Daily minimal workouts totaling 10 minutes can effectively strengthen the entire body.
Subtitle: Discover the benefits of exercise snacking and how to create a simple, effective routine with minimal equipment.
In the quest for improved health and fitness, it's not always necessary to dedicate lengthy hours to gym sessions or invest in heavy equipment. The concept of exercise snacking, short bursts of high-intensity physical activity, has gained popularity as a practical and time-efficient approach to maintaining overall well-being.
By structuring short, frequent bouts of exercise throughout your day, you can reap the benefits of Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA), a scientifically-backed method that has shown improvements in cardiovascular health with as little as 1.5 to 4 minutes of intense activity daily [1].
Choosing simple bodyweight exercises that engage multiple muscle groups is key to maximising the effect. Common good choices include squats, push-ups, planks or core exercises, lunges, and glute bridges. These exercises require no equipment and can be done anywhere, making them highly accessible and easy to adhere to [2][5].
To ensure a well-rounded routine, incorporating variety is crucial. This can be achieved by adding dynamic stretches or walking breaks with increased pace to reduce sedentary time and improve flexibility alongside strength [3].
Setting reminders or scheduling mini sessions throughout your workday or routine helps maintain consistency. Even if you can only manage every hour or two, this still benefits overall health and well-being [2].
Recommended equipment to enhance your routine includes resistance bands, a yoga or exercise mat, and a pull-up bar (optional). Resistance bands are lightweight, portable, and add intensity for strength exercises. A mat provides a comfortable surface for floor-based exercises, while a pull-up bar offers upper body strength options if you have the space [5].
Starting with manageable intensities and durations is essential, then gradually increasing repetitions or circuit rounds as your fitness improves. The goal is consistency and energy boost, not exhaustive workouts each time [1][2].
Araceli De Leon, an ACE-certified health coach and personal trainer, suggests that just 10 minutes of exercise a day can help one get fitter and stronger. For beginners, favourable bodyweight exercises include squats, lunges, planks, and push-ups (from knees if needed). As one gets stronger, equipment like resistance bands, mini loops, dumbbells, or at-home suspension trainers can be added [4].
The ACE Exercise Library is a useful resource for creating workouts or getting ideas, and it can be filtered by muscle group, equipment, and goal to build mini workouts. For a five to 10-minute workout, incorporating a warm-up and cool-down into the session, rather than adding extra time, is recommended [4].
Building a habit is key to seeing results with exercise snacking. For a warm-up, De Leon suggests focusing on two minutes of arm movements like arm circles and other light, dynamic moves like marching in place and gentle squats. For a cool-down, she recommends focusing on two minutes of focused breathing and gentle stretches like forward fold, chest opener, or seated twist to bring your heart rate back down [4].
Once you've got the hang of your mini workouts, De Leon suggests progressing by increasing the sets, repetitions, intensity, adding intervals, or alternating between cardio, strength, and mobility-focused mini workouts [4].
By integrating multiple short bouts of bodyweight exercises, optionally enhanced with simple gear like resistance bands and a mat, your exercise snacking routine can efficiently improve cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility, and metabolic wellbeing without requiring lengthy gym sessions or heavy equipment [1][3][5].
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5676439/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6142442/ [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5836304/ [4] https://www.acefitness.org/acefit/exercisedatabase/ [5] https://www.yes4all.com/
- Incorporating yoga and core exercises, like planks, into your exercise snacking routine can help improve flexibility alongside strength, providing a well-rounded approach to your fitness-and-exercise regimen.
- For those seeking to enhance their bodyweight exercises, scientific progress has shown that cardio activities, such as vigorous walks or jogs, can be added to exercise snacking, contributing to improvements in cardiovascular health.
- To further boost the health-and-wellness benefits of your exercise snacking routine, consider pairing bodyweight workouts with science-backed methods, such as the Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA) approach, which promotes short bursts of high-intensity exercise for impactful results with minimal time commitment.
