Snacks, the new fitness trend
'Fitness snack' or 'Workout snack'? It's not a matter of combining chips, squats and crackers into an amazing circuit training, but rather about the exercise itself to end up with the best healthy "snack."
Fitness snacks is the answer for those who don't find time to move, and who want to fight a sedentary lifestyle. Even better, fitness snacks are also ideal for those who see physical activity as a chore or who simply want to increase their activity level throughout the day.
Fitness snacks: principle
This method suggests doing short sessions of activity when you want to during your day and according to your methods to take advantage of all the benefits of full physical activity.
It's about finding ways to stay active throughout the day and move to benefit your body and soul by adapting to all lifestyles.
It can be as simple as climbing 5 flights of stairs repeatedly, doing a 5-minute stretching session, a few sets of push-ups/pulls to strengthen yourself or even a little sheathing between two phone calls.
The notable benefit is that by spreading short bursts of activity throughout the day, these sports "snacks" provide many health benefits and add up to approximately 30-60 minutes of exercise per day.
More or less intense, with or without equipment, sometimes cardio or reinforcement, the main principle is the following: move. It's enough to nibble on minutes of exercise without realizing it and reach the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week.
Is it as useful as a "full session"?
The best thing about fitness snacking is its practicality. It is possible to accumulate enough more or less intense effort time to replace an endless gym session that can mess up your schedule.
For many, it's also easier to participate in multiple mini-exercises throughout the day. It is a major asset when it comes to maintaining an exercise routine and this habit will make a difference in the long run.
Shorter periods of exercise are more beneficial than a long, sustained bout of exercise in promoting long-term commitment to an exercise program. In short, doing a little during the day will be easier to fit in with a busy schedule of long sessions. People who have adopted this method also have a lot of fun doing every little session without necessarily wearing sports clothes.
It's also a good way to get back into the sport when you don't like the idea of starting a one-hour session.
Depending on the profile, it also turns out that short periods of physical activity (your mini-workouts) can be just as effective as a focused session in terms of physical benefits: weight loss, fitness, reduced stress, risk of death...
Finally, for small flows of more experienced activity throughout the day, it can be a useful way to gradually increase the workload over time and recover better with lower-intensity activity.
Thus, these short “sports breaks” are very effective and allow you to easily reach your quota of daily or weekly physical activity (30 to 45 minutes per day minimum!) without straining yourself in a fun way and keep moving. Choose these breaks instead of cigarette breaks or chocolate bars, for example 😉, they are shorter and better for your health!
In the end, what matters for positive results is building a real habit that adapts to your desires and goals.
How to prepare fitness snacks?
Instead of having to plan a long session, break your exercise routine into several small units throughout the day.
Evaluate your available rest periods (5, 10, 15 minutes) and assign a short session to each session. For example:
- yoga ground _
- stairs
- Stretching in the office
- An afternoon stroll.
- a little bit of reinforcement with a few dips or squats on your chair;
- abdomen.
- Or even go even further by choosing:
- jump rope
- a few sets of push-ups;
- short jog
- stretch [general]
- HIIT session;
- a circle with an elastic band;
- etc.
The possibilities are endless and don't require any physical ability or special equipment.
Depending on your preferences, you can start when you wake up, after eating, at the coffee break in the office (don't forget about the work program!), when you come home in the evening, after dinner, at bedtime ...
During all these periods of available time, you have to see the perfect opportunity to move. The most important thing is to find your rhythm.
As a bonus, consider using Builder, the session builder in your FizzUp app if you have a creative mind 🙂
FizzUp is based on this method: snacks
The days are limited. Maybe you work long hours, travel long distances, or have a lot of responsibilities to cover.
If you feel like you can't include an exercise routine in your daily schedule, don't give up! There's an option you might not have explored: the FizzUp snack program.
An equipment-free exercise program will help you move in portions of just a few minutes and maximize the health benefits of exercise.
In this program, you will be presented with different sets of activities to distribute throughout the day. Each of the exercises is adapted to your level to suit your profile and can be performed in any situation. Depending on your schedule, all you have to do is follow the coach's recommendations, which are very short and very effective.