7-Minute Workout

I tried going to the gym once. I ran like a rat from my office cubicle, went in and stared at the contraptions straight out of an Iron Maiden album cover minus the spikes. As the old Woody Allen quote goes, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” And the rest twenty consisted of me squeezing into every one of those devices – I ran furiously, huffed, puffed and in 15 minutes could not move a finger. Which was a problem, since my boss called me back to my desk, and fingers tend to be useful while writing.
But exercise, as people in lab coats would like us to believe, is important. If not for keeping that extra piece of chocolate cake away from the waistline, then at least to be able to fit into a public bus when necessary. So what do you do when you need to stay fit but never manage to make time between that double beef cheese burger and the calculator crunching? If you have seven minutes to spare, then the aptly named 7-minute workout is for you. The idea is simple. Instead of hours of running on the treadmill, you up the ante and push your body to the limit for seven minutes. No extra machinery needed, this regimen just requires a wall and a chair. The twelve exercises, each lasting 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between, are designed to alternate between muscle sets. And all of this based on science.
This sort of interval training is, however, not designed to be comfortable. The seven minutes will leave you drained, but the intensity is the reason this works. For the full regimen, try searching for “7 minute workout” in both the Android and iOS app markets. You might not become the next heavyweight through this, but being able to walk up a full flight of stairs without stopping has its own perks.