Exercise Snacks: Everyday Movement
This week I was talking with another trainer, and asking her about whether she trained her clients the way she trained herself. She laughed, and said no, never.
This trainer is an older woman, and like many of the older women I know working in fitness, she is a beast. Her mobility, her strength, her overall tone and confidence in her movement are impeccable. She trains many clients with complex issues, such as disabilities, injuries, severe limitations. In fact, I would say 80% of her clients are over the age of 65, and about 50% have had a brush with cancer, major surgery, or debilitating illness. In many ways, it would make sense that she doesn't structure her workouts in the same way.
So I continued to pry, as I am prone to doing, and it turns out she doesn't really "train" at all. She does a few pull-ups on a bar in her kitchen while she waits for water to boil. She does push-ups during commercials. She squats or hinges while she's on hold on the phone. On top of this more intentional movement, as a trainer working more that twenty clients a week, she is just generally very active.
And this gave me a lot of food for thought.
The New York Times has written repeatedly about exercise "snacks," or doing short little workouts throughout your day. There has also been a study from 2024 that has been circulating online recently about how interrupting your sitting with short walks or squats helps control blood sugar. There hasn't been a study I could find regarding muscle growth in small bursts of activity, but I know that from a skill perspective, if you want to squat or push-up or pull-up or hand stand really well, doing it a few times a day is the way to lock in form. And as far as hypertrophy goes, there doesn't seem to be a restriction on timing, only on stimulating the muscle with enough volume to trigger the body to grow. So theoretically, it shouldn't matter if you're doing 3-5 sets of a movement within an hour workout, or over the course of your day, you should still be growing muscle as long as you are working that muscle sufficiently.
It isn't a new idea to use exercise throughout the day, to take little walks or squat while you're on the phone or get a walking pad. A whole industry exists around home workouts and quick exercise tools or programs to get you your "best" body in just a few minutes a day.
But I want to blow up this idea and talk about how it could work in your life.
Intentionality matters if "snacks" are your only form of movement.
If you are going to use short bursts of movement instead of dedicated workouts, you are going to have to have a plan, and you need a clear goal for a good plan.
If your goal is just to move more and be healthier, then anything can go, so I won't delve too deeply into that. Just move! Walk. Squat. Push ups from the counter while you're cooking. Walking while you talk on the phone. Stretch while you watch TV.
But if you want to build full body muscle, you might want to take a more balanced approach. I would recommend having an assigned day for major movement patterns. Mondays you "snack" on push-ups and squats. Tuesdays on a hip bridge and pulling movement. Wednesdays on lunges and biceps, etc. Let me know if this idea appeals to you, I'm thinking of putting together a program for this.
Use "snacks" to supplement other workouts.
My preferred use for the "snacking" method would be to supplement a couple of more structured workouts. Lift once a week, cardio session once a week, and lots of snacks each day, if you are time restricted.
I've talked a lot on this blog about how to get fitness into a busy life. I think if you can't workout as much as you would like, but still manage to get a few times a week in, "snacks" could be the little piece that completes the whole puzzle for you.
Identify a weak spot in your current workouts. Are you getting all cardio and no strength? Snack on strength. All strength and no cardio? Just get your heart rate up. Have a good balance, but never make time for mobility and stretching? Stretch out one muscle every hour or two.
Tips and Suggestions
Do some squats or short walks after meals to counter the harmful effects of excessive sitting.
Do skill work with short sessions. If you want to get a push-up from the floor, it will help a lot to be doing some push-ups most days to build the strength and cement the movement pattern in your nervous system. I always say you need to do something about 500 times to get the form locked in, and if you're doing 20 push-ups every day in bursts of 4-6, you'll get there a lot faster than if you did push-ups once a week. So if you're really antsy to improve a particular movement pattern, this could be a huge help to you.
Have a step goal (a lot of people go for 10,000 steps a day, but if you are currently sedentary, 7-8,000 is an amazing place to start, and won't have you walking for forty minutes at 10pm), and celebrate every time you get 100 or 200 steps walking to get another cup of coffee, or put away an item in another room. Bring extra joy to your day!
Use snacks to increase mobility. Do a deep squat, some stretches, some hip mobility drills, some chest and shoulder openers. Do a 10 minute yoga video.
Do your physical therapy exercises. If you've gone to a physical therapist, they have probably given you a lovely list of exercises that you forget to actually do. Just do one round! This is a great way to get those movements in that help with your unique body's needs without taking time away from other workouts, and without having to grind away at it for thirty minutes a day.
Keep your "tools" in a convenient place. A couple of adjustable dumbbells. Some resistance bands. A walking pad. Just keep it close to where you work. Keep it by the couch so you can do it while you watch TV. Eliminate the friction of getting your equipment out by keeping it very close. If clutter doesn't trigger you, even keeping it out and visible can help.
That's all I have this week! Do you "snack" or do you prefer to have a more intentional, devoted workout sessions? Tell me what this looks like for you!
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