
Show HN: My seven minute workout timer evening project - lgsilver
http://7-min.com/
======
d0m
OK, fine for _this_ time, but tomorrow, you do it instead of procrastinating
and creating a web page about it : )

------
baby
You made hundreds of hackers move their ass for 7 minutes today. That is a
huge accomplishment.

~~~
lgsilver
This is the best compliment I've ever gotten.

~~~
camdykeman
Just went through it on my iPhone.

First, nicely done. The interface is clean, the progression bar is helpful.

A few suggestions: It would be nice to have a bell go off both at the
beginning and end of the rest period, so you don't miss the beginning of the
next 30second sprint. On my phone I only hear a bell at the start of the rest
period. I would also suggest displaying the graphic for the next exercise
during the rest period. I work out regularly but I still didnt know what a
"push up and twist" was so by the time I figured it out I had already missed
5-8 seconds of the sprint.

Nice to see products like this generating conversation. Keep up the good work.

------
danso
This is awesome. Just yesterday I was doing a 7-minute workout in my room,
just because I was waiting for dinner to finish heating up.

The main problem is that the standard timer app on iOS only acts as a
stopwatch...so the final ten seconds of each interval, I'm watching the clock
so that I can hit "Lap" and move on...this is awkward when I'm also wearing
headphones to listen to music.

What would be ideal for me is to have a simple timer that would alert me when
the interval was done and automatically move on to the next one....like a
repeating event on a calendar. I'm sure there's an app for that but I just
didn't feel like downloading a bunch and doing trial and error.

One more twist: I can't do all the exercises in the 7-min workout (as made
famous in the NYT)...jumping jacks would annoy the shit out of the people
below me. So I make up my own. A timer that would allow me to set up my own
sequence would be fabulous.

Anyway, this is just a longwinded way of saying that there's a need for a
niche app here, and it would definitely be a fun coding project...I'm glad
someone else thought of it first :)

~~~
kinleyd
I've read a bit about high intensity training (tabata, hiit, crossfit, etc.)
and there seems to be quite a good bit of evidence supporting their utility.
The 7-minute workout may well fit in that same category.

However, as an old fogie, I recall a craze back in the 70s and 80s called 5BX,
which stood for 5 basic exercises, created by Swedish aircrew iirc. The reason
I recalled it is the mention of rapid-style jumping jacks and push ups in the
7-minute workout. 5BX had increasingly quickened routines for jumping jacks
(from a crouching position), sit-ups and push-ups (with claps thrown in as you
completed each push-up).

All of this worked very well in terms of actually toning your body, getting a
good daily cardio workout, and a sense of fitness... until it did irreparable
back and other damage to quite a few people. So just be careful, especially if
the high intensity and the 7 minute time limit drives you to a regimen that
gets anywhere close to a 5BX style work out in terms of quick, jerky
movements.

Personally, I've reverted to playing basketball like I did in my college days,
with high intensity worked into it with repeated lay up, jump shot routines,
etc. It's working great for cardio and overall body toning. I would like to do
weights as well, as there is a body of evidence pointing to its value, but
basketball is plenty far for me at this stage.

~~~
jamesaguilar
According to the Wikipedia entry, the harm from 5BX was caused by the situp.
Replace with crunches and you're good.

~~~
kinleyd
Yes, that's a good catch. I think it was only late into the '80s that full
sit-ups began to be deprecated. I did notice the 7-minute work out emphasizes
abdominal crouches which is good. However, 5BX did also cause knee and elbow
problems (thanks to the crouching jumping jacks and clap happy push-ups). I'd
say watch out for routines involving jerky movements.

------
lgsilver
Thanks again to everyone. I'm going to keep the webapp completely open and
free as long as anyone is using it, and I'll definitely open up the code once
I clean it a bit. If anyone would like to port it to IOS, I'd be happy to
chat. lgsilver (at) gmail.com -- Lindsay

~~~
chasingtheflow
Great work. Just needs a beautiful favicon so it can look great sitting in my
bookmarks bar ;-)

~~~
aymeric
And then he could use Tinycon to show the timer in the favicon (totally
useless but a nice detail): <http://tommoor.github.io/tinycon/>

------
simonsarris
This is wonderful.

Can you make a way to skip sections?

Living in a house built in 1840, jumping jacks are out of the question...

(Also if you click rapidly on the 3/2/1 countdown you can _kind of_ skip
things, because the app goes to all madness.)

~~~
ishansharma
Same here. Just one or 2 clicks on countdown skipped loads of things and
counter was all 18...20....15....14....17....

Using Firefox 21 on Win 7

~~~
stedaniels
I'm sorry but this is just a really poor execution of a simple idea. It was
great to rush to market, but the timing is so totally out I find it completely
unusable. This is on a Nexus 4 in Chrome.

~~~
kamakazizuru
there is no "rush to market" on this - she just built a project for her own
interest and shared it! Constructive criticism is good - but if you dont like
it - dont use it ;)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Lindsay is a male.

~~~
kamakazizuru
gotcha - hard to tell from the name - plus HN doesnt show you the gender of
the poster :) (and it doesnt need to FWIW)

------
jrvarela56
Great idea, you could make a pretty cool app out of this: let people create
routines by letting them associate pictures with exercise names and amount of
seconds.

They could then create workouts by creating a list of exercises and rest
periods and play their routing with the timer you created.

Does this exist? I want one.

~~~
garrettgottlieb
I agree that for the best results, changing it up (also called Muscle
Confusion - <http://athletics.wikia.com/wiki/Muscle_Confusion_Principle>) is
also necessary. Instead of making your own workout (which most people are not
qualified to do), we've built an app that asks for your goal, level, time,
equipment, etc. to build you a personalized routine that changes as you go:
[https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pumpup-workout-
coach/id57307...](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pumpup-workout-
coach/id573070442?mt=8). The hardest part of working out shouldn't be coming
up with the plan.

~~~
jacques_chester
"Muscle Confusion" is not a legitimate physiological property.

It seems to be a mutated misunderstanding of "accommodation", which is almost
entirely a _nervous system_ phenomenon having almost little to do with
adaptations in muscle tissue.

The best form of "changing it up" for hypertrophy is to modulate standard
acute training variables. Merely randomly changing exercises is ... not
efficient.

~~~
nosequel
I wish I could upvote this several times. Muscle confusion is a b.s. term, you
need periodization in your training. Merely doing random shit everyday is
going to work while your are a total newb, but you'll never get really strong
that way.

------
freditup
Ha ha, I decided to try the 7-min workout last night for the heck of it and I
basically wanted something exactly like this. Nice job, it does its purpose
perfectly.

One small suggestion: Perhaps a louder audio cue for transitions between
exercises in case you aren't looking at the screen.

------
chadcf
That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute workout timer.
Then you're in trouble, huh?

~~~
oms1005
No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6
minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.

~~~
jpitz
7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that's
the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my
uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like
you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby.
Step into my office.

~~~
gknoy
I only work out for prime numbered minutes, so 7 works very well. ;)

------
skennedy
Works on mobile devices which is perfect when on the go. Give me a pause
button so the timer doesn't go before I'm ready or make the clicking sound.
Then I'll be at the site every day.

------
pjacobson
Shameless plug: We built a workout app for iOS (PumpUp) that makes it easy to
build a personalized workout routine for home, the gym, or on-the-go. You can
customize things like equipment, goals, muscles, etc. Check it out if you're
interested! ([https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pumpup-workout-
coach/id57307...](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pumpup-workout-
coach/id573070442))

------
alexshye
Very cool! You got me off my butt and moving for 7 minutes and it was a great
work break.

A few notes for you and others:

1) There are a few that switch sides/legs and I would handle them differently.
For the lunges and step-ups, I think alternating sides is good. For the side
planks, I think it would be useful to give the other side a whole segment.
Splitting it in half wouldn't be much of a workout.

2) This is awesome because for the most part, you can modulate the workout
however you want. In fact, keeping a log of the number of pushups/situps/high
knees/etc would be cool because people could see progress. This might be a
nice extension for the site!

3) It may be good to balance things out as far as muscle groups go. Pushups
are repeated multiple times, as are squat related exercises. It is important
to balance these out with the muscles that oppose these exercises.

4) Even better (at least for me) would be to have a series for desk workers
that open up your body. We spend so much time crouched forward that a series
of exercises to counteract this would be awesome.

Thanks and I hope you keep building on this!

~~~
phillmv
I think it's implied that lunges and side planks are alternating; at least _I_
have a hard time doing much more than 15 secs per side plank.

~~~
JungleGymSam
I am confused about it myself. I can do a 30 second side plank (35 seconds?
Not so much.) so I've been doing two sets.

------
bzink
I emailed a link to your 7 min workout timer to my girlfriend. This was her
response. Nice job.

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!

That's. The. Most. Ingenious. Thing. Ever.

Now, I just have to bring my phone with me. Woohoo!

When I play it on the computer it ticks down, my phones doesn't so I'll have
to pay attention to it, which could be tricky, but that's sweet. Thanks!"

------
nthitz
It seemed like most of the comments when the article was on HN were saying
that this is not a very good workout... Having said that, cool site, looks
great!

~~~
graywh
This analysis of the workout was linked in the comments.

[http://elsbethvaino.com/2013/05/should-you-do-a-newspaper-
wo...](http://elsbethvaino.com/2013/05/should-you-do-a-newspaper-workout/)

------
BornInTheUSSR
this is great, just what I was looking for after I read the article - for
those confused by what this is [http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-mi...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-minute-workout/)

~~~
guelo
And the requisite contrarian HN comments,
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5704485>

------
bgray
I'd like to see the rest screen contain information about the next exercise.
This would give time to prepare.

~~~
lgsilver
You should see this at the bottom under the dots. I haven't optimized for
small (under 13") screens, so it may be hidden.

~~~
bgray
Ahh yes... I did miss that because of screen size. You should optimize for
smaller screens. :)

------
donniefitz2
Okay, this is good. The only problem is that I'm out of excuses to actually
not use it.

------
lgsilver
You guys rock. Thanks for the comments. Setting workout lengths is actually
already built-in, just have to add it to the UI (after work).

------
vishaldpatel
Love it! The suspense is fantastic - it forces me to concentrate on the
current exercise and not worry about whats coming up next. Really great! I
hope you will add more exercises, more compound exercises, lots of body weight
exercises, from beginner to advanced, logins, tracking.. etc.. etc.. all while
keeping the core simplicity of it all intact! =)

------
neeharc
This looks awesome. I'm going to start using it from tomorrow. I'd love to see
more intervals like 10 min, 15 min, 20 min.

~~~
therandomguy
We are living in tomorrow. Do it now.

------
zhs
So funny, I just started designing something similar a few days ago, here is a
shot of the dashboard [http://dribbble.com/shots/1067433-Flat-
Workout/attachments/1...](http://dribbble.com/shots/1067433-Flat-
Workout/attachments/131665)

~~~
ShawnBird
That looks great! When did Dribbble get so huge? That is less of a dribbble
and more of a splllash.

~~~
zhs
Thanks man, yeah you can now attach full files on dribbble.

------
sharmanaetor
Bug Report: Clicking the initial countdown clock 2-3 times messes up the
entire timer.

~~~
HaloZero
Confirmed this on Chrome, the behavior is strange.

------
mcgwiz
Nice job.

I don't want to presume anything. Did you purposefully shorten the workout
from that described in the ACSM article? It indicated 30 seconds on and 10
seconds off. (Your total duration variable should be 480--don't ask me how
they added that up to "7 minutes"!) This has lead to some confusion in the
comments here. And, although their intervals are somewhat arbitrary, and
asserting this routine is "scientific" is debatable to begin with, it would be
more accurate.

Again, great job.

------
kschults
Nice job! Little bit of feedback:

1\. The images don't update until after the first tick of the new exercise. It
would be nice if the updated when the rest screen changes to the new exercise
screen with the timer and the text.

2\. It would be cool if for exercises like the side plank (I think that's the
only one in this set), where you hold something on each side, it gave you a
halfway warning to tell you that it's time to turn over.

3\. The rest period at the end isn't really necessary.

~~~
NatW
It would be nice to have a sound option, too - to just say the exercise name
when it starts - so you don't need to look at your computer all the time.

------
freefrancisco
I love it, thank you! I just tried it now. I have one suggestion, at the end
when it's time for side plank, it is not clear when you should switch sides. I
thought I would rest, and then the timer would tell me to do the other side,
but at this time the timer was done. It would be better if the timer indicated
when to switch sides, or had two segments, one for each side. Other than that,
it was perfect!

------
xanadohnt
This is really great! I was telling my fiancé about this workout just today. I
read the NYT article but it was very sparse on details. Where can I find more
info? About the research, more details about the workout itself (for example,
during intervals is it full-on 100% all the effort I can muster, how many reps
am I aiming for, is it done every day), etc?

Thanks for this. I'll give it a try in about an hour!

~~~
npongratz
I believe this was the paper on which the NYT article was based:

[http://journals.lww.com/acsm-
healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/050...](http://journals.lww.com/acsm-
healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx)

~~~
xanadohnt
Excellent. Thanks for the link!

------
looki
I do wonder, what number of 7 minute workouts per week is appropriate? I'm
clueless, really - I've heard that you should not work out more than once in
two days, and to me it does make sense to apply this rule here, since it
advertizes itself as full workout. But yeah, I'm not really sure - it would be
great if someone could elaborate. PS The site is great - simple but very
useful.

------
lgsilver
Hi everyone. I made some updates today based on your awesome feedback:

1.) You can now change the length of the workout 2.) Sounds now work (as well
as they can) in IOS 3.) Changed duration of the breaks to 10 seconds no matter
how long the workout 4.) Added a sound-effect to tell you to switch on
exercises that need it 5.) Made some UI tweaks to improve the look

Thanks for making my week.

------
Casseres
I'm using a slow Internet connection, so I notice when transitioning to a new
workout, it shows the old workout picture for a second or two before the new
workout picture loads. Perhaps you can load it during the rest period and just
have it hidden?

P.S.: Great job! And great website idea!

------
bdcs
Your facebook link is broken, it is (<https://www.facebook.com/lindo>) and
should be (<https://www.facebook.com/Lindo>). Notice the capitalized 'L'

------
RRRA
Awesome! What would be nice is a choice to confirm between exercises so you
can hit spacebar to continue and a multiplier for the speed of the tick. I'm
not sure I can do 1 push up/sec for half a minute as a first training session.
:P

------
BhavdeepSethi
Here is a link to do all these exercises properly:
[http://lifehacker.com/these-12-videos-show-the-proper-
form-f...](http://lifehacker.com/these-12-videos-show-the-proper-form-
for-a-7-minute-ful-499199366)

------
jonthepirate
I forwarded this program to my coworker when I saw it on HN yesterday. Now,
I'm going to forward him this link... he refuses to go to the gym because he's
too busy so hopefully this will help him kickstart some fitness in his life.

------
harshhpareek
On Chrome on Win8, the background is white, but Firefox and on Dolphin browser
on my Nexus 10, the background is black. You probably meant to keep a black
background (eg. Workout timer on the start page is invisible on my chrome)

------
daveelkan
If it had the amusingly dramatic music and crazy horn between sets like this
video the I would definitely use it.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRni0ctIeFE>

------
krsgoss
Great work! I tried the workout for the first time after a run this
afternoon... it kicked my butt! As I was following along on the ipad I was
thinking a simple app would be perfect for this. Love the implementation and
visuals!

------
Otiel
You should specify a different tone for the last 3 "bips". We can't be looking
the screen 100 percent of the time, so a different "bip" to indicate that the
end of the current countdown would be a good addition imo.

------
MarlonPro
why routine start at 26 sec mark and rest at 8 sec? Some don't want it but I
really like to anticipate what's next, like in this app
<http://7minworkoutapp.com/>

------
guest
This has pretty pictures. I built a command line version: for i in `seq 16`;
do echo -ne '\007' && sleep 30 && echo -ne '\007' && sleep 1 && echo -ne
'\007' && sleep 10; done

------
KMBredt
After the 1st excercise it starts at 7 seconds rest and then 26 seconds for
the next excercises (Chrome/Win).

I also wonder why the images or better the whole site isn't responsive? I
would also add a link to one of the sources.

------
stigi
"seven minutes of steady discomfort" \-
[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-mi...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-minute-workout/)

------
enormace
I'm wrecked! Should be called the 1 minute work out :-) Nice idea and love the
way you implemented it with the simple graphics on top of the countdown. The
dots idea is also cool. Well done!

------
vemprala
It is splendid, something I was looking for. You could now concentrate for a
better UI/phone app. A suggestion, You can also look for
customizing/substituting workouts for the exact duration.

------
coherentpony
I think it would be clearer if the counter was not behind the person.

------
dooq
Great! Bookmarked!

Feature request: a nice sound when each section is finished. Sometimes I'm not
looking at the screen while doing the exercise, so a sound marking the section
changes would be nice.

------
pacomerh
Short exercise routines are a hit in today's world of busy people. I love this
thanks. Still feel sad that we have to opt for these things in order to get
our asses up.

------
rexreed
This is great! Although I'm not quite sure the pace of the tasks. For example,
for push ups, is it down on one beat and up on the next or one complete pushup
per beat?

~~~
dancesdrunk
With interval training you try and do as many as possible within the time
period, not a specific amount or to the beat.

------
kumar_navneet
Many people involve themselves in weight training and cardio exercises because
of which they miss out on ground exercises. I am sure this app will help them
a lot.

------
victormier
To all programmers, please: get out of your room and run outside for a while.
Taking a breath of fresh air feels much better than sweating in a closed
space.

------
mcg2124
This is GREAT. Any way that it could be purchased for download? I am headed to
the Congo and won't have internet. Thanks!

------
miamidesign
I'm looking forward to trying this out, most of the exercises mentioned in the
Times article are of great benefit.

------
daninfpj
I was going to make an app for this. You beat me to it, and it's pretty good,
no reason for me to bother now.

------
adjohn
This is great, thanks! I'd like to hear a ding or some audio notification at
the end of each section.

------
thisisandyok
I was actually thinking about doing a project like this earlier today. Thanks
for saving me the effort

------
jordank
Would love to make the URL bar disappear in mobile Safari. Love the idea, I
will do this workout now.

------
tsumnia
Nice work, just tried it out.

One suggestion would be to add a Switch pop-up if you run into exercises like
Side Plank.

------
OriginalAT
I really do hate you right now. But I do actually see great value in this.
Thanks for making this!

------
netforay
From last 3 days I was thinking about this only. Instead I thought of doing it
as Android App. Cool.

------
poissonpie
nice work on the site......cheeky bit of self promotion for my iphone tabata
timer app [https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tabata-hiit-
timer/id44160046...](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tabata-hiit-
timer/id441600468?mt=8)

------
readme
Awesome project.

I will be using it. Although I have to second others.. It'd be nice to choose
my exercises.

------
404error
Once you are comfortable doing this routine I would highly recommend the
Insanity Workout.

------
duaneb
One nitpick, I think the social aspects should disappear after 15 seconds of
no events.

------
lee94josh
Oh man if I could customize this, it would be perfect. Very well done though.

------
mansigandhi
Just curious, why 7 minutes?

~~~
jrvarela56
This post is based on this article:
[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-mi...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-minute-workout/)

------
Alterlife
I didn't know what a wall sit was, so I looked it up (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_sit> ).

According to wkiipedia, it's safety is disputed: might be injure someone with
bad knees... something to keep in mind.

~~~
arianvanp
As a tall person (200cm) . I wasn't able to do wallsits (or walk stairs) when
I was in puberty. It hurts the knees.

Speaking of knee injury. Practice squat techniques very well. IT might look
easy, but doing them well takes a lot of practice. Your knees shouldn't go
further than your toes, otherwise it's really bad for your knees!

------
ga2arch
i don't get the excitement for this 7 minutes workout, can't you just go in
the gym for 1 hour 3 times a week and do some squats ?

aside from this the site looks good, simple and to the point, props for it.

~~~
andyana
I do tabata most weekday mornings before work to get my body moving. This
looks much more fun, and it doesn't replace my gym time, which is after work
and an hour in duration.

------
devias
Awesome! Thank you!!

The last two should be repeated twice though (one for each arm)

------
anandpdoshi
I was wondering who is going to make this first. Salute to you :D

------
trgraglia
Pretty similar to the Android app 'Relaxed Abs'. Awesome job!

------
andreros
My only complaint is that it doesn't tick on my phone.

------
xweb
That is beautiful! Love the art design.

------
jvuonger
Awesome! Does the job, keep it simple!

------
eyko
Thank you for doing this. I will use!

------
film42
I love this, thank you so much!

------
wastedbrains
setting custom times would be nice I like to do 30 seconds with 10 seconds
rest

------
whattheken
This is awesome. Good job!

------
nbmm
How is this useful? Do you stand and exercise in front of your computer or
tablet computer?

~~~
lgsilver
Yes.

------
photorized
Simple and elegant.

------
foltz
Thank you so much!

------
indubitably
Pretty Javascript.

------
lakeeffect
Thanks, good work.

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randall
Love it! Yay!

------
orolo
Really good!

------
bradnickel
Great work!

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hexaust
Love it!

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pressurefree
excellent.

------
Iuz
god bless you

------
toddmatthews
thank you

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zeroexzeroone
It would also be pretty sweet to have the ability to move exercises around. I
tend to throw in pull-ups and other stuff at the end (with things around the
house). Possibly even creating custom 7-min workouts that fit the guidelines
of upper/lower/upper/lower, etc.

EDIT: but this is an awesome thing, regardless

