The concept of Exercise Snacking is a fairly new one as far as mainstream training ideologies and has been gaining traction within the fitness industry over recent years.

We all know that we need to stay active and exercise regularly to maintain a long a healthy life or at least I hope we all know this!

Concepts 

• 30 / 60 minutes of daily exercise broken up into 2/6 smaller chunks
• Maintain a good level of cardio & resistance/bodyweight
• Make it fit your daily life

Opinions of type and frequency of the exercise we perform vary from person to person but the government recommended guidelines for exercise are:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking every week and.
• Strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms)

Looking at these recommendations we probably automatically think we should break them down into your week as follows:

150 Minutes = 2x 60 Minute sessions & 1x 30 Minute Session

If this fits your daily routine, exercise habits and you can commit 60 minutes of your time to the gym on most visits …AWESOME!

But what if you cannot commit 60 minutes of your day to exercise all at once are you wasting your time?

No, of course, you aren’t wasting your time but you may need to plan your regular activity to the guidelines of exercise snacking discussed in this article.

Exercise Snacking

The concept of “Exercise Snacking” is a fairly new one as far as mainstream training ideologies and has been gaining traction within the fitness industry over recent years.

If you are looking to maintaining your health and fitness but do not have the schedule to allow for long gym based sessions exercise snacking may be your answer and I will aim to explain how you can simply introduce this into your life.

The first step to implementing the concept of exercise snacking into your daily life is to workout REALISTICALLY how much time you can commit to exercise throughout your entire week and how much on each specific day.

This can be:

• 20 Minutes before work and 10 minutes at lunch
• 10 Minutes every 2/3 Hours
• 5 Minutes when you wake up, 15 Minutes at Lunch & 10 Minutes after work

It does not matter how much total time you have each day or how many times a day you can commit, just make sure that whatever you plan to do is realistic and achievable.

Planning to do three 30 minute session in a day when you know you only have 45 total minutes to exercise that day is setting yourself up to fail.

Make Positive Choices

The second step to maintain your health through this process is to ‘Make Positive Choices’, which simply put means, be as active as you can in your everyday tasks.

It is extremely simple and we have all heard the cliché but effective suggestions: — take the stairs not the lift/elevator

• Walk to the local shop don’t take the car
• Get off the bus a stop early,

They all seem extremely obvious but choices like this combined over a day, a week and a month all add up to substantial extra calories burned and increased health-boosting activity.

Planning your new exercise plan into your daily schedule is the last step in setting yourself up for success. You have already worked out when and how much time you have each day to dedicate to your exercise plan.

Time management is important

I would recommend treating your training session the same as any other appointment in your diary, doing this will help you to see these sessions as a fixed part of your day. Time management is important to keep your whole day on track and ensure you are accomplishing what you need to every day, making your training sessions part of this plan of action will have you reaping the benefits in no time.

The longer you maintain adherence to your weekly planned training sessions the more they become a ‘Habit’ and when we make an action a habit it becomes a set part of our routine. The less you have to think about exercising and the more you exercise out of ‘Habit’ the easier you life will be!

Take 20 minutes on a Sunday evening (or anytime set time each week) to sit down with your diary or weekly plan and set your training sessions in place for the week ahead.

Happy Snacking!!!