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The 7 Minute No-Excuse

Written by Dr. Dave Hnida, CBS4 Medical EditorSo you say you don't have the right equipment for exercise ...

Don't have the right clothes ...

The right zumba music ...

Or, the time ...

Well, hold onto your excuses because today I bring you the seven-minute workout, courtesy of the American College of Sports Medicine. In other words, smart people who set the guidelines and recommendations for exercise.

And they say you only need to bring two things to your seven-minute workout:

A chair.

You.

Exercise physiologists have developed a quick, but intense workout that supposedly gives you the same cardiovascular and muscle-building benefits as a 20-30 minute session at the gym.

It works pretty much all of the major muscle groups, and gets your heart rate cooking for a brief but adequate "interval".

The idea is that you move from one exercise to another in rapid fashion. There are 12 in all. You spend 30 seconds doing each as intensely as you can, with a 10 second break in between. And seven minutes later, you're done.

Some critics say seven minutes, no matter how intense is not enough, but the way I look at it -- most people do ZERO minutes of exercise each day. So maybe an attempt at this one can help.

And even if you can't bust a gut doing it as is recommended, maybe just going through the motions is a start towards something better.

Sure, you need to have a heart that can take it -- and you can't jump into an exercise program without a risk of getting hurt (which is why we also say add your doctor's advice plus your own common sense into the picture.)

No matter what, if you can put in your best effort, and feel misery on a scale of 8 of 10 (researchers' words, not mine), for seven minutes -- you will have 23 hours and 53 minutes left in your day to do something you enjoy without sweating.

LINK: journals.lww.com/.../HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx

Plus some nice diagrams, courtesy of the New York Times Magazine:

12well_physed-tmagArticle

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