I’ve been on a health journey for quite a few years now and I’m still working to make improvements in that area.
One simple thing I’ve been trying to incorporate is the idea of movement snacks.
This concept is something I ran across in a YouTube short, but it made such immediate sense to me.
I had already set an intention to eat fewer snacks between meals and to also move more.
It’s an “easy” switch to do a little movement instead of having a snack.
So what am I doing for these movement snacks?
I wish the weather was nice enough to go on walks, but it’s January so that’s not possible.
Instead, I queue up a walking video. I’ve been enjoying the channel Get Fit with Rick, because he gives the walking a little dance element, which makes it fun. He also films in Dubai overlooking the city and the water, so the scenery is gorgeous. It’s like a tiny, dance/walk vacation.
Inspired by the channel Midlife Shuffle, I’ve also been trying to learn to shuffle dance. It’s quite a workout! I feel heavy, awkward and out of breath when I practice, but it’s fun.
Ideally, I’d like to have a movement snack mid-morning, mid-afternoon and also in the evening. I’ve never done that many in a day before though.
My daily workout
I’m still doing FasterWay workouts first thing in the morning. I highly recommend this program, because it builds in HIIT training, strength training, flexibility and more. Consistently doing these workouts has made a huge difference in my health!
FasterWay has a new 6 week new client session starting January 27. Find out more at this link (this is an affiliate link – sharing because I truly love and use this program!)
What works for you?
I’d love to know how you get movement into your day. Let me know what’s working for you!
Movement snacks….never heard of it, but sounds like a neat idea. I recently watched a webinar about the benefits for non-exercisers if they incorporate as little as 4-5 minutes a day of intense movement, like running up and down stairs. Also in the webinar, they talked about the recommendation of 150-300 minutes of exercise a week lining up with benefits according to research, but exercising more than that didn't increase the benefits. My current weight loss journey has focused mostly on the nutrition and I've lost several pounds from that, but am now trying to incorporate a variety of exercise to help me reach my goal. I really like doing Pilates with Jessica Valant. I've been working my way through her beginner playlist. My new discovery is Jump&Jacked. They are mini trampoline workouts. I've only done a couple from the beginner playlist and enjoyed them. I tried a couple workouts from Caroline Girvan. Even though I started with the Beginner Epic, I don't think I'm even ready for the beginner level with her. In a newsletter from Empty Nest Blessed, Suzy mentioned workouts from Body Projects. So I looked into the free version. I will try them out this week. I'm not ready for everyday workouts so I'm doing Pilates on Tuesday, Body Project on Thursday in place of the Girvan workouts and Jump&Jacked on Friday. All of these things are on YouTube. I occasionally walk on the treadmill for about 10 minutes at a time as it has been very cold outside. Once it warms up again, I'll be able to start walking the dog again. I also co-teach a weekly Zumba class so I try to spend a few minutes working on my routines. Maybe that has been my movement snack, it just didn't have a name. But based on that webinar, I want to start tracking to see how many minutes I'm actually doing in a week and try to consistently get into the 150-300 range and try to boost intensity where possible, even for a few minutes. They also mentioned that minutes were more important than steps. Here's to a year of being intentional with movement in whatever form it comes in.
Nikki, thanks for sharing all those resources! I haven’t heard of most of those and I bet they will be helpful to others too!