Seven Minutes a Day (Well, 10, but whose counting?)

     The Seven-Minute workout challenge is all over TikTok, it's all over the internet, and I decided to try it. Mind you, when I go to the gym I work out for about 20 minutes or so before I get exhausted, so the seven-minute challenge wasn't hard for me. Well, I was wrong. it is. It's hard because it's a particular routine, and you do seven things for 1 minute at a time with only 10 seconds in between sets so the whole thing takes about eight minutes when you do it correctly.

    Because I wanted to do it correctly, I bought myself a one-minute egg-timer that I could turn over during the 10-second intervals to be sure I was doing the exercise for a full minute. There are two exercises I really don't mind doing more than a full minute, but there are two when I hope the timer sands pour a little faster! Here's what I do.

    I do cheat and I stretch first. I think you should do a warm-up before you get started. It's just a good idea. If you need to consult your physician do that too; and always use protective gear for your joints if you need that. I don't want people saying I was irresponsible and telling them to do something. I am NOT telling you what to do, I am telling you what I am doing. There is a huge difference.

    I warm up by walking around the complex and rolling my arms, my shoulders, and my head. Then I come back to the apartment and I walk up and down the stairs 2x before going into the apartment to do stretches such as forward-doggie, and a few other bendy types to get the lower back prepared before doing the seven 1-minute exercises at full force. If you don't do them at full force you may not feel the burn, but it's still good for you. Start slower and build up; that's the ticket for me.

• Jumping Jax....right out of the shoot. Do those first, get them over with. 
• High Knee Step ... sounds easy, but really high, really fast, and a full minute.
• Wall push-ups...this one is really easy for me, so I try to make it more difficult.
• Sliders (with 5-pound weights in each hand) and I do them to each side of the center.
• Lifting 15 or 20-pound bar - just lifting and curling nothing fancy
• Lifting a 15 or 20-pound bar - over my head and behind my head onto my shoulders
• Sit-ups with my legs over the couch so I can have a goal for the process.

    Then, because I can, I do the whole lift of the hips and waist turns after that. I do a cool down. I go back down the stairs a couple of times, and sometimes I even jump rope. I didn't do the rope jumping today because it's still really hot outside. I have to jump rope outside because I live upstairs and the neighbors below me don't need to think the ceiling is caving in on them. I go outside to do the battle ropes too, but seriously, not until the weather is a lot cooler than it is right now. 

    This evening I'll go walking with my buddy, and we'll clock 2.5 to 3 miles around the lake area. We love it. We thought about smoking a couple of cigars afterward, which I KNOW is not good for me, but I'm not a smoker, so it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just two ladies having a good time at the lake; we can do that, right?

    Supposedly, and I have ZERO concrete evidence of this, you're supposed to lose an additional 3-4 pounds a month by doing this seven-minute workout. We'll see. I have no way of knowing whether it works because I'm not really keeping that close of tabs on it. I'll eat well, drink my 100 ounces of lemon water, and I'll do the exercises. If I die I die, and if I get thinner and feel stronger, there's that. I just like feeling as if I've done something to make myself look and feel better. I have too many issues to try to make it to perfection. I can try for best as I can! Goals!

Photo Credit: FactsCrush.com