If, like me, you've got a million things to do in a day, finding time to work out can feel impossible. Thankfully, trainers are constantly coming up with new and efficient ways to exercise—such as "exercise snacking".
The concept has been around for a while, but has recently begun to trend on social media again. It encourages you to do short bursts of exercise throughout your day, rather than hour-long stints in the gym.
I don't always fancy clock-watching while I exercise, which is why I liked this simple tip from nutrition therapist Natalie Fader. She encourages you to plug in your headphones and perform an exercise for the duration of a song, instead of focusing on a timer.
Exercise snack ideas
Fader lists five different exercises that she tried snacking on: planks, wall-sits, squats, leg-lifts and general abs-focused moves (like crunches).
You can try any of these moves yourself—if you need tips on how to do them, see our form guides on how to plank, how to squat and how to do a crunch.
Start by doing the moves for the duration of a song. If you're feeling ambitious, you could try doing a few five-minute workouts as well.
Benefits of exercise snacking
The main benefit of exercise snacking is that is encourages you to add more movement into your day. And regularly doing short bursts of movement can seriously benefit your health.
“Doing short bursts of exercise across the day can improve cardiovascular health and support increased energy levels, enhance mood, improve mental focus, and increase metabolism,” says Mitch Raynsford, strength and conditioning coach at digital coaching platform P3RFORM.
“It's especially beneficial for those with sedentary jobs or lifestyles, a busy work and family life, or people who are just starting their fitness journey,” he says.
Regularly doing an exercise will help you get better at it, too. According to Faber, exercise snacking helped her increase her plank time from 30 seconds to three minutes.
Mitch Raynsford is a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach for the workout platform P3RFORM. His aim is to help people at all levels to understand their bodies and achieve their fitness goals.
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