Feeling a bit peckish? Time for an exercise snack…
Go to the fridge and instead of opening it – you look on the door and it tells you to do 20 burpees!
So you drop on the kitchen floor and bang out 20 – no problem!
I meet with a lot of people each week and we chat about their health and fitness goals. We discuss what’s going right for them and what they are struggling with. The shift to work from home over the last few years has dramatically decreased everyone’s NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis – basically the calories you burn that aren’t related to a workout).
This is where the concept of exercise snacks comes in. If you think of your workout as “meal 1” and your 30-60 min “daily walk” as meal 2 – then you need to add some “snacks” in between. These are even more important during the winter months, as activity levels drop even more!
Here are a few great “exercise snacks”:
– 50 Tibialis Raise & 50 Calf Raise – bonus here as your bulletproofing your knees
– Brisk walk around the block in between calls
– Have a resistance band next to the desk – knock out 50 curls, pull aparts, presses etc
– Do a round or two of the daily warm up that you can see on our app
– Read a report while sitting on an indoor bike
– Hold the plank while you scroll social media
– Go through a 10 min mobility video
– The list is endless…
The thing with these snacks is that they don’t need to be planned. They don’t need to be perfect. They can be spontaneous and literally anything that you do will be beneficial.
Remember: You aren’t working out, and you don’t have to get sweaty or move fast. Intensity isn’t part of the plan. You just have to get moving for a few minutes and increase your heart rate a little. Coaches already know interval training works wonders in the gym, so consider this “low-intensity interval training” with long rest breaks that might be up to two or three hours.
Think about this: sitting at a desk all day vs. taking two five-minute movement breaks during the day. It’s just common sense; some light movement is better for your body than sitting.
Beyond that, research suggests exercise snacks might be good for maintaining or improving fitness even if the intervals are very short, (or more info on that, click here).
These snacks don’t replace meals. You should still train regularly and engage in longer general activities. But snacks can really make a difference in your day, especially if bad weather is robbing you of some active time outside. And if you’re still active regardless of the temperature, this is just another way to get moving. I run a gym, but I still find myself sitting and typing for too long at times!
With that in mind, I’ll sign off and have my own exercise snack. I’d encourage you to do the same. If you do something, hit “REPLY” and let me know what you snacked on. I’d love to know!