Let me be honest here, or as the kids say, I’m not gonna lie: even though I kind of like tips on short efficient exercises to fit in during my day, there’s something that rubs me the wrong way about them. Here’s what I’m talking about:
This article from the Guardian offers a plethora of ideas for doing gym exercises, but in your office or workplace. They have a 4-snack menu:
Snack one:
- run or walk up flights of stairs
- do jumping jacks
- do burpees
- do jump squat
- do mountain climbers
- do plank jacks
Snack two:
- squat
- split squat
- wall sit
- glute bridge
snack three:
- pushup
- tricep dip
- shoulder circles
And finally (if you haven’t been sent home early for disturbing everyone else’s concentration and also sweating all over important papers), there’s snack four:
- single-leg deadlift
- high plank
- low plank
- single leg stand
This last exercise has my favorite illustration:
Yes, we’ve all seen these sorts of articles, and they can be silly and overambitious, which this one most certainly is. But some Facebook readers added their own critiques.
Some thought the idea of an exercise “snack” was simply too cutesy and off-putting. Don’t sugarcoat movement to make it more palatable– we don’t need that.
Others (well, me) felt like the whole idea of an exercise “snack” was a kind of bait-and-switch. You’re offering me a snack? Oh, great– what is it? Running up and down stairs and then doing burpees? Oh, no thank you.
One FB reader was offended that the notion of “exercise snack” seemed to imply that they were the only permissible snacks and took umbrage at the idea.
Some didn’t mind the lists, but rather the office venue: doing elevated planks at the office was simply not happening.
Another commentator offered the suggestion that doing burpees in the office might make one feel self-conscious or silly. Yes, I’m inclined to agree.
There was some support for the exercise snack idea: fitting in some movement like biking or walking/short hike in between workday obligations feels nourishing and is better than nothing. Hence the term “snack”.
My favorite comment was this one: “Mmmm, exercise snacks sound delicious, if you redefine them to mean snacks after exercising”. There’s no plausible objection to that, I believe.
So readers, what do you think about the “exercise snack”? Do you snack in between Zoom meetings? Do you prefer your exercise in meal-sized portions? I’d love to hear from you.
All of the cutseyness aside, launching into burpees in work clothes without any warm up is very very likely to rip both your clothes and your muscles. That’s like saying « sprint 100m with no warm up » on your way to the coffee machine. El stupido
totes agree!
Yes, but the mental images this produced gave me some good laughs! As do more and more of the instant-solution-exercise advice articles I keep stumbling over.
On the other hand, the office might be a lot more fun – even energetic – if people started to find ways to work this stuff into their days. Think Monty Python?
I like the idea of movement snacks during the day–so, for example, if I zip out to do an errand, which is always on foot or bike, since I live in NYC and I take the stairs down and back up to my apartment on the 13th floor. But it’s not “exercise”. I may do a pull ups snack–and that’s more about revivifying my energy for a series of zoom meetings. It’s a quick way to wake myself up. I work at home, so that’s a big difference. I doubt that I’d put a pull up bar in my office door at an official “office”.