Got seven minutes? Then exercise!
I don’t have the time to exercise. That’s the lame excuse I hear all the time, including from myself.
Well, the good news is you don’t need a lot of time to work up a sweat. About the same time two years ago, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) featured in its Health and Fitness Journal the High Intensity Circuit Training ( HICT) which started the
High Intensity Circuit Training combines both cardio and resistance training, with alternate upper and lower body moves.
buzz about the sevenminute workout popularized by New York Times. You can even easily download apps for your IOS or android gadgets for easy-to-follow circuit samples.
HICT combines both cardio and resistance training, with alternate upper and lower body moves. Highintensity and lower-intensity exercises are both utilized. The aim is to challenge the body with a total body routine for better weight loss in less time.
The normal protocol is to have 120 to 150 minutes of cardio exercises per week, coupled with separate strength training workouts on alternate days. The amount of time needed simply turns off quite a lot of people who are aware that they do have to start working out.
The HICT workout authors, Klika and Jordan, recommend a whole body workout using compound exercises and a mix of cardio and body weight moves. They favor exercises that use large muscles of the body such as the butt, chest, and back. The ability to modify the exercises depending on the fitness level of the participant was also considered.
The workout was designed to alternate muscle groups as well as intensity. An upper body move, such as dips, was followed by a lower body move, lunges. A highintensity exercise, such as burpees, was followed by a lower-intensity move such as knee lifts. The logic for these is to allow the body to recover and maintain good form.
For maximum intensity, every exercise is done 15 to 20 times or 30 seconds. Rest in between exercises is less than 15 seconds. The sample circuit the authors provided was seven minutes long, which they recommended to be done in three sets for a total of 21 minutes.
The following exercises, in correct order, should be done for 30 seconds each with 10 seconds or less of rest in between each move. Repeat three times at least.
Start off with jumping jacks, followed by wall sits, pushups, abdominal crunches, step-ups, squats, dips, planks, high knee jogs, lunges, pushups to side planks, and side planks. If you are interested to follow this circuit, go to nytimes.com/7-minuteworkout.
Those who have been exercising may find these 12 moves too easy. That can be corrected by simply adding weights or increasing the intensity slightly.
Last October, NY Times featured a more advanced version. Both the original scientific seven-minute and the new advanced seven-minute workouts are offered by NY Times as free apps for both IOS and android gadgets.
Shape.com also came up with modifications to supercharge the seven-minute workout. Their Jessica Matthews suggests a “plyo lunge with toe drag,” for example, instead of a mere lunge. “Stand in a lunge with right foot forward. Drag toes of left foot to meet right. Repeat two more times. Jump and switch legs midair, landing with left foot forward. Repeat toe drags on this side,” she instructed.
The authors claim that HICT is a fast and efficient way to lose weight and burn body fat. HICT, they say, also increases after burn or the amount of calories you burn after a workout. While HICT workouts are shorter, these workouts target belly fat and increase one’s overall fitness.
As in any exercise, execution with the correct form and breathing is key in maximizing results. Hence, if you are unfamiliar with the moves, it is best to do the workout slowly first, focusing on doing the move correctly. Once familiar with the execution, you can move faster to accomplish more reps in 30 seconds.
HIIT and Tabata are other short workouts packed with benefits. Research suggests that short but intense workouts can boost metabolism, help you manage your weight, and promote longevity.
“There’s very good evidence” that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time,” said co-author Chris Jordan, who is also the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida.
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