What do you do when it’s the middle of your workday, hours away from your next meal, and your stomach starts to get the hunger rumbles? Chances are, you go for a snack -- a little something to hold you over and sustain you until your next meal. Humans are fortunate to have a built in early-warning system to let us know when the gas tank is starting to get low and it’s time to fuel up with some food. Hunger signals are real and loud.

So what about when your body sends the signals that you’re hungry for movement? That it’s been hours since the last time you moved, maybe even days or weeks since the last time you moved with intensity or intention? Of course these movement hunger signals are not nearly as loud as our food hunger signals, and many of us have trained ourselves to ignore the signals, but they are no less real. The situation and the solution are really no different than ordinary hunger -- your body is in need (of movement) and you would do well to feed it with a snack -- specifically, a movement snack.

The idea of a movement snack is the same as a food snack. Something small, bite-sized, meant to sustain and hold you over until a full “meal.” Practically speaking, this movement snack can be anything from 3 minutes of stretching, to taking the stairs rather than the elevator, to moving through a series of simple gymnastic positions for 5 or 10 minutes. And in the same way that an apple and some almond butter can be just the thing to carry you through your afternoon at work, this movement snack serves to provide refreshment, energy, and a physical and mental break. What’s more, research supports the value of these movements snacks as well. Studies have shown equal benefits from small bouts of exercise split throughout the day when compared to a single session of equal total length. This model of movement snacks also fits well into a model of human health and fitness based on how we have evolved to behave. If we consider the lifestyles of humans up until the last century or so, life generally demanded plenty of movement in small chunks throughout the day, not 50 minutes of gym-time effort followed by 16 hours of sitting idle.

Consider this your simple solution to the “too busy” thinking that is easy to fall into. Whether you’re in tune with it or not, your body gets hungry for movement, and you are not ”too busy” to give yourself a 5 minute movement snack.

The human body is hungry for movement. Do yourself a favor, give it a snack.

- PS

10/10/17

• Sumo deadlift - 5,5,5

Then...

• 5 min AMRAP

• 100’ KB farmer’s carry (140/106)

• 15 Russian KBS (70/53)

• Rest 2 mins

• 5 min AMRAP

• 100’ KB front rack carry (140/106)

• 15 Russian KBS (70/53)