Mood Boosters: The 7-Minute Workout
September 19, 2013
In France, they have a name for this time of year: La Rentrée (the return). It’s the moment when, bronzed and rejuvenated (that’s what spending all of August on the Côte d’Azur will do for you), people return to their cities and get back to the grind.
In New York, it’s the moment when I am suddenly so crazed that I have to turn down offers to do anything fun because “I’m in a work cave.” It’s also the moment when the running and yoga that I occasionally manage to pull off at other times of the year suddenly go out the window. And little by little, I become super cranky.
But hello, what’s this? This summer, everyone was suddenly talking about the Scientific 7-Minute Workout, which the New York Times claims “essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science.”
The jury’s still out on whether the 7-minute workout is really sufficient in terms of overall fitness needs, but when you’re strapped for time (or just feeling stormy), it does clear the mind and offer a nice little release. And I will give credit where it’s due: My boyfriend is looking decidedly more svelte since he started doing it regularly when the article came out five months ago (he’ll believe anything he reads in the Times).
I’ve done it few times myself, and I can attest to the workout’s cathartic properties. Of course, there’s a lot of grunting and griping involved, and I’m always glad once it’s over, but it’s actually pretty fun—except for #11, the dreaded push-up rotation. I always manage to get “distracted” at that point, even though this timer is designed to keep you right on schedule.
