[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]
When I wrote “7 Minute Muscle” and “7 Minute Body” (the in-home version; both books come in the same package) I thought I was doing the muscle-mass crowd a huge favor.
I was right… and I was wrong.
I was right because the 7MM-style training has put serious muscle shape, tone, and size on people from all ages.
I was WRONG because it did more than just add lean muscle:
THIS makes people THINNER…
7 Minute Body workouts <– fastest bodyshaping workout EVER
The short version of the science behind why this happens and a sample workout routine is included in today’s newsletter.
Yep: the workout I intended people to use for building muscle turned into one of the fastest ways to melt body fat.
Weird.
I say “weird”… it’s not that weird to me. I know why it works so well. But it was kinda weird for my readers.
The secret is density training.
Density is basically getting the most amount of work done in the least amount of time. More work in less time = more energy.
More energy spent = greater fatloss.
Fatloss (and muscle-shaping) is not an issue of length of time as much as it is an issue of work divided by time.
The body was made to perform in bursts, not in long bouts. This is why our immediate fuel sources (which come mostly from carbohydrates) are WAY too efficient… so much so that we store incredible amounts of fat from consuming too many of the “fast-fuel” foods.
The best way to combat this fat-storing problem is to use your body the way it was designed to be used: In bursts of fat-burning power that are intense, short, and highly focused.
That’s the basics behind density training.
More here:
7 Minute Body workouts <– fastest bodyshaping workout EVER
Want a practical example? Great… let’s look at a 7 Minute Muscle chest workout followed by a 7 Minute Muscle “GXP” Cardio workout.
Your total workout time: A whopping 16 minutes.
That’s “TOTAL” workout and cardio time, minus a short warm-up.
After your warm-up, you would start with the first of two “Phases”:
The first 5 minutes is called The Power Phase.
This is followed by The Mass Phase (Mass is for adding lean muscle) which last only 2 minutes.
During the Power Phase, your weight you select for any movement (from a bench press to a push-up) stays the same. This makes it very easy to shorten your rest intervals between sets.
Your repetitions will be a maximum of 5 for your Power Phase using a weight that’s about 60% of your normal 5-rep max. You will rest as little as possible between sets.
The first few sets will feel light, but as time progresses this “light” weight will become more and more challenging. In fact you will drop your repetitions down quite low in order to complete the 5-minute Phase… and that’s GOOD.
That’s what we want: As many repetitions as you can get during 5 minutes, but never exceeding FIVE repetitions, during your Power Phase.
Your rest intervals are up to YOU… you can rest a short or as long as you need.
This is a very creative and personal workout!
Your goal is simple: Get more TOTAL reps (called “Aggregate Repetitions”, or “AR”) than your previous workout.
This is what makes 7 Minute Muscle so unique: The progression is built-in.
Most people fail to progress in the gym because they simply do not track their workouts carefully enough.
With 7 Minute Muscle you don’t have to track an entire workout: Only ONE number. The total number of repetitions, or your “AR”.
Simple!
Your Power Phase for a chest workout may look like this:
EXERCISE:
Incline Machine Press (upper chest)
5 reps (rest 20 seconds)
5 reps (rest 15 seconds)
4 reps (rest 20 seconds)
3 reps (rest 30 seconds)
3 reps (rest 30 seconds)
1 rep (rest 20 seconds)
1 rep (end)
]Total AR: 22 reps
Total Time: 5 minutes
Your goal next time is to get 23 repetitions using the same weight. Once you can get 5 repetitions every set it’s time to increase the weight for this movement.
You would then move to your Mass Phase (2 minutes) which would be a different chest exercise for TEN repetitions.
Same goal, same principles apply… beat your previous AR.
The end result is a 7-minute workout that shapes your chest AND burns a lot of fat due to the principles of time/energy expenditure and the fact that muscle burns calories.
You end your 7 minute workout with “GXP” Cardio. This is 9 minutes long… that’s it! But your body is primed to melt off a lot of fat after your 7 minutes of intense weight training… and you will drop the fat if you do this workout right.
You start with 3 minutes on the exercise device of your choice (I prefer the treadmill.)
You work your way up to 85-90% of your maximum heart rate, or a perceived exertion rate on a scale of 1-10 of 7 to 8. No more is needed to get the desired results.
You stay at this level for just 3 minutes.
Then you cool down for 3 minutes.
That’s IT.
That’s your entire cardio workout and weight-training workout… all in 16 minutes (about 20 with a warm-up.)
And you will progress faster, burn a lot more fat, and save SO much time you may have to take up a new hobby!
Get more info here:
7 Minute Body workouts <– fastest bodyshaping workout EVER
