Exercise Snacking: The ‘Little Bit a Lot’ Approach to Physical Activity

While it’s no secret physical activity is one of the most important ways to maintain good health, fitting in regular movement is easier said than done, especially as we age.

To make exercise more accessible, “exercise snacking” is growing in popularity for older adults in particular. The idea is to incorporate small bursts of activity into your everyday routine.

These “snacks” of activity can involve movement that already occurs in your daily life – things like getting up and down from a chair multiple times or doing weight shifts while washing dishes.

“This is what I like to call the ‘little bit a lot’ approach,” says Peter Vander Weide, a physical therapist at Care Resources in Grand Rapids who has been a clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy for 20 years. “You’re more likely to do it because you don’t consider it a formal exercise program. Rather, you’re just doing a little more activity than you normally do each day. It’s a mental shift.”

There’s also the convenience of not needing any special equipment and being able to exercise snack anywhere spontaneously throughout your day. As it turns out, a “little bit a lot” adds up. According to the National Council on Aging, recent research has shown exercise snacks can lead to “significant health gains.”

From his decades supporting older adults, Vander Weide can’t emphasize enough the need to stay active.

“As we get older, our connective tissue becomes inflexible and we gradually lose muscle with aging, which is called Sarcopenia,” he says. “Some sources say people can experience 50% muscle loss by 80 years old.”

But the benefits of achieving regular physical activity are plentiful, Vander Weide notes.

“Regular physical activity will help you maintain maximum strength and improve circulation, digestion, respiratory function and flexibility while reducing joint pain,” he says. “Then there’s the impact on mental health. Exercise increases levels of serotonin and helps the body release endorphins that are better than eating a piece of chocolate. These decrease pain, depression and anxiety.

“Bottom line: Exercise is phenomenal for aging individuals – and for all of us, really.”

Vander Weide acknowledges it takes effort to exercise, and that alone can be a barrier. He says this concept of snacking works better because it’s not asking you to run a marathon, it’s inspiring you to find simple ways to do more a little bit at a time.

“You just simply have to move,” he urges.

Some examples of exercise snacks he suggests include:

Lean into the counters in your home to stretch your calf muscles out.
Grab on to your kitchen sink and do weight shifts side to side and then front to back.
Do a few sit-to-stands from a chair.
Side-step from one room to another and back.
Speed up your pace as you walk through a hallway in your home.
March in place while looking for something in the fridge or pantry.

Lastly, Vander Weide cautions to do these movements with intentionality. He believes one of the most important concepts to understand in aging is that the body compensates to failure.

This means as your muscles get weaker or your body alters function due to pain, the brain will figure out how to compensate to accomplish the task. This may work for the time being, but it often leads to further dysfunction. If you use proper form for your exercise snacks, your body will regain or maintain “normal” function.

Physical therapy and group exercise classes for adults 55 years and older are services provided by Care Resources, which is a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. For more information, call 800.610.6299 or visit careresources.org.