The simple way to exercise when you have no time to exercise

I love snacking. I snack when I’m bored. I snack when I’m tired. I snack when I’m stressed. I snack when I’m hungry and I snack when I’m full. If there’s food in our office, you can count on me being in the general proximity of said food. If only I’d attend the team meetings with the same gusto as I do when food arrives! Well, I do…when the meeting involves food...
 
Surely eating every couple hours can’t be that bad for you, right? Well it is and it isn’t. But that’ll have to be a topic for another time because in this article, I’m going to introduce to you a whole new type of snacking. Except, this is one that I can safely say you might be far more proud to admit to!
 
Bits and Pieces
I am a self-proclaimed exercise snacker. You might be wondering what the heck this is or if this is even a thing. Until recently I didn’t know there was a name for what I’d been doing. I’ve always been relatively active. But somewhere along the way I must’ve decided it was much easier to have time for exercise when I could just sprinkle physical activity around evenly throughout the day. I do this with strength training, I do this with cardio and I do this with flexibility and stretching. And this, my friend, is what I call snacking on exercise.
 
The dreaded long workout
I may be all into this whole healthy living thing but I’m still human and therefore not too different than most. When it comes to a long workout on my schedule, I often get the same sinking feeling of complete dread that everyone else does. I know how great exercise can make you feel and I know all the benefits. I get all that. But if I can somehow delay a workout, I will.
 
I’m not much of a procrastinator by nature but when it comes to a grueling session, a whole new side of me emerges. So I am incredibly grateful that I discovered this alternative way to meet the current exercise guidelines each day. And for me at least, it’s a far less painful, less dreaded way…

What does it mean to snack on exercise?
It means working exercise into your day rather than the other way around. It means moving whenever you get a chance rather than just moving for a set amount of time at a set hour each day. For this to work, you need a certain level of mindfulness and awareness. You need to keep your eyes open for opportunities to get up and get moving!
 
Now I’m not saying that for this to work you need to become obsessive and just start moving around all the time. I imagine that would quickly become very annoying to those unfortunate people in your general proximity. Surely they’d begin to think you overdosed on caffeine or sugar or something, or that your ADD pills ran out.
 
You don’t have to be moving every chance you get and you don’t need to ever feel guilty for sitting down and relaxing when you need to. Snacking on exercise just means that rather than devoting an entire block of time to just exercise, you can choose to scatter it throughout the day, if that works better for you and your busy schedule. It’s just an option and it’s one more way to be less sedentary. Something is always better than nothing.
 
Does it work?
If you’re looking to get totally buff, then you might need more than exercise snacking. In fact you might need a whole six-course meal loaded with extras. But if you’re just looking to stay active, to meet current guidelines, to maintain a basic level of fitness and to stay toned, then this might just be enough. More and more research is beginning to show the benefits of short bursts of high intensity exercise.
 
 In my case, I’ve noticed no decline in my fitness levels when I started exercising this way. If anything, I’m a bit more toned, probably because I end up exercising a little more than I did when I just set aside limited blocks of time to exercise.
 
Benefits of Snacking on Exercise
New research is claiming that multitasking isn’t really possible after all. They say that in order to really perform one task well you must give it your full attention. But when this comes to exercise, I beg to differ. I would argue that walking meetings are not just possible but even more effective in some ways than standard sit-down meetings. I’d argue that some of my toughest yet most effective phone calls at work have been while I was simultaneously using my resistance bands or while out on a walk. I’d also say that I focus a lot better on a television show while I’m engaging in a workout (perhaps because of the increased blood flow to my brain?).
 
As long as you’re paying enough attention so you don’t go sliding off your treadmill, I’d say that multitasking with exercise can be a pretty good way to save time and hit multiple goals at once.

Some of the benefits that I’ve found with exercise snacking include:

• It saves time in a busy schedule.
  
• I procrastinate less since I don’t dread a few minutes of movement here and there.
• I move more frequently, which helps keep my energy levels stay steady throughout the day.
  
• It wakes me up when I feel my afternoon slump coming on.
  
• It keeps my metabolism revved up all day.
• It helps me manage my stress levels. There’s nothing like taking a brisk walk right after an intense conversation, to help me cool down and regain my composure and focus.

 
Exercise Snacking Tips

• Be familiar with different types of workouts that you can do with minimal equipment.
  
• Start slow: don’t do too much in a given day if you’re new at exercising.
• Try to still keep track of how much exercising you’re doing. Current guidelines say you should try to get around 30 minutes of moderate activity each day. If you’re just starting to be more active, you can gradually work up to this.
  
• Do what you find enjoyable…and do it often! I enjoy using resistance bands, I enjoy going for walks and I enjoy stretching. I even enjoy using my dumbbells on a winter day inside when I’m chilled, to help warm me up!
  
• Discover which workouts make you feel good afterwards.
  
• Seize every single opportunity to move. This requires awareness and mindfulness.
• Add music for quick spurts of activity, to make it more fun. An average song is about 3 minutes long. Listen and move to 10 songs per day and you’ve met your daily workout goal!
  

 
My favorite “snack” times

• During phone calls (this can be either work or leisure calls)
• In between periods of sitting at my desk
  
• While I’m preparing food
• While brushing my teeth (squats!)
• When I’m listening to music
• Walking meetings at work

 
Final Words
By the end of the day, you might just discover that you’ve moved far more than you realized, and far more than if you had just blocked off a single 45-minute block of time. Our ancestors didn’t necessarily allocate a special time of day just to move their bodies. Their lives required them to be active throughout the day, every time the need arose. We’re living in those same bodies today, but in a modern world. Snacking on exercise is just one more way to mimic the lives of our ancestors, to better align our bodies with our natural environments.
 
Most of us already have the food snacking thing down pat. Do you think you can become an exercise snacker? Why or why not? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!