
Ask HN: Is anyone successful with the 7-minute workout so far? - 3rd3
I’m refering to this article:<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;well.blogs.nytimes.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;05&#x2F;09&#x2F;the-scientific-7-minute-workout&#x2F;?_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_r=0<p>Here are the HN comments:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=5704485
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dsjoerg
Yes. I've been doing daily exercise for about 8 months, mostly daily 7-min
workouts, and I feel nearly as fit as when I saw a trainer for 2 hours/week.
Also, this form of exercise has turned into a habit I can't weasel out of.

The rule is: no shower unless I've done some form of exercise. The 7-minute
workout counts, so I'm doing one or two 30-minute runs a week, and the rest of
the days are 7-min workouts.

Many comments in this thread are failing to address the question of exercise
in a rational way. As I see it the relevant questions are:

* What are the incremental benefits of Alternative X (such as "lift weights 3-4 times a week")? Clearly there are benefits, but without a guess as to the magnitude of the benefit, one cannot rationally evaluate it vs the costs.

* Is there a superior alternative to Daily 7-Min that takes about the same time?

* How much better is a daily 7-min than doing nothing?

~~~
Detrus
Yes there is a superior alternative that takes about the same time. Buy a 100
lb weight set and add weight to your 7 minute workout.

~~~
k-mcgrady
You've just added a barrier now. Most people don't want to buy or store
weights. One of the appeals of the 7MW is that it requires no equipment.

~~~
Detrus
He wanted something better in 7 minutes.

Also keep in mind that sooner or later you'll get bored with a workout that
doesn't even prevent your shape from worsening. 100 lbs of weight takes up a
square foot of space. Most people who come to the gym not knowing what to do
with themselves gravitate towards a few light weights they could have at home.

------
pvnick
I wrote the top comment in that thread. I want to take a moment to rescind my
hard-line attitude as to what constitutes "proper" fitness. The 7-minute
workout may be a bit gimmicky and overly minimalist, but it is certainly
better than nothing, especially if you do a "set" of 3 "reps" (ie do the
workout 3 times) three times a week. You'll probably get some aerobic and
anaerobic benefits.

However, just as important, if not more important, is diet. When counting
calories, exercise is no substitute for eating less. Whatever diet you end up
using (I have my own strong opinions on that but I'll refrain from sharing
those here) it is critical for health and well-being to stay within a healthy
bodyfat range.

Also, one more thing about that thread. I mentioned leangains and starting
strength. Starting strength is excellent for getting strong. Leangains isn't.
Leangains is wonderful for getting thinner while retaining your strength. For
building muscle, a modest caloric surplus seems to work just as well as, if
not better than, intermittent fasting. I'm developing a website that explains
more, which will hopefully be launching in the next month or two.

~~~
dimastopel
How would you recommend to determine how many calories a specific person
needs, and how to easily calculate them? I am aware of the countless number of
ways for this, but I am not sure how to differentiate between the working ones
and those that usually don't.

~~~
nairteashop
Here's what worked for me:

I tried various BMR/TDEE calculators and they all told me to consume around
2200 cals a day to _maintain_ my current weight. (IMO it honestly doesn't
matter which calculator you use - they are all approximate anyway).

To lose weight, I created a mild calorific deficit of 200 cals/day, so
basically I eat ~2000 cals a day. I use the myfitnesspal app to track
calories. I eat anything I want (yes, including the occasional donut/beer) but
I keep the daily total to ~2000.

I logged my weight _every day_ , first thing in the morning. (Note that it is
important to log your weight daily as it can fluctuate 1-1.5 lbs each day, so
you want to be looking at weekly trend lines, vs say measuring once a week).

At 2000/day my weight trend stayed steady for 2 weeks. So I bumped it down to
1800/day. Now my trend is pointed down, and I'm losing ~1 lb a week.

So that's basically all it takes. Precision and _discipline_ wrt daily
calories, with some trial and error to figure out what your individual daily
calorific need is. I think a lot of folks make it a lot more complex than it
actually is with keto, paleo, insulin levels, etc etc.

------
skrebbel
What's successful?

i started the 7 minute thing a few weeks ago. Since then, I've felt fitter and
slightly happier. Without it, I'd still cycle to work but my upper body gets
very little movement.

So, does doing some exercise make you feel better than doing next to none? In
my case, definitely. Does it make you thinner and more attractive? No idea. Is
the 7-minute workout the best approach? Probably not. Is it a waste of time?
Hell no. Exercise is never a waste of time. And don't ever let any gym geek
tell you otherwise.

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beloch
This workout includes a nice mix of full-body exercises that work muscle
groups needed for stability and would probably reduce the risk of injury in a
lot of athletic activities. However, it's not a minimal complete workout
regimen as advertised for these reasons:

1\. If you do this cold, you're going to increase your chance of injury. Warm
up first! If you're already fairly active, injuries suck because they keep you
from doing the things you love. If you're trying to get active, an injury just
shuts you down before you get started!

2\. Some of these exercises can cause injury if your form is poor. If you've
done them all many times before and know you have good form then, by all
means, warm up and then chain these together for a nice, short HIT workout. If
you're not sure you have good form, _slow down_! Do not perform these at a
discomfort level of 8 out of 10 if you haven't learned good form yet!

3\. This is a nice workout that you can perform almost anywhere, but
incorporates no weights. Unless you're really out of shape (and even if you
are) weights are pretty much necessary to get good results.

4\. Having just one workout that you do daily is both _boring_ and incomplete.

Personally, I think this would be a great way to boost energy in the office or
warm-up for a sport, but it's not something I would rely on as my complete
workout regimen. People who are unfit and are looking for an easy fix should
be very cautious of this workout due to it's injury potential. With that in
mind, if you can avoid injury it's a lot better than doing nothing!

Disclaimer: I am not a physical trainer or any kind fitness professional.

~~~
e12e
> 1\. If you do this cold, you're going to increase your chance of injury.

I know researchers at (among other places) NTNU in Norway did some research
into intense anaerobic training, and found that short workouts could be
helpful, especially for those that started from poor shape. But as I recall,
they had people do something like 5 minutes at max pulse (~250-300 bpm
depending on your condition).

I agree that especially if you're already out of shape, going from 0-100 like
that, is likely to set you up for injuries. Perhaps especially if you active
training.

I'd like to see this measured against having people do 7 minutes of horse
stance[1] (most wouldn't be able to start at 7 minutes).

[1]
[http://martialarts.about.com/od/training/ss/horsestance.htm](http://martialarts.about.com/od/training/ss/horsestance.htm)

~~~
sliverstorm
250-300bpm is an insane heart rate. Maybe a male twenty-three year old track
star could pull that, but most of us have a MHR between 150-200.

~~~
e12e
Fair enough. The point was that you need to reach around 90% of MHR for this
type of intense exorcise (TBH the last time I read about MHR was in high
school, so that the extreme range was given for someone around 23 sounds about
right).

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jawngee
Yes, I do 2 reps, twice daily, six times a week. I also walk 7 miles a day.
I've lost 15 pounds in about 3 months.

I also live in Vietnam and my diet, without much work, has improved quite a
bit.

I'm not looking for muscle, just to get me back to not feeling like a fat
piece of shit and to stop getting winded after sex. Just keeping it real.

------
bretthopper
Your body is fairly important, so I'd suggest spending more than 7 minutes on
improving it. If you can't, fix your priorities. Don't try and "hack" your
workouts for the purpose of reducing how long they take.

And beyond that, the 7 minute workout is mostly useless. Go to the gym and
lift weights 3-4 times a week (and then lift heavier ones the next time,
repeat). It's not complicated.

~~~
brianwawok
Agreed!

I am on the crazy side of the spectrum, currently training 10+ hours a week to
do triathlon + powerlifting, but I think a more sane person could get a huge
benefit in maybe 5 hours a week. 7 minutes will do something, but I would love
to see any 7 minute a day workouter in as good of shape as a 5+ hour
workouter.

I do disagree that the ideal workout is go to the gym and lift weights 3-4
times a week. Gym is good, weights is good (I do them), but cardio is also
super good. Most studies about exercise makes your memory x% better, or
exercise makes you live y% longer are about cardio.

Ways to try and get both?

a) 4 days of 1 hour of crossfit type exercise would work (not my preference)
or b) 2 days of weights for about an hour, 2 days of cardio for about an hour,
and a decent amount of walking on off days.

~~~
pyoung
The point of the 7-min workout isn't to keep you in as good of shape as a 5+
hour workouter, the point is to get 90% of the health benefits in a minimal
amount of time as the 5+ hour person. The 7-min workout is designed for the
busy professional concerned about their health. If you want to run triathlons,
you still are going to need to slog it out doing training workouts.

~~~
patrickmay
I would be astonished if 7 minutes per day provided even a measurable
percentage of the benefits of exercising 5 hours per week (say 3.5 hours
lifting and 3 30 minute runs).

Is there any evidence that it can?

~~~
pyoung
The nytimes article listed in the parent, which is what sparked the 7-min
workout craze, discusses and links to the study. I am not going to get into
too much detail, but the general idea is that working a bunch of different
muscle groups at high intensity for short periods gets you most of the
benefits of longer endurance based workouts.

------
mstdokumaci
7 minute is good for sustainability. I'm doing it most days after work and I
lost a healthy amount of weight in a month. I also have less back pains due to
sitting all day in front of computer.

------
fredophile
From reading the article it seems like this is intended to be a form of high
intensity training (HIT). The idea behind HIT is that intensity is more
important for results than duration. There are plenty of studies showing the
importance of workout intensity. Probably the most well known (and
consequently misused) is the work done by Dr Tabata. His original protocol was
very specific but Tabata training has become a shorthand for eight sets of
twenty seconds of intense exercise with ten second rests between sets.

People disagree about the tradeoffs between intensity and duration. I'm not an
expert on that so my opinion isn't really helpful on that topic. However, I do
see some potential problems with the seven minute workout. It's really hard to
increase the intensity of several of the exercises. It's really hard to
increase the intensity of wall sit, plank and side plank. Once your thighs are
parallel to the floor the only way to increase wall sit intensity is to add
weight. You can make planks harder by positioning your arms higher up but once
again you'll hit a limit pretty fast.

This is probably a decent workout for a beginner but because it doesn't scale
well with fitness level I don't see it staying effective. Having said that
this is definitely better than nothing and the convenience makes it likely
that a beginner will be willing to try it.

------
billspreston
7 minutes? I guess _anything_ is better than nothing. However:

Reddit motto #1 - lawyer up and hit the gym.

Reddit motto #2 - Squats, bench, and dead lifts.

I always thought it was a running Reddit joke. However, after going to the gym
for years and not seeing wow-type results, I gave #2 a try. After 3 months of
it, I have to be honest and say that I'm pretty impressed with the results.
I've lost a lot of fat and am far stronger and fitter. But 7 minutes? No. My
normal sessions are around 2 hours. A podcast or two, and time flies.

~~~
patrickmay
> Squats, bench, and dead lifts

Those plus overhead press and some rows (the Stronglifts 5x5 and Madcow 5x5
methods) will increase your strength dramatically in just a few months. Try it
once and you'll never look back.

~~~
billspreston
Thanks. I'll definately be adding these next session.

------
holycow19
I find that I hit a slump around 3:30pm and have been using the 7-minute work
out for a mental break from work. I definitely miss some days, but overall I
usually do it roughly every other weekday. I know it isn't going to replace my
other fitness activities (ultimate frisbee and volleyball), but it's nice way
to get my heart rate going and mind off of work without changing/going to the
gym (where I am fish out of water).

~~~
skrebbel
You don't change? But do you shower after? I get very sweaty, don't you? Just
curious. I'd like to know more about how you do this at work in practice :)
Does wherever you work have a good location for it?

------
agent462
At one time I worked out 2 hours, 3-4 times a week with a majority of that
being cardio. I then started having back problems and it hindered how I worked
out until I didn't anymore. Over the years I put on weight and I sit all day
for work.

I would never get very far with workouts because my back would flare up badly.
In an effort to get back in shape and lose some weight I've been doing a 10
minute cardio workout 3-4 times a week.

It's helped tremendously and I've lost over 15 pounds. It's also prevented my
back from really flaring up because I'm not over stressing it. I've even
worked up to doing an additional 30-40 minute cardio workout once a week.

I'll never have the cardio I had years ago but I'm in much better shape than
when I was doing nothing. It's also motivated me to start wearing my fitbit
again and getting up and walking through my work campus once a day.

Yes it can help. What the naysayers don't realize is that many people are out
of shape, have medical issues, etc. They also don't realize that even getting
into a short rhythm of working out snowballs into other self-conscious health
thoughts and activities.

------
tonyhb
I'm with bretthopper. The 7 minute workout is a good start for us developers
who probably get little to no exercise. That said, I don't think it's designed
to actively make you lose weight, bulk up, or increase your cardiovascular
fitness.

If you're looking for those things, get your heart pumping for longer than 15
minutes and work on a solid routine at a gym.

~~~
IanDrake
Forget the gym. If you have the time, do p90x. I swear, if you do that, you'll
be in the best shape of your life. The biggest problem is maintaining once
your done. I can't seem to keep the routine indefinitely.

I stopped about 5 months ago and haven't done much besides surf a couple times
a month and I'm still in pretty good shape. I'll start again in March to get
ripped for the summer.

I probably should have been doing these 7 minute workouts to maintain...

------
sergiotapia
I tried it out for about two months and saw no real benefits. Nothing changed
physically.

I just bit the bullet and joined a gym. It's not that I'm lazy - I just get
incredibly bored at the gym doing those reps. But I am doing 1 hour a day 6
days a week of hard workout with equipment.

Do yourself a favor and bite the same bullet: Join a gym and pump some iron.

------
edem
You might take a look at HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). I started
doing it two months ago and I think it is well worth the effort. Although it
takes half an hour but it has a long lasting metabolic speedup effect and a
little euphoric feeling which keeps you doing it:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
intensity_interval_trainin...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
intensity_interval_training)

I usually do 3 workouts a week. It consists of a 5 minute warmup followed by
eight 1 minute sprints with 2 minute walk intervals and an 5 minute cooldown
at the end: 5+(8*3)+5: 34 minutes total. As others have said there is no point
in "hacking" your workouts. You can do away with optimizations like HIIT, but
imho you still need around 1 hour of exercise every day to keep yourself
healthy.

------
sitkack
I fell off the wagon after tearing my calf doing the 7 minute workout, don't
ask, but ramp up a little and take it easy.

My GF on the other hand used the 7 minute workout as her only exercise during
our extended trip and gained strength and mobility. It definitely works.

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gmays
That sounds undesirable. I go 6 days/wk for 30-45min. I love the benefits of
working out, but it's more of a mental break for me. I listen to Mixergy,
learn a thing or two, and reset myself. I spend 12+ hours a day at the
computer. The least I could do is workout for 30min.

The 7-minute workout is better than nothing, but I wouldn't look at it as a
go-to strategy.

I guess it really depends on your perspective. I've always worked out, so I
enjoy it. But for some it's an inconvenience. It just like food between my
wife and I. She likes food variety and it's an experience for her. I just eat
so I don't die and can (and do) eat the same thing every day.

------
cullenking
7 minutes is better than nothing, but you really need 30 minutes minimum to
get your metabolism up to the point where it stays elevated throughout the
day. Less than that, and you don't get the lasting, day long benefits of a
workout.

The concept of "you don't need a gym membership or weights to get results" is
very sound. My girlfriend is essentially a full-time acrobat (extremely fit,
trains for 25+ hours a week), and she started me on a simple workout that
takes 30-60 minutes, and goes in five week cycles of building up in reps. It's
produce more results in a shorter period of time than any traditional gym
workout.

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slimbods
British Journalist Andrew Marr suffered a stroke following a high intensity
training session. He's doing the chat show circuit claiming rowing machines
and HIIT are responsible for his stroke. The NHS website have quite a sensible
take on it:

[http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/04April/Pages/Is-exercise-to-
bla...](http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/04April/Pages/Is-exercise-to-blame-for-
Andrew-Marrs-stroke.aspx)

Basically if you're going to do high intensity efforts, best get checked out
with your doctor first, particularly if you're a bit stressed.

------
dorian-graph
I started with it using one of the many available apps and did it every day
for about 2 months. I stopped when I bought a small set of dumbbells and
started moving to ~ 30 minute workout sessions.

It was a good starting point. I've always been fit (soccer player & runner)
but never did much weights so I found it a good motivator to do more than just
run as my workout.

------
shitgoose
Try adding kettlebell to it. Unlike dumbbells, working with kettlebell is very
dynamic and works on the whole body. It took a while for me to find a good
kettlebell routine on youtube, but it was well worth it. I do it for 15 min a
day instead of 7.

~~~
joezydeco
Care to share the link? I'm curious about kettlebell.

~~~
shitgoose
This is the only decent routine I was able to find:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JG7yzkGOYE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JG7yzkGOYE)

Short and sweet. Rest of videos is just a bunch of torsos.

------
batemanesque
it's decent as an absolute minimum, but what you should really do is buy a
barbell, 10-20kg in weights, and do SQUATS.

~~~
stefan_kendall
I'm not sure what you're doing with 20kg.

------
benwikler
I've been doing it most days for the last six weeks, and I love it.

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WWKong
What were the success metrics?

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hydralist
7 minute workout is good AFTER my workout. adds to the burn and gives some
direction.

you need to workout and lift weights if you want to get muscles

