ArticleFrontiers in physiology2026
A two-minute exercise snack may be sufficient to enhance energy metabolism and fat oxidation in sedentary male college students.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Objective: Short-duration exercise snacks are considered a time-efficient strategy for interrupting sedentary behavior, but the metabolic effects of different exercise durations remain unclear. This study compared energy expenditure and substrate oxidation among the 1-, 2-, and 3-min exercise snack protocols during exercise and a 30-min recovery period under a standardized target workload. Methods: Twenty sedentary male college students completed three exercise snack protocols in a randomized crossover design with a 7-day washout interval between trials. All protocols were performed on a cycle ergometer using a standardized incremental loading scheme (30 W every 10 s to 180 W). The 1-min protocol ended upon reaching 180 W, whereas the 2-min and 3-min protocols maintained this workload until exercise completion. Energy expenditure, fat oxidation, glucose oxidation, and associated physiological indices were continuously monitored during exercise and the 30-min recovery period. Results: All three exercise snack protocols elicited significant acute metabolic responses. During exercise, total fat oxidation was greater in the 2-min than in the 1-min protocol (0.71 ± 0.22 vs. 0.37 ± 0.12 g, p < 0.001), and was not significantly different from that observed in the 3-min protocol (0.71 ± 0.22 vs. 0.78 ± 0.34 g, p = 0.179). During recovery, energy expenditure rate declined in all protocols but followed different trajectories. In the 1-min protocol, it returned to resting level by 25 min (p = 0.095), whereas it remained above resting throughout the 30-min recovery period in the 2-min (1.87 ± 0.21 kcal/min) and 3-min protocols (2.07 ± 0.32 kcal/min; both p < 0.001). Fat oxidation rate increased whereas glucose oxidation rate decreased during recovery. At 30 min of recovery, fat oxidation rate was not significantly different between the 2-min and 3-min protocols (0.15 ± 0.02 vs. 0.17 ± 0.04 g/min, p = 0.068). Conclusion: A 2-min exercise snack may be sufficient to increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation while eliciting sustained post-exercise metabolic activation. These findings provide evidence to support the potential application of exercise snacks as a time-efficient exercise strategy for sedentary adults.
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