Snacking

For those who celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Hopefully, you got to enjoy some family time and treats.

With New Year’s right around the corner, I wanted to take a couple of minutes today to discuss one of my favorite topics.

Snacking.

But not the kind of snacking you’re expecting.

Exercise snacking.

There’s a growing body of research that intermittent, short bouts of exercise throughout the day can result in surprising improvements in your overall fitness and cardiovascular health.

In fact, according to a study published this year in the Journal of Applied Physiology, performing a 2-minute walk -- or a quick set of exercises such as squats -- can offset the effects of a half hour of sitting.

That’s huge!

The first big study on the benefits of “exercise snacking” was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2017. The research showed that otherwise sedentary women who climbed stairs for just 20 seconds at a time, with rest, boosted their fitness levels by 12% in six weeks.

What can we learn from this?

Of course, it’s ideal to follow a complete, well-designed training program with your coach a few times a week … all in one shot.

But what if life gets in the way and you can’t do “ideal” today?

You can still get some amazing benefits from doing a few short bouts of squats, lunges, push-ups, or sit-ups whenever you have a couple of minutes throughout the day.

It might be a little embarrassing the first time you bear-crawl to the water cooler at the office … but when your co-workers see what great shape you’re getting in, chances are they’ll want to join you.

So don’t take the all-or-nothing approach. Start snacking on exercise and enjoy all the benefits.