Does the 7-minute workout actually work?

Yes, but less than its reputation suggests. The 7-minute workout is a well-designed bodyweight circuit, and the small studies that have tested it found real gains in muscular endurance, and in some groups aerobic fitness and waistline. The biggest improvements came when people did it often, worked hard, or repeated the circuit, which makes it a good start rather than a complete plan.

Where the 7-minute workout came from

The workout comes from a 2013 article in the American College of Sports Medicine's Health & Fitness Journal by the exercise physiologists Brett Klika and Chris Jordan. They reviewed the research on high-intensity circuit training and put together a sequence of 12 bodyweight exercises that needs nothing more than a wall and a chair.

Each exercise lasts 30 seconds, with about 10 seconds to switch to the next, so one circuit takes around seven minutes. The order matters: it alternates between legs, upper body and core, so one muscle group recovers while another works. That's what lets you keep the effort high without a proper rest.

In May 2013, Gretchen Reynolds wrote it up for The New York Times as "The Scientific 7-Minute Workout". Her article set the bar for effort: the intensity should hover "at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10", and those seven minutes should be, in a word, "unpleasant". The article spread widely, and so did a lot of apps.

The 12 exercises

Each is done for 30 seconds, with about 10 seconds between them.

What the original article did and didn't show

This is the part that usually gets lost. Klika and Jordan's article was a review and a recommendation, not an experiment. It explained why circuits of resistance exercises done with little rest can improve both strength and aerobic fitness, and it pointed to earlier studies of high-intensity interval and circuit training. It did not test this particular circuit on a group of people and measure what happened.

The authors also didn't present seven minutes as the whole answer. They suggested the circuit could be repeated two or three times, which most of the coverage left out.

What later studies found

Since 2013, a handful of studies have tested the workout, or a close version of it, directly:

• College students, eight weeks (Schmidt and colleagues, 2016). 96 recreationally active students did the 7-minute circuit three times a week, or a 14-minute version (the circuit twice) for the second half of the study, or nothing. Both training groups improved at push-ups. The men also got stronger, and aerobic capacity rose only in the women doing the 14-minute version.
• Young adults, every day for six weeks (Mattar and colleagues, 2017). 29 people aged 18 to 30 did the workout seven days a week while 29 others didn't. Without changing what they ate, the training group's waists shrank by about 4 cm on average and their fat mass went down. Grip strength didn't change.
• Sedentary women with obesity, eight weeks (Ajjimaporn and colleagues, 2023). 24 women trained three times a week on a version adapted to be easier on the joints, building from one circuit in the first week to five in the last. Compared with a group that didn't train, they improved their estimated aerobic fitness, flexibility and body composition, and their leg strength went up too.

Together, these suggest the circuit works, in the sense that people who do it improve. But the studies are small and short, mostly in young adults, and none followed people for longer than a couple of months. And in each, the clearer results came with more: doing it every day, doubling the circuit, or building up to five rounds.

Is seven minutes enough?

Measured against the World Health Organization's guidelines, a single circuit a few times a week isn't. For adults, the WHO recommends at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening exercise on two or more days. Three 7-minute workouts add up to 21 minutes. Even done every day at full effort, one circuit comes to 49.

The other catch is intensity. The workout is designed to be done at an 8 out of 10, and the benefits depend on that. Thirty seconds of relaxed squats while you glance at your phone is pleasant, but it's a different workout.

None of that makes it useless. Seven minutes is far better than nothing, it's enough to build the habit of exercising, and it counts towards the muscle-strengthening part of the guidelines. For many people the hardest part of exercise is starting, and a workout that's over before you can talk yourself out of it is a good way through that.

Who it suits

• People starting out or coming back, who need something short enough to do every day.
• Busy days and travel, when the choice is seven minutes or nothing.
• Anyone who already does cardio, such as walking, running or cycling, and wants some strength work alongside it.

It's less suited to people chasing big strength gains, who will eventually need more load than bodyweight provides, and to anyone with sore knees, wrists or shoulders, who should swap the exercises that hurt. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease or an injury, check with your doctor before doing high-intensity training.

How to make it harder

When one circuit stops being hard, add volume and effort in small steps, the way the studies did:

• Repeat the circuit. Two rounds take about 16 minutes and three about 24. This is the simplest change and the one with the most evidence behind it.
• Work longer, rest less. Try 40 seconds on and 15 off, then 45 on and 10 off.
• Use harder versions. Push-ups with your feet raised, single-leg glute bridges in place of step-ups, a slower lowering on every squat and lunge, or squat jumps in place of squats if you can make noise.
• Do it more often. The daily group in the 2017 study saw changes in six weeks.

A better plan than one fixed circuit

The studies point to the same few changes: do more than one round, keep the effort high, and change the exercises as you get fitter. That's how we designed Streaks Workout. It isn't a 7-minute workout app. Instead of one fixed circuit, you pick a workout of about 6, 12, 18 or 30 minutes, built from 30 equipment-free exercises, and you choose which ones it uses, so you can drop a move that hurts your knees or add harder ones as you improve.

It's also meant to be non-judgemental. Workouts start at your level, with no one on screen to keep up with. Voice coaching tells you what's next, so there's no stopping to check a list, and Workout Packs add ready-made workouts for a goal, such as a stronger core or quiet, jump-free sessions. If six minutes is all you have, that's there too. When you have more, the longer workouts give you the extra rounds the research suggests.

Sources

1. Klika B, Jordan C. High-intensity circuit training using body weight: maximum results with minimal investment. ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal. 2013;17(3):8–13. doi:10.1249/FIT.0b013e31828cb1e8
2. Reynolds G. The scientific 7-minute workout. The New York Times, Well blog, 9 May 2013. nytimes.com
3. Schmidt D, Anderson K, Graff M, Strutz V. The effect of high-intensity circuit training on physical fitness. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2016;56(5):534–540. PubMed
4. Mattar L, Farran N, Bakhour D. Effect of 7-minute workout on weight and body composition. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2017;57(10):1299–1304. PubMed
5. Ajjimaporn A, Khemtong C, Willems ME. Body composition and physical fitness improve after 8 weeks of high-intensity circuit training using body weight in obese women. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2023;63(2):273–281. PubMed
6. World Health Organization. Physical activity fact sheet. who.int