A 7-Minute Workout Might be Too Much
Breaking down someone else's routine so you can build it into your life
You've probably heard of the 7-minute workout. In just 7 minutes, it’s claimed, you can get a lot of the benefits normally associated with more grueling exercise routines.
I've tried and failed to make the 7-minute workout a habit. As short as seven minutes is, it’s still easy to make an excuse to skip it. Once, twice, then soon enough I had given up. But now, years after forgetting about it, I've found myself unexpectedly approaching attainment of the 7-minute workout habit.
On January 1st this year, I bought a book called Tiny Habits. Tiny Habits emphasizes that you must start small in behavior change efforts, ridiculously small. I had heard that before, but the book broke down behavior change in such a clear way that I couldn't help but finally get it. The key is that consistency is paramount. Everything else follows from finding something that you really will do every day, even on bad days.
So this January, I decided to do 10 pushups and a 10-second plank every morning. To my surprise, I found that I effortlessly did it every day for a week, then two weeks, then three months (with a handful of missed days).
Why? It was just so easy. So easy I never even bothered to try tell myself that I didn’t have time to do it. It was easier to just do it. And it was a quick win to start the day. It was small, but it made me feel good. And I started the day invigorated.
Soon, I wanted to do a little more. So I started adding one push-up and one second of planking a week. Now I’m at 20 push-ups and a 20 second plank every morning. And it just feels right. It doesn’t feel like a chore. I like doing it.
What I take away from this experience is that attempting to install large collections of behaviors that grow from other people’s lives is hard. It’s likely that what works for someone else won’t work for you.
So what do you do? Break the collection of behaviors down into building blocks. Then try some of those building blocks out, your way. Experiment. Take one behavior and see where it fits in your life. I realize now that I have ended up doing part of the 7-minute workout: push-ups and a plank. So now I’m trying to add another piece: a wall sit. But I’m not doing it right after my morning routine, I’m doing it on one of my work breaks. Is this as good as doing it all in 7 minutes as recommended? Probably not, but I’m doing this. And I might end up doing something as beneficial as the real 7-minute workout, or better. Because I made it work for me.
So next time you see read about someone’s 5 AM 5-mile run, don’t settle for the stark choice of trying to match it or not trying at all. Try a two-block walk at 10 AM. Make it yours, and make it stick.
Wow, this sounds like a much more realistic approach that I really will do!