The 7-minute workout is a short, high-intensity circuit that uses body weight and needs only a chair and a wall. Two exercise coaches at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida described it in the May/June 2013 issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal. They called the format high-intensity circuit training. A New York Times article that same year made it popular as the “7-minute workout.”
The circuit has 12 exercises done in order: jumping jacks, wall sit, push-ups, crunches, step-ups onto a chair, squats, triceps dips on a chair, plank, running in place, lunges, push-ups with rotation, and side plank. Each exercise lasts 30 seconds, with about 10 seconds of rest between them. The order lets one muscle group rest while another works.
The authors suggested doing the circuit two or three times in a row. They based the routine on research into similar circuit training, not on a study of this exact workout. The routine only works as described at a high effort, enough to leave a person very out of breath. Beginners can lower the intensity, for example by doing push-ups from the knees.
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