One of the biggest reasons that people don’t start or stick to workout routines is a lack of time. Doing several long workouts a week is daunting and not always possible to fit in. Skipping one session could be all it takes to spiral into doing nothing at all.
The answer to this persistent problem could be exercise ‘snacks’, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal of Sports Medicine, which found that very short bursts of exercise can improve cardio fitness and muscle endurance.
Furthermore, the research found that the ‘snacktivity’ involved had a high adherence rate from participants — over 80% of people stuck to the plan, including older adults.
While doing just a couple of minutes of exercise at a time might not be the perfect long-term plan for your health and fitness, every little helps, and starting with snacks might lead to it being easier for people to try longer workouts in the future.
What did the study find?
The new research is a systematic review of eleven randomized clinical trials with 414 total participants, with an age range of 14 to 80. The aim was to see the effect of short bursts of exercise on health and fitness.
For the research an exercise ‘snack’ was defined as two to five minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, such as climbing the stairs for the purpose of exercise, or bodyweight exercises. Participants had to do this at least twice a day and at least three times a week.
The study found that these exercise snacks were effective in improving the cardiorespiratory fitness of inactive people, and improved the muscular endurance of older adults in particular.
One of the key takeaways was that the exercise ‘snacks’ were easy for people to do and 82.8% of participants stuck with them, showing the accessibility of this approach.
How to add exercise snacks to your routine
The study adds weight to the idea that even if you can’t yet stick to broader guidelines for activity like doing 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, then simply doing anything at all can make a difference.
Climbing stairs purposely for two minutes twice a day could be your exercise snack, or a short bodyweight exercise circuit of moves like squats or chair squats, lunges and kneeling push-ups. If you have some lightweight dumbbells in the house, keep them in sight to prompt you to use them for these bursts of activity.
Not only will ‘snacktivity’ potentially help you get fitter and stronger, it will hopefully spark more enjoyment in exercise in general, and you can build up to longer sessions in time.
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