No time to exercise? Try this five-minute exercise snack while waiting for the air fryer to ping

When you're busy, exercise is often one of the first things to fall by the wayside. When this happens to you, don’t beat yourself up about it—it happens to us all. Maintaining a positive mindset towards exercise is one of the things that will ensure it's enjoyable and keep you motivated.

It's also worth remembering that a little bit of exercise is better than none at all.

I was reminded of this when I recently saw Barre instructor Mara Cimatoribus’ workout for the time-poor. It's a five-minute arms routine that you can do while you're waiting for your dinner to cook, or a kettle to boil.

If you've never tried barre, it's a brilliant way to get stronger. It involves low-impact movements that improve your mobility and strengthen a range of muscles, including those that you might not use as much in other forms of exercise.

This workout is designed to improve muscle tone in the arms and it's great for boosting posture too.

How to do Mara Cimatoribus' five-minute barre workout

There are five exercises in this routine, which Cimatoribus recommends doing for 20 reps, or 16 reps on each side of the body for the unilateral exercise.

All you'll need for this workout is a light set of weights, but if you don't have any, you can use water bottles or food cans, which will work just as well.

The benefits of habit stacking your workouts

Cimatoribus' suggestion that you could do this workout while you're waiting for your air fryer to cook your food is a great example of habit stacking, a technique that combines a new habit you want to adopt with a habit you already have (like cooking dinner, for example).

Research has found that habit stacking is a great way to lose weight and, in this case, it could also help you establish a new exercise routine, by remembering to do this quick five-minute workout every time you use the air fryer.

Incorporating regular movement into your life, even in short bursts, is an effective way to improve your physical and mental health—it just needs to be more than a one-off.