Try ‘exercise snacking’

By Justin Keogh and Jackson Fyfe

The science is clear: resistance training is crucial to ageing well. Lifting weights (or doing bodyweight exercises like lunges, squats or push-ups) can help you live independently for longer, make your bones stronger, reduce your risk of diseases such as diabetes, and may even improve your sleep and mental health.

But not everyone loves the gym. Perhaps you feel you’re not a ‘gym person’ and never will be, or you’re too old to start. Being a gym-goer can be expensive and time-consuming, and some people report feeling unwelcome or awkward at the gym.

The good news is you don’t need the gym, or lots of free time, to get the health benefits resistance training can offer.

You can try ‘exercise snacking’ instead.

Exercise snacking involves doing multiple shorter bouts (as little as 20 seconds) of exercise throughout the day – often with minimal or no equipment. It’s OK to have several hours of rest between.

You could do simple bodyweight exercises such as: chair sit-to-stand (squats), lunges, box step-ups, calf raises and push-ups.

Exercise snacking like this can help improve muscle mass, strength and physical function.

You can also try using resistance bands or dumbbells to do the previously mentioned five exercises as well as some of the following exercises: seated rows, chest and shoulder presses, bicep curls, knee extensions and leg curls.

Exercise snacking works well when you pair it with an activity you do often throughout the day. Perhaps you could:

– do a few extra squats every time you get up from a bed or chair

– do some lunges during a TV ad break

– chuck in a few half squats while you’re waiting for your kettle to boil

– do a couple of elevated push-ups (where you support your body with your hands on a chair or a bench while doing the push-up) before tucking into lunch

– sneak in a couple of calf raises while you’re brushing your teeth.

One study had older adults without a history of resistance training do exercise snacks at home twice per day for four weeks.

Each session involved five simple bodyweight exercises. The participants did each exercise continuously for one minute, with a one-minute break between exercises.

These short and simple exercise sessions, which lasted just nine minutes, were enough to improve a person’s ability to stand up from a chair by 31 per cent after four weeks (compared to a control group who didn’t exercise). Leg power and thigh muscle size improved, too.

Research has also shown older adults found ‘exercise snacking’ feasible and enjoyable when done at home either once, twice, or three times per day for four weeks.

Exercise snacking may be a more sustainable approach to improve muscle health in those who don’t want to – or can’t – lift heavier weights in a gym.

Very brief resistance training, albeit with heavier weights, may be more enjoyable than traditional approaches where people aim to do many, many sets.

Brief-and-frequent exercise sessions can also break up periods of sedentary behaviour (which usually means sitting too much). Too much sitting increases your risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, whereas exercise snacking can help keep your blood sugar levels steady.

Of course, longer-term studies are needed. But the evidence we do have suggests exercise snacking really helps.

As you age, you lose strength and mass in the muscles you use to walk, or stand up. Everyday tasks can become a struggle.

All this contributes to disability, hospitalisation, chronic disease, and reliance on community and residential aged care support.

By preserving your muscle mass and strength, you can: reduce joint pain, get on with activities you enjoy, live independently in your own home, delay or even eliminate the need for expensive health care or residential aged care.

Walking may maintain some level of lower body muscle mass, but it won’t preserve your upper body muscles.

If you find it difficult to get out of a chair, or can only walk short distances without getting out of breath, resistance training is the best way to regain some of the independence and function you’ve lost.

It’s even more important for women, as muscle mass and strength are typically lower in older women than men. And if you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis, which is more common in older women than men, resistance exercise snacking at home can improve your balance, strength, and bone mineral density. All of this reduces the risk of falls and fractures.

You don’t need heavy weights or fancy equipment to benefit from resistance training.

Justin Keogh is Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University and Jackson Fyfe is Senior Lecturer, Strength and Conditioning Sciences, Deakin University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence