The Best Time To Start + Exercise Snacks

May 08, 2023

Happy Monday!

Today at a glance:

  • A mindset shift about the ideal time to get in shape

  • A cool evidence-based technique for efficient exercise

A Quote:

Fitness Tip

Most people are familiar with the advantages of High-intensity interval training, and these workouts are a great option for busy people who want efficient exercise without spending hours in the gym.

But I bet you haven’t heard of an exercise snack.

An “Exercise snack” is when you do brief spurts of high-intensity exercise, but instead of happening in a 15- 25-minute span, they’re spread throughout your day.

“You’re not restructuring your day around exercise. You’re restructuring exercise into your day.”

Matthew Stork, UBC School of Health and Exercise Sciences

In research done by exercise scientists at the University of British Columbia, these exercise snacks were found to be as effective as traditional HIIT for aerobic training.

How to use Exercise Snacks

They could be anything - getting up from your desk and doing 20 burpees, sprinting up the stairs at the office, or jumping jacks, high knees, or mountain climbers.

Any movement that gets your heart rate up that you can throw in throughout your day can work.

They can be between 20 seconds to a minute.

So for the “I don’t have time to exercise” folks out there, — now you have to justify that your life is so busy that you can’t find 3-4 20-second chunks for exercise snacks.

It might seem not worth doing, but imagine how four daily exercise snacks might add up over a year.

Learn more about the research here.

An Idea

The Worst Time is the Best time

I’m about to start working with a new client this week.

At first glance, his situation may not seem ideal for a new fitness program: he’s got a baby at home and is starting a new job.

It’s these seasons of life that cause most people to put off other habits for later — a point in the future when they’ll have more time and energy.

But he said something insightful during our first call together.

When talking about a forever habit — a habit that only has value if done consistently (like exercising) — you’ll need a system to fit it into your life no matter how busy you are.

No matter how inconvenient it is.

And the best time to create a sustainable model for an important habit that can weather life’s busy storms is when you’re incredibly busy.

That’s a resilient model.

In this sense, the “worst time” to start a new habit is the best time.

It’s a phase when you will figure out a solution that will work long-term, not just when everything is sunshine and roses and you have oodles of free time at your disposal.

If you’re too busy to start something important to you, flip the switch in your thinking.

See it as the perfect opportunity to create a resilient system to incorporate this habit into your life.

The worst time to start is the best time.

When you’re ready, here’s how you can work with me.

I want to help you build sustainable habits to optimize your health, fitness, & mindset so you can thrive in life.

If you’re tired of spinning your tires, failing to get results, and wondering what you’re doing wrong, apply for 1-1 coaching now.

Results are guaranteed.

You’ll hit your goals, or I’ll work with you for free until you do.