking (and studies show it will get you a “modest” cardio boost). “The bottom line is to do what you can—not what you can’t,” encourages Dr. Richey. “Most people think if they cannot do a 30 or 60 minute workout, then they may as well not do anything. That is an upsetting thought and ‘exercise snacking’ can equate to a whole meal, so to speak.” Next up, get some added encouragement with these 5 tips to make time for exercise.
Sources
Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. “World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 2020;54:1451-1462.JJenkins EM, Nairn LN, Skelly EL, Little JP, and Gibala MJ. “Do stair climbing exercise “snacks” improve cardiorespiratory fitness?.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 44(6): 681-684. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2018-0675Jessica Mazzucco, a New York City-based certified fitness trainer“Overworked Americans Aren’t Taking The Vacation They’ve Earned.” NPR. July 12, 2016. Accessed August 16, 2021.Perkin OJ, McGuigan PM, Stokes KA. “Exercise Snacking to Improve Muscle Function in Healthy Older Adults: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Aging Research, vol. 2019, Article ID 7516939, 9 pages, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7516939Owen, N., Healy, G. N., Matthews, C. E., & Dunstan, D. W. (2010). “Too much sitting: the population health science of sedentary behavior.” Exercise and sport sciences reviews, 38(3), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1097/JES.0b013e3181e373a2Dr. Rick Richey, and Everlast trainer, co-owner of Independent Training Spot and owner of ReCOVER NYC
