The 7 Minute Workout – Is It Real…?

Recently I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about “The 7-minute workout” – a “7-minute workout” that improves health in just 7 minutes a day.  I’ve heard so much about the workout that I felt obligated to write a short series on the topic. This is part one of a three-part post that will hopefully help shed some light on “The 7-minute workout” and the myths that surround it.

First I’d like to get a few things straight;

ONE: ANY AMOUNT OF EXERCISE IS BETTER THAN NONE!

TWO: THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS IN CHANGING YOUR LIFESTYLE.

This is especially true when it comes to changing your body composition and eating habits.

THREE: THE ONLY PATH TO CHANGING ONE’S LIFE IS 110% COMMITMENT AND HARD WORK….but more about this stuff at a later post.

A “7 MINUTE WORKOUT”…?

FIRST OF ALL, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “THE 7 MINUTE WORKOUT!”

“The 7 minute workout” everyone is talking about is, in essence, a 7-minute circuit /set that should be repeated 2 to 3 times…making it a “14 to 21 minute workout.”

Yeah, you can get health benefits from doing the 7 minute circuit only once, but, if your goal is to completely change your body composition, IT IS NOT ENOUGH!  Yes, you can lose a bit of weight, you’ll have a bit more energy, and you’ll certainly start feeling a bit better, but doing the circuit once a day is not enough to see “big” results.

On top of not getting substantial results, doing the circuit only once a day will cause you to plateau fairly quickly.  In other words, you’ll feel improvements within the first couple of weeks, but after a number of weeks your body will accommodate itself to the workout and your continued results and development will stop.

On the other hand, if you start the “7 minute workout” in hopes of making it into the “14-minute workout” and then the “21-minute workout,” then the “7 minute workout” is for you!

I see nothing wrong with approaching this workout as a leaping pad to reach your goal but IT IS NOT A SHORTCUT TO ANYTHING!

Currently “The 7 minute workout” is all the rage for two main reasons:

1. People think it is a “shortcut to working out”…

…and it is not!  As a matter of fact, even the “scientific” article from which “The 7 minute workout” hype comes from states that to see maximum results “The 7 minute workout” should eventually be done 3 times in a row…making it the 21-minute workout… This is something the media is strategically leaving out of their stories.

2. We, as a society, THINK we are too busy to workout

…AND THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM!  This train of thought, that we don’t have enough time to workout because we are all “just too busy,” is extremely dangerous to one’s health and simply NOT TRUE!  No one is too busy to not workout.  We just choose to do something else.

There are no shortcuts in changing your lifestyle, and once you change your lifestyle you’ll have time to workout!

Why?

Well, if working out is part of your life (just like sleeping and eating) then you’ll have to have time for it.

Everything in life is about making choices right?

No, not exactly.  You see, we have to sleep no matter what time we choose to do so.  And no one will have a healthy lifestyle until they feel that, like sleep, exercise is not a choice but is instead a habit, an obligation, and a necessary part of one’s life.

TO DO, OR NOT TO DO?

IS “THE 7 MINUTE WORKOUT” WORTH DOING?

That depends!

YES, it is worth doing if you use it as a leaping pad to a healthier lifestyle.  If “The 7-minute workout” is your gateway to a healthier life then I support its use 100%!

But,

NO, it is not worth doing the workout if you think all you need to do is workout 7 minutes a day to greatly change your current health conditions and/or lifestyle.  If you think “the 7-minute workout” is a magic pill to get you healthy (and/or change your body composition) in just 7 minutes a day then don’t even bother with the workout.

You see, to obtain habit forming results we need to workout for more than 7 minutes a day. And because results (mental, physical, and visual) are a large part of staying motivated, which is essential to changing your lifestyle, “the 7-minute workout’s” lack of substantial results might actually do one more harm than good as one try’s to change their lifestyle.

Next post – “The 7 Minute Workout.”

By Rolando Rodriguez