Can a 7 Minute Workout Be Scientific?

If there’s one thing I learnt a long time ago about the Fitness Industry, is that there is very little room for innovation. Which is not a bad thing, it just is what it is. So when someone comes up with a 7 minute workout, it’s probably already been around the houses…

I got tagged on Instagram recently on the workout post featured above and immediately, I knew I recognised it. I did a quick search on the blog and I found this post, originally written back in 2013, so an update was due!

High Intensity Interval Training

I think many of us are now familiar with the acronym HIT or HIIT by now. This is because the science tells us that the benefits of High Intensity Training or High Intensity Interval Training can be on par with endurance training but can be achieved in a shorter time. And who isn’t short of time these days?!

Interval training is all about mixing some very intense activity with short periods of recovery. One method or protocol for HIIT you may know is Tabata training.

Measuring Intensity

And what is classified as ‘very intense’? Using a scale of 1-10 (aka RPE scale) on which you define discomfort / how hard you are working, ‘very intense’ would be around 8 or 9.

RPE, or rate of perceived exertion, is a way to measure the intensity of your workouts, no matter what type of workout you are doing.

How To Do The 7 Minute Workout

The full workout is 7 minutes in total made up of 12 body weight exercises and very little equipment. Specifically, a chair and a wall.

1. Jumping jacks

2. Wall sit

3. Push-ups
4. Abdominal crunches
5. Step-up onto a chair
6. Squats
7. Triceps dip on a chair
8. Plank
9. High knees, running in place
10. Alternating lunges
11. Push-ups with rotation
12. Side plank, each side

Each exercise is to be performed for 30 seconds hitting that 8 or 9 for effort. To see real benefits though, you need to repeat the circuit 2 or 3 times.

It’s recommended that you take 15 seconds or less (10 seconds suggested in the NY Times workout featured) between each exercise as recovery in order to maintain the appropriate intensity of the overall circuit.

Perform the exercises in the order given as they are ordered that way for a reason based on intensity and the effect it’ll have on your heart rate (decrease vs increase).

More About The Movements / Exercises

It’s also important to remember to keep good form and use correct technique when exercising. You can use these posts for guidance on how to perform many of the exercises in this 7 minute workout:

• How to do a push up
• How to do a squat
• How to plank
• How to lunge
• Progress your plank

If you don’t have access to a wall, you can do a squat hold instead. And for the step up with chair, if you have no chair, substitute that with a reverse lunge and knee drive.

I’ve always been a fan of circuit training, functional training and HIIT and especially love teaching these formats. I used this session plan in a 30 minute online MetCon class recently to test it out and it was… sweaty!

If you’re new to exercise and want some in-person guidance, book yourself into one of my online classes. You can also check out this 30min HIIT workout, with video, available free of charge on the blog.

Give this quick workout a go, and see what you think. If you do just the 7 minutes, you could add it onto another workout at the start, in the middle or use it as a finisher.

Elle

This post was written using information from an article in the ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal referenced below: