Micro workouts are new exercise trend sweeping the fitness world, allowing you to get a sweat on in the days where you either can’t make it to the gym, or you just want to use whatever free time you have more efficiently. But what exactly are they, what benefits do they have and what are some examples?
Current exercise guidelines advise that Australian adults aged 18 to 64 should be engaging in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, and 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise each week.
But let’s be honest, not all of us can find – or make – the time to consistently go to the gym to hit this target on a week-to-week basis.
Fitness coach Dan Go has identified a solution, suggesting that we should incorporate ‘micro workouts’ into our daily routines on days that we cannot go to the gym.
What is a micro workout?
Micro workouts are very short, low- to high-intensity exercises which are design to maximise your time by working out whenever you have any spare time throughout the day.
According to Dan Go, “Micro workouts work because some days you don’t have enough time or energy to get in the gym.”
He also says to treat the workouts like “exercise snacks” – a fairly charming way to describe this type of activity.
A micro workout can be as simple as 20 seconds of squat jumps or sit ups, or a 60-second sprint down the road and back.
“[Think of them as] somewhere in between that short walk to the water cooler in pre-pandemic times and high-intensity interval training,” said Simon Fraser University Professor, Scott Lear.
Do micro workouts work?
Micro workouts may not provide the same levels of intense calorie burning or muscle building that a regular hour-long workout at the gym would, but they have been found to be beneficial to one’s health.