You can eat a snack between lunch and dinner to to keep you satisfied or hold you over until
your next meal, so why can’t fitness fit into that category as well? Especially for someone who
has to sit a lot during the day, movement snacks can help you improve blood flow, decrease
joint stiffness, increase energy levels, enhance focus, and promote overall well-being while
largely counteracting the effects of sitting.
A huge secret to healthy living is moving often, that means any movement, even if its just for a
minute, counts towards better health. One of the biggest misconceptions people can have is
that these short bursts of movement aren’t really going to make a difference, but the reality is,
these efforts are cumulative, meaning they can add up to the same benefits as a short gym
session.
Incorporating these movement snacks can be very easy as well! My personal favorite: 10
burpees every time you use the restroom. And burpees could be substituted for any bodyweight exercises like push ups, air squats, lunges, you name it. Think about how many times you go to the bathroom during the day and this could totally add up! Some other ways to include movement include:
• walking around while taking phone calls
• Household chores for time; seeing how fast you can do “X” household chore such as
vacuuming, wiping the counters, taking the garbage out, whatever it may be- do it fast!
• Parking in the farthest parking spot and jogging or speed walking to where you need to go
• Dancing to your favorite song
• Deskercises (Desk Exercises)- leg extensions, seated leg raises, glute squeezes or even an
under-desk pedal exerciser for some low impact cardio
• Active work breaks- Kind of like the bathroom breaks but could be something as simple as “at the top of the hour perform “X” amount of mountain climbers, jumping jacks, planks- whatever it may be. This could also apply to cooking, waiting for your food to cook so doing a set of squats and pushups in between! There is always time for movement!
If you are finding it hard to create a bulk of time in your day to workout, little things like this can help so much. We all have a spare minute in the day to do something- because something is always better than nothing.