Exercise Snacking: Yes, You Can Fit In Time To Exercise
Josh Allen • December 4, 2019
If you are someone who struggles to accomplish regular exercise because of the time and the set-up required this quick article is for you!
One of the biggest reasons why people do not exercise comes down to lack of time and poor organization. Even though I am the owner of a health club, I too have many times where I have not exercised because of the time required. I’m just too busy with work and other life obligations and exercise ends up taking the back seat. Then there are days, because I am not organized, I fail to complete any exercise at all. This usually happens if I did not pack the right clothes to exercise in or I did not look at my schedule the day before to plug in some dedicated time.
The problem, however, is NOT that we do not have time or we lack organization skills but rather we think in order to exercise effectively we need the stars and moon to be aligned in the perfect way. The reality is our week may only have a few time blocks where we could allocate 1 to 2 hours for exercise (commute, exercise, shower, eat, etc). While this is better than nothing, most of us can barely afford 1 to 2 hour blocks let alone exercise most days like we SHOULD be doing to be healthy and reach fitness-related goals.
If this scenario sounds familiar to you let me introduce the concept of ‘Exercise Snacking’. It will blow you away because it is so easy!
Let me first clear the air by saying what you do NOT need to exercise:
60 to 120 minutes of dedicated time
Sneakers, shorts and t-shirt
A gym or equipment
If you are like most people who make excuses for not exercising based on time and or lack of organization, anything that is typically seen as needed to exercise is just not necessary If you are someone that only can exercise when the stars are aligned, with a curated music playlist, clean favorite workout clothes ready-to-go, a 15 minute drive to the gym, a long post-workout shower and who struggles to get this time in each day or week then ‘Exercise Snacking’ is here to help.
Exercise snacking is like snacking on food. When you feel hungry you stop what you are doing to grab a snack or a meal. Most of us do this more than three times a day. So, what if when you thought of doing pushups you simply did some pushups? Yes, even without changing into workout clothes! Or what if when you were walking up stairs you ran and did 10 rounds instead of just one? Yes, without a post-workout meal planned after! What if you took your children to the park and instead of looking at the phone you did step-ups on the bench? Yes without a ten-minute warmup on the cardio machine first? What if you did a plank during all the commercials when watching TV? What if in that long line up you stretched your quads? What if every time you walked by that tree branch in the backyard you did or attempted a pullup?
The result would be that you probably accomplished more exercise in a given week than you would if you just waited for the stars to be aligned the right way. The ultimate result is that you are actually living an active lifestyle and closer to reaching your fitness goals.
The concept comes down to any exercise is better than none and exercise can be done anywhere you think of it. This can be as simple as one set of exercises or even a ten-minute routine (rather than the classic 60 minute workout). So next time you are thinking “Oh I should start exercising but I can’t find the time...” stop and do 20 bodyweight squats. Don’t worry about needing weights or having to do a ten-minute warmup on the bike and needing shorts on. Do the squats then and there in your jeans. These small accomplishments have the power to add up and create momentum for making more exercise and a healthier future.
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