There are a million and one reasons why you can’t fit in a workout into your everyday life and while it’s certainly true that many people don’t have enough time to head to the gym, we all owe it to ourselves to take a few minutes a day and devote them to our health. To that end we spoke with Jackie Dragone, Director of FLEXBarre at FLEX Studios to get her opinion on the best seven-minute circuit we could do anywhere, anytime. Here’s what she had to say!
“The second I hear someone say they only have a few minutes to work out, my mind always goes to high-intensity interval training! If you have minimal time to squeeze in a workout, you need to maximize the intensity in those few minutes. I am a believer in the idea that some is always better than none…especially if you are working to your max for most of that workout! In fact, several studies show that interval training in short periods of time can be more effective than a full hour of running at a steady pace. Interval training has a lasting effect, creating after-burn so your body continues to torch calories long after your sweat session. Below is a workout that should do the trick in just seven minutes.”
Minute 1: Plank knees to chest into mountain climbers
Get into a plank position, shoulders over your wrists and hips in line with the shoulders. Keeping your pelvis square, bring your right knee into your chest and then your left, keep alternating sides at a steady pace for 30 seconds. Once 30 seconds is up, pick up the pace and take it into a full mountain climber, moving as quickly as you can without compromising form.
Minute 2: Wide second plié with jump
Stand tall with your feet slightly wider than hip-bone distance apart and your feet turned out at a 45 degree angle. Make sure the rotation comes from the hips, not the knees. Keeping your shoulders on top of your hips, bend your knees deeply making sure the knees do not pass over the toes. Start with your arms reaching out to the side, then begin to straighten your knees. When you get to the top with knees straight, squeeze your glutes. Repeat this bend and press motion for 30 seconds. For the next 30 seconds, add a jump at the top. As you straighten your knees press through your heels and glutes, jumping off the floor and clicking your heels together at the top in mid-air. Quickly open the legs and land back in wide second position. Make sure to keep the shoulders over the hips, as this is a vertical jump, not a squat jump.
Minute 3: Side plank with push-up
Get into plank position, shoulders right on top of the wrists, abs and glutes engaged. From here, bend and press the elbows into a push-up. At the top of your push-up take a brief pause, shift all of the weight onto your left side and open the body to the right coming into a side plank with the right hand reaching to the ceiling. Repeat other side. It is important to keep the abs engaged so that you can easily move from push-up to side plank without your pelvis feeling unstable. Keep it going for one full minute.
Minute 4: Double knee lunge
Stand tall with feet parallel. Step your left foot back behind you and bend your knees to make two 90 degree angles with either leg. The right knee should be on top of the ankle and left knee under your hip. Reach your arms to the ceiling. Once in position, start to take little pulses down. Keep in mind you should be dropping the hips down an inch and up an inch. This should lead to a very targeted burn, even though the movement is small. Keep the pulses going for 30 seconds. Once you reach 30 seconds push off of the legs and jump up, switch the legs in the air, and land with the opposite foot in front. When landing remember the front knee should always remain over the ankle and the back knee is always under the hip. Keep the jump lunges going for 30 seconds.
Minute 5: Double knee lunge
Start with left foot in front this time and repeat the above sequence, pulsing for 30 seconds and doing jump lunges for the next 30.
Minute 6: Kneeling oblique twists transitioning to tricep dips
Start on your hands and knees, shoulders over wrists and knees under hips. Tuck your toes and lift your knees only four inches off of the floor. Once in the all fours hovering position begin to drop your right hip towards the floor and kick your right leg underneath of you extending it straight. Imagine stamping your right foot on the wall to your left. Your left hand will come totally off of the floor. From here, bend your right knee, pull it back underneath of you, and put the right foot and left hand back down to the start position. Repeat other side. Continue for 30 seconds.
Once you hit 30 seconds, have a quick seat on your bottom with feet flat on the floor in front of you and hands on the floor behind you, finger tips facing your seat. Lift your hips off of the floor and bend and press the elbows, keeping the hips as high as possible and letting the movement come from your triceps. Keep the tricep dips going for 30 seconds.
Minute 7: Squats to jump squats
Start standing with your feet parallel and slightly wider than the hips. From here extend your seat behind you like you are trying to sit in an chair. Make sure this is about reaching your hips back and not pressing your knees forward. The knees should not pass the toes. Once you reach the bottom, straighten your legs, stand up, and squeeze your glutes at the top. Repeat for 30 seconds. Once you hit 30, continue the same motion, adding a jump. Remember when landing from the jump, get the hips back and weight back in your heels, still being mindful that the knees do not pass the toes. Continue with the jumps for 30 seconds.
