The 7-minute workout!

After chomping on chocs and supping the vino on Valentines with my sister (yup, you heard right...if you want to know why I wasn't getting my romance on with the boy, I mention why here!), I wanted to do something to make me feel a bit better about myself.

Now, I'm the kind of girl that doesn't particularly enjoy the thought of exercise; you know those occasions where people talk about how good they feel after exercising and maybe even invite you along to a gym session, and you pull that face, trying not to show how much you're really not interested. Yup that's me too...

Oh right, yeah, sounds good, tell me more...

I'm just generally pretty bad at managing the whole 'releasing those happy endorphins' thing...so that's why I thought I'd start 2014 off with baby steps. 

Enter, the 7-minute workout app; 7 whole minutes, just 420 seconds, and that includes your mini rests in between each exercise, so this really doesn't sound a lot at all does it? *feeling convinced-ish*

Yeahhh feeling excited-ish.

Well, well, well, trust me, it sounds easy as pie, but while it's manageable, it's still a bloomin' good workout in my opinion. Because you are working your body at a higher intensity than normal, this really does a super duper job of getting your heart rate up. And, of course, when your heart rate's up, the calories are burning...and you're hopefully toning too, with planks, crunches and press-ups to help showcase those abs lurking in the depths. 

Post-workout huffing.

Each exercise lasts 30 seconds, with a 10-second break between each, and there's a handy timer counting down each workout, so it can be nice to see how much time left you have to suffer! The other big bonus is that you can play your music while the app's running, so I like to put on something high energy to keep me motivated...not that you get through many songs!

Only a couple of down sides with this: you need to use a mat or something comfortable to lie on for the floor exercises (but you can get hold of these pretty cheaply); secondly, I find the step-up excercise difficult to do because I don't really have anything at the right height (I've been using a chair, but it's too high to get into any rhythm!), so you may want to skip that in favour of repeating one of the other exercises if you're in the same position!

The idea is that you do it everyday for 3 months, which then triggers an 'unlocking' of more exercises focusing on different body areas, giving you a bit of variety. I can't say I've managed to stick with it every day, but I'm willing to give it a try...I did feel better for it, and I'd definitely recommend it if you're not keen on doing too much all at once. 

Wish me luck with my beach-bod mission!

I WILL do this! will try to do this.

Have you tried the 7-minute workout? Rate it or hate it? I'd love to hear what you think and if you have any other recommendations in my quest for toned-ness!

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