Imagine seeking the help of snacks to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness! We are talking about exercise snacks.
A new study has found that exercise snacks may boost the cardiorespiratory fitness of physically inactive adults. The findings of the study are published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
What are exercise snacks?Exercise snacks are intentional short bursts of physical activity. This could be climbing stairs, strength exercises or tai chi. Instead of spending hours on exercise, this focuses on bouts of physical activity in between, spread throughout the day. Adherence is high, and exercise snacks can counter perceived lack of time and motivation.
The new study has found that exercise snacks may be an effective way of boosting the cardiorespiratory fitness of physically inactive adults. They found that adherence to exercise snacking throughout the day was high. The researchers said that this approach could counter the perceived lack of time and low motivation, two things often cited as barriers to fulfilling the recommended weekly quota of physical activity for health.
How do exercise snacks help?
Around a third of the adults, and 80% of teens, fail to meet the recommended physical activity levels globally, according to the researchers. This is 300 minutes/week of moderate, or 75–150 minutes/week of vigorous, intensity physical activity.
A growing body of evidence shows that exercise snacks, such as stair climbing or weights, have the potential to boost physical activity and improve health. Exercise snacks can also counter the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting, which is often a part of today’s sedentary lifestyle. However, until now, most of these studies have relied on quasi-experimental designs or qualitative analyses.
To fill this gap, the researchers looked at the effects of exercise snacks on cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, and cardiometabolic factors, such as blood fats and body fat distribution. They wanted to understand if exercise snacks might be a practical and scalable approach to curbing physical inactivity and its associated effects on health.
The study
The researchers looked at databases for relevant clinical trials published up to April 2025, and found 11 from Australia, Canada, China, and the UK that were suitable for pooled data analysis. These involved a total of 414 sedentary or physically inactive adults, over two-thirds of whom (69%) were women.
The researchers defined exercise snacks as bursts of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity lasting 5 minutes or less. This excludes warm-up, cool-down, and intermediate recovery periods, and is done at least twice a day for between 3 and 7 days a week for 4 to 12 weeks.
The exercises included stair climbing, either as continuous bouts or at repeated intervals, for young and middle-aged adults. In the older adults, leg-focused strength exercises and tai chi were the dominant forms.
The findings
The researchers found that exercise snacking significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness in adults (moderate certainty of evidence). However, the evidence in support its impact on muscular endurance in older adults (69-74 year olds) was limited.
They also noticed that this approach wasn’t associated with any significant effects on leg strength or cardiometabolic factors, including body composition, blood pressure, and blood fat profiles.
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But compliance was high, at 91%, as was the ability to stick with the programme (83%). This stresses the potential feasibility and acceptability of this approach in real-world unsupervised settings, suggest the researchers.
“The time-efficient nature of exercise snacks may help overcome common barriers to physical activity, such as perceived lack of time and low motivation. Exercise snacks may enhance adherence to regular physical activity by providing short, flexible exercise bouts that are easier to integrate into daily routines,” the researchers said.
A new study has found that exercise snacks may boost the cardiorespiratory fitness of physically inactive adults. The findings of the study are published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
What are exercise snacks?Exercise snacks are intentional short bursts of physical activity. This could be climbing stairs, strength exercises or tai chi. Instead of spending hours on exercise, this focuses on bouts of physical activity in between, spread throughout the day. Adherence is high, and exercise snacks can counter perceived lack of time and motivation.
The new study has found that exercise snacks may be an effective way of boosting the cardiorespiratory fitness of physically inactive adults. They found that adherence to exercise snacking throughout the day was high. The researchers said that this approach could counter the perceived lack of time and low motivation, two things often cited as barriers to fulfilling the recommended weekly quota of physical activity for health.
How do exercise snacks help?
Around a third of the adults, and 80% of teens, fail to meet the recommended physical activity levels globally, according to the researchers. This is 300 minutes/week of moderate, or 75–150 minutes/week of vigorous, intensity physical activity.
A growing body of evidence shows that exercise snacks, such as stair climbing or weights, have the potential to boost physical activity and improve health. Exercise snacks can also counter the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting, which is often a part of today’s sedentary lifestyle. However, until now, most of these studies have relied on quasi-experimental designs or qualitative analyses.
To fill this gap, the researchers looked at the effects of exercise snacks on cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, and cardiometabolic factors, such as blood fats and body fat distribution. They wanted to understand if exercise snacks might be a practical and scalable approach to curbing physical inactivity and its associated effects on health.
The study
The researchers looked at databases for relevant clinical trials published up to April 2025, and found 11 from Australia, Canada, China, and the UK that were suitable for pooled data analysis. These involved a total of 414 sedentary or physically inactive adults, over two-thirds of whom (69%) were women. The researchers defined exercise snacks as bursts of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity lasting 5 minutes or less. This excludes warm-up, cool-down, and intermediate recovery periods, and is done at least twice a day for between 3 and 7 days a week for 4 to 12 weeks.
The exercises included stair climbing, either as continuous bouts or at repeated intervals, for young and middle-aged adults. In the older adults, leg-focused strength exercises and tai chi were the dominant forms.
The findings
The researchers found that exercise snacking significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness in adults (moderate certainty of evidence). However, the evidence in support its impact on muscular endurance in older adults (69-74 year olds) was limited. They also noticed that this approach wasn’t associated with any significant effects on leg strength or cardiometabolic factors, including body composition, blood pressure, and blood fat profiles.
Video
But compliance was high, at 91%, as was the ability to stick with the programme (83%). This stresses the potential feasibility and acceptability of this approach in real-world unsupervised settings, suggest the researchers.
“The time-efficient nature of exercise snacks may help overcome common barriers to physical activity, such as perceived lack of time and low motivation. Exercise snacks may enhance adherence to regular physical activity by providing short, flexible exercise bouts that are easier to integrate into daily routines,” the researchers said.
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