For busy folks, 'Exercise Snacking' seems to be the fitness mantra, so how about a sandwich stretch, crunchy cookie break or ‘side curl’ for starters, extra toppings come for free
Nobody ever thought 'snacking' and 'exercising' would be so much fun. Yes, you heard it right – exercise snacking is the latest go-to fitness mantra for busy bees. Just like your favourite pack of crunchy cookies, (we mean crunches). You just need 2-3 minutes of power-packed simple exercises to snack on and stay fit. This technique proves beneficial for working professionals, homemakers and even youth who love snacking!
24x7 Active
“Simply put, exercise snacking promotes the idea of staying active throughout the day,” says Shivangi Sarda, Strength & Conditioning and Marathon Coach. These exercise bites could be inclusive of anything from five-minute walk breaks to choosing to take the stairs over the escalator or quick 5–10-minute bodyweight exercises. Shivangi particularly highlights that exercise snacking should be a must for professionals who otherwise find no time for fitness. She says, “For many it's more about the shorter time frames that makes it easier to adopt and get at, allowing them to be consistent while fostering some sense of achievement towards their goals.”
Science & Psyche
Studies indicate that these power-packed bites of exercise snacks target two important components per se. The first being cardiovascular health along with components of one’s metabolic health. Both these areas have direct links with Type-2 diabetes and heart-related conditions. Suggesting that these bits of exercising should be incorporated by all, especially those who may not have enough time to devote to fitness due to tedious schedules.
Forget tedious endless gym workouts, exercise snacking is more about diving into spurts of exercise or exercise packets. Do the math: Three 10-minute packets = 30-minute gym workout! - Prableen Kaur, Fitness Creator & Coach from Mumbai says,
“It’s just about breaking down physical activity into smaller bite-sized chunks that are easier to incorporate into busy and busty lifestyles.”
Breaking Myths
There was a time when a gym was considered as a ‘sacrosanct-must’ to meet your fitness goals. However, that certainly has taken a back seat today. Prableen says, “This is certainly not true.” She explains, “If you have 2-minutes throughout your work schedule to go grab a snack from the refrigerator, then you have to invest the same 2-minutes in ‘exercise snack’. Perhaps a few squats or push ups or burpees.”
However, Prableen cautions about im-plementing the exercise snacking me-thod wisely. “You would have to be consistent with it for the first three to five days until the body adapts to this new form of snacking amidst breaks only then would this fit in well as a permanent addition to one’s schedule.”
Take A Bite
It’s important that as one decides to incorporate forms of exercise, each muscle too, gets its due share worked out. Shivangi opines that to yield maximum benefits of such exercise spurts, it’s imperative one focuses on different movements of the body parts. Hitting each of that bone, joint and muscle that has been sitting there for long waiting to be hyped up. “Targeting multiple muscles in a limited amount of time is the key,” adds Shivangi.
It’s as simple as this, take for instance you have an exercise-snack packed for around 15 minutes. You could have it pumped up with compound movements such as squats, push-ups, roll ups along with shorter durations of planks. These exercises require no additional equipment yet help maximise efficiency by having several muscle groups worked out simultaneously, all in one go!
Prableen speaks of possible challenges of exercise snacking. ““The very first thought that would pop in anyone’s mind is- how would just a few minutes of exercising help achieve my fitness goals?” Prableen quips here reiterating the phrase, “Boond boond se sagar banta hai.”
Extra Toppings
Exercise snacking serves the purpose provided you have a healthy lifestyle. This includes cleaner eating habits to see faster, long-lasting results.
“We think home food is healthy. It is certainly a better alternative than street food but here it’s all about finding the right balance,” adds Prableen. Emphasising that it’s those small little choices in terms of food or incorporating bites of exercising that count. So, just hop, skip, jump, push, pull or crawl to grab a bite of your well-earned exercise snack!
