We’ve mentioned the scientific 7-minute workout before and in the past few months it’s become all the rage among travelers. If you haven’t heard, here’s the gist:
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In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which 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 New York Times
The keys here are that it’s “based on science”, highly effective and (perhaps most important for travelers) completely portable. The latter meaning you need only a chair, a wall and yourself. No portable, water-filled dumbbells or trips to the alleged hotel “gym”.
One of the difficult things about the workout however is keeping yourself timed throughout the set. It’s an awful lot of “exercise for 30 seconds, rest for 10, exercise for 30, rest for 10 …” to keep track of. No surprise then that there’s a website and a bevy of mobile apps available to help you do just that.
The one we’re really digging though is The 7 Minute Workout iPhone app. It’s minimally designed with just the right amount of information, including videos for each exercise so you know you’re actually doing them right. What’s more: the voice prompts are spot-on. Hit the start button on your phone and you won’t need to look at it again for the entire seven-minute workout. The friendly, slightly British-sounding woman on the other end will simply guide you through each exercise+rest phase.
Pricing + Availability
Best part: it’s absolutely free and available now via UOVO.