🌯 Pressed For Time and Need To Move? Try this.
Don't have time for a full workout? Have a snack.
Many people, when it comes to exercise, are “all-or-nothing” types. They think if it’s not a full workout,
Then it doesn’t matter.
Well, science says that’s not true.
From a “feeling” standpoint, it’s probably true that there isn’t as much of an endorphin rush from a short bout of exercise as there is from an hour-plus-long sweat session.
But it isn’t wrong to have short bursts of exercise — even as short as five minutes — every so often.
If you’re someone who struggles to find time to exercise, you might want to learn about exercise snacks.
Newsletter Summary
What are Exercise Snacks?
Why Being Sedentary is unavoidable for some (and not a total death sentence)
Why going from 0-1 is better than 0-10 when it comes to exercise
Snacks To Get You More Fit
Look, I get it.
There are many barriers to exercise.
Lack of knowledge, lack of available equipment, and the proximity of fitness centers for some are the most common.
But the most common barrier I’ve heard from clients and potential clients — and one that has been studied and surveyed to death — is lack of time.
Work gets busy, meetings are piled onto calendars, and life commitments like kids, marriages, and pets occupy most of our lives.
This makes the prospect of a sixty-minute workout pretty daunting for some.
But exercise snacks — no, not food, but shorter, smaller servings of movement sprinkled into your day — can be a way around this time barrier.
Researchers have examined the effects of these short, quick bursts of exercise.
Subjects who moved somewhat vigorously for as little as one minute per day had better blood pressure, and blood test results, and lived longer than those who did no vigorous movement at all.
This doesn’t even mean you have to break away for a set of pushups or squats either.*
In the study linked above, the test subjects simply wore accelerometers on their wrist that tracked vigorous motions like washing dishes, power walking the dog, and folding laundry, among other household tasks.
*For the sake of developing a good exercise habit, though, I definitely recommend breaking away from the desk for 3-5 sets of squats.
If you’re thinking of trying out a snack in your day, think of ways you can get creative to get your heart rate up.
Snacks can be a great way to build aerobic fitness, too.
If you have a long hallway and non-slippery floors, see how many times you can run wall to wall in your home or apartment for 5 minutes before you start your lunch break.
Set a timer for 5-10 minutes and complete cycles of lunges and crunches.
You needn’t think this isn’t accomplishing anything, because when you look at the picture, snacks can account for a lot of total exercise, just like calorie-based snacks can account for a lot of weight gain.
Taking in the Aggregate
We shouldn’t let people tell us that “nothing offsets a sedentary lifestyle.”
While it’s true that countless hours sitting down isn’t great, exercise actually can do a LOT to offset being sedentary, even if it’s just little bits of it.
Consider the person who only exercises once a week, for 30 minutes.
This person might feel bad about being inconsistent, and then be bombarded by e-mail newsletters from their local group fitness studio about moving more, even though they can’t make it to class.
If this person were to start using exercise snacks, for 5-minute bursts every lunch break, that’s 25 extra minutes of vigorous exercise per week.
And last time I checked, 55 minutes per week is more than thirty minutes.
Train to Go Up Small Increments, Not Massive Leaps
Training with snacks can also help establish a habit to build upon.
It’s usually getting started and going from zero to one that most people have problems with.
But going from one to two, two to three, and so on isn’t as hard.
Once you’ve formed the habit, you can build upon it.
And when you can build upon it, then you’re becoming a more fit person, one snack at a time.
That’s something I never thought I’d write. 😂
See you guys on Wednesday.
For paid subscribers, I’ll list some of my favorite snack recipes below.
My Exercise Snacks of Choice
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