Exercise “snacks” require no gym membership, special shoes, or other equipment and have minimal time commitments
“It’s a very pragmatic approach,” says Daniel Moore, associate professor of muscle physiology at the University of Toronto, Canada, who led the 2022 study on snacking and muscle health during exercise. Stated.
Science has shown that the physiological effects of exercise snacks can rival those of longer sessions of brisk walking or other traditional exercise. There are many different types, from low-key chair squats. You don’t need a gym membership, special shoes, or other equipment for such “snacks.” Office attire is optional but fine. Also, the time commitment is minimal.
But to get the most out of snacking during exercise, it helps to understand when, where, and why you should take snack breaks.
By definition, exercise snacks are short pieces of exercise, usually lasting a minute or two, that you can indulge in frequently throughout the day. According to a 2022 review of exercise snacking studies, it represents a “doable, well-tolerated, and time-efficient approach to working out.”
Small amounts of exercise snacks can be very powerful when cumulative.
A leading 2019 study found that healthy college students snacked on exercise by quickly ascending and descending a three-step staircase three times a day, in the morning, lunch break, and late afternoon, nearly every day for six weeks.
It didn’t work otherwise. After six weeks, however, they had gained a significant amount of aerobic fitness and leg strength.
Similarly, some of the same exercise researchers performed a single 10-minute period of intense interval training on a stationary bicycle in the lab, or stopped by the lab every few hours and pedaled vigorously at intervals of about 1 minute. When people were asked to row, the groups’ fitness gains were about equal after 6 weeks.
Snacking during exercise was just as effective as longer, more traditional exercise.
Exercise snacks can solve sitting problems
Exercise snacks may help mitigate the negative effects of too much sitting.
Multiple studies reinforce the idea that we should spend less time sitting. In his famous 2008 study, no matter how much volunteers exercised, those who sat for hours on end had much higher rates of blood sugar and cholesterol problems than those who got up and moved frequently. I got sick.
Recently, researchers found that the downsides of sitting for long periods of time for metabolic health are so severe that they may almost offset the health benefits of daily exercise. .
But taking a snack break from exercise can break your sitting time. Moore emphasized that idea in his 2022 study, which he led. In this study, 12 healthy young men and women sat all day with few interruptions other than bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he and his colleagues monitored how well their muscles were utilizing protein from their diet.
Previous studies have shown that prolonged inactivity strains muscles. A 2019 study found that the young man, who reduced his usual daily steps for a week and instead sat, experienced a rapid increase in his muscles’ ability to absorb and use amino acids, the building blocks of protein, from the bloodstream. significantly decreased.
Without enough amino acids, muscles cannot repair and build effectively.
In Moore’s study, adding a molecular tracer to the protein powder consumed showed that people’s leg muscles were less able to gulp down amino acids after sitting non-stop all day.
However, the same volunteers were able to sit up the next day either by walking for 2 minutes every 30 minutes or by standing up from a chair and standing on their toes and performing a squat in a chair to activate many of the leg muscles. I spread out my time. Their muscles were able to absorb and take in more amino acids from the bloodstream than they could while sitting.
The findings are “significant,” said Brian Carson, an exercise scientist at the University of Limerick who studies exercise snacks but was not involved in the study. Squatting worked just as well as snacking.
“It adds to the set of options for people” who might want to snack during their workout, he said.
Office squats or jumping jacks?
To try exercise snacks for yourself this year, first consider which snacks best fit your schedule and preferences. Stair climbing? A two-minute hallway excursion? 15 chair squats? With the office door closed, does he have 12 jumping jacks?
“Almost any activity that gets you up and moving” can be an exercise treat, says Moore. Ideally, the activity should temporarily raise your heart rate and breathing, last 1-2 minutes, and if possible be done frequently every 30 minutes. , eat snacks depending on how busy or inspired you are.
So in 2023, you may have to resolve to jump around in your cubicle more, hike in your living room, or squat in the back of an airplane during a long flight.
“The great thing about exercise snacks is that it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing or where you are,” says Moore. Suitable for snacks anytime, anywhere.
Have a fitness question? e-mail YourMove@washpost.com I may answer your question in a future column.
