The 7 Minute Workout.
Just what is that?
When I first heard of Joel Therien and Chris Reid’s new program the 7 Minute Workout, I have to say I was skeptical. Being an active person, but not into exercise, the idea of being able to get in shape in only 7 minutes a day seem pretty far fetched.
Having worked with Joel Therien in his other businesses and knowing his background as a champion level body builder, I figured he pretty much established himself as an expert, at least in my book.
So I jumped right in and became a guinea pig of sorts with the 7 Minute Workout program. While weight loss was not the issue for me, getting back some weight, hopefully in the form of muscle, was my goal.
I quickly found that while the 7 Minute Workouts were indeed a great way to build muscle and strength. With the need for only 7 minutes a day every, other day, it wasn’t too hard to get my 7 Minute Workout instilled into my sub-concious.
The great thing about the work out is that it is short enough, so I can get it in every other day and feel great right after. I do have to say that it was surprising to find myself pretty sore the next day, or two, depending on the workout. I didn’t think that such a short workout could do so much to my body.
Now that I am in the routine of doing my 7 Minute Workout on a regular basis, I have found even more uses for the 7 minute part.
I have begun to develop my 7 Minute Workout. This is something that I now apply to many things in my life. 5 minutes never seems long enough and 10 minutes can seem like an eternity. So the 7 minutes fits right in.
One example of applying a 7 Minute Workout to my life is in the area of food and meals. Eating nutrient dense food will generally involve buying the right food items, prepping and cooking, just to be able to eat. I find that I can easily lose hours a day just in trying to make sure I eat good.
So now I will take 7 minutes to think up a meal, look over what I have and maybe look up a recipe online for what I can make with what I have.
I then take my list and head for the grocery store and or farmer’s market to get what I need for my meal. Once at the store, list in hand, I set a goal of getting in and out in 7 minutes or less. (As anyone knows, the supermarket can make you feel like you’re in an Indiana Jones movie. You have to run a gauntlet of obstacles between the pastries, candies, ice creams and many other devilish creatures made up like cupcakes to get your attention. Then there are the little booby traps I call sucker tables that have an assortment of the junk you by-passed all spread out to catch you attention before you leave. These are the reasons you leave with twice the number of items you intended on buying. Most of them junk food you don’t need to be eating AND probably forgot a few items you came in for. That grocery list, a 7 minute time limit will help your determination to eat better and your pocket book to boot.
Now that you have all your food you need for the meal and none of the junk because of your excellent 7 Minute Workout. You can proceed to prep for the meal. Taking another 7 minute time frame and just cutting meats and vegetable. Making marinades and soaking the foods is all you do in this 7 minutes.
Depending on the meal, many will require another 7 minute time period to pop the food into the oven or pot or slow cooker. This keeps me from having to hover over the stove. I like to use slow cooking methods, such as baking, cooking food in a pot on low or using my slow cooker.
The 7 minute period for making my meal. With food prepped ahead, if I had something slow cooking, I can usually just put out all the food and make my plates. If it’s a meal that I will cook at the end, I usually a stir fry dish because I’m just a stir fry kinda guy, then with everything prepped it’s pretty much doable in 7 minutes to through everything together and cook it off in that 7 minute period.
When it comes to eating the meal, I don’t recommend a 7 Minute Workout. The reason is that food should never be rushed. When we eat quickly, we give our bodies signals that we are in a rush. This triggers our fight or flight response (FFR). Our bodies react to this urgency by secreting things like adrenaline and other chemicals to help our bodies be ready to respond. This is also a time when your body doesn’t what to carry too much food around, so the feeling to eat properly can be affected. With all this happening to your body, it’s no wonder that so many people have problems digesting their food. The have acid reflux, gas, bloating and just a general sense of yuckyness (technical term). There are a few other reasons such as what you eat and how you mix it that add to this problem, but the point here is to take the time to slow down, eat and rest afterwards. This is like the period between the 7 Minute Workouts. Give your body the time to use the food to build, repair and energize your bodies.
Now if you are like me, I clean my dishes as I go when cooking, then keeping the cleanup at the end of the meal down to 7 minutes isn’t too hard.
Well that was one example, a bit lengthy one at that, on how to develop the 7 Minute Workout even further.
Starting out with the 7 Minute Workout and leading into a 7 Minute Workout can really alter and help to get a handle on life.
Here’s to 7 Minute Workouts for life!
Make every next 7 Minute Workout in your life the best 7 Minute Workout.
