Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels
Lately, I’ve been relishing my weekly yoga classes. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt my joints start to ache in new ways, my flexibility disappearing, and my energy levels decreasing. I still try to walk or jog every single day, but I was not doing any weight-bearing exercises, and that was beginning to catch up with my aging body.
One day, I decided to sign up for a community yoga class. The studio had a brightly colored mural full of butterflies, flowers, and bees. The class itself was clean and relaxing. As I unrolled my yoga mat and began to take deep breaths alongside my fellow yoga mates, I could already feel the stresses and strains of the week begin to melt away.
Even though this particular yoga class was marketed as a slow flow session, I was still sweating and feeling my muscles quaking midway through a vinyasa. Whenever I felt my quads begin to give out, I breathed in deep to steady myself and then finished the flow. At the end of class, when every one of my bones and muscles unfurled during the most delicious shavasna ever, I inhaled deeply and felt utterly at peace.
The benefits of that session didn’t end at that class, though. Throughout the rest of the week, I felt a bit more spring in my step and fewer creaks in my knees as I went down the stairs to my basement to do laundry.
As I got a few more classes under my belt, I wanted to do even more of this type of exercise. I was looking for something that would continue to work my muscles and increase my flexibility. Sadly, I just couldn’t afford to pay for more than one class per week. Of course, I could find plenty of free yoga classes online, including from my favorite yoga teacher, Adriene Mischler, but I was having some kind of block to adding one more yoga session to my weekly exercise routine.
I blocked time in my calendar, and I set out my yoga mat. Everything was set for me to just do it, but something always came up. I had a hard editing session to do, dinner to prep, books to read, TikToks to watch, laundry to do. There was never time to fit in that second weekly session that I wanted to do.
And then my health coach mentioned the idea of “exercise snacks.” These were small two-minute exercise sessions where you got your body moving without the need for equipment or a gym. You could climb stairs, do lunges or chair squats, or simply run around your house. No need to even put on your sneakers.
And that, my friends, was exactly what I needed. I was able to fit in these small two-minute bursts of activity, and now I feel so much better. I didn’t need to find an entire hour or shell out more money to get my second weekly exercise session in. I can just add in two-minute exercise breaks throughout my day in addition to my daily walks and jogs.
The beauty of these little snacks is that I actually look forward to them since they also give me a break from work and help to get the blood pumping. After I finish each snack, I feel energized and ready to jump back into work.
If you’re struggling to find time to fit in one more exercise session into your weekly exercise routine, why not give exercise snacks a try?
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