A Dietitian’s Experiment with Exercise

I know I usually stick exclusively with blogging on food and nutrition, but I’ve embarked on an experiment and for a couple of reasons I’ve decided to include it in my blog.

For one, putting out your intentions for the world helps you be far more accountable. Much like when my clients come to see my in my office, many find they are able to exercise more self control because they know they’ll be coming in to see me and don’t want to admit that they didn’t live up to their promises.

Second, this is a potentially life-changing program for many (if it lives up to the hype) so it’s that much more important for me to give it a proper test before recommending it. And if I can convince a few people to try it alongside me, then I can get more feedback to work with.

So without further ado, I’ve joined an exercise program called the 7-Minute Workout (7MWO for short). My reasons for joining are two-fold. While i am quite content with my weight and overall appearance, (This was not always the case. Before my first pregnancy I was 25 pounds heavier than I am now. Sometime after that I stopped weighing myself, so I don’t honestly know what my highest, non-pregnant weight was.) I am well aware that I am not as physically fit as I should be for optimal health. Specifically, my body fat percentage is much too high!

The second reason is that the majority of my clients come to see me about weight loss, and while good nutrition is the single most important element to achieving a weight loss goal, it cannot be denied that exercise has an important role to play as well. In particular, strength training. Quite simply, for two people of the same weight, the one who has a greater percentage of muscle will have a higher metabolism, and will therefore need to eat more to maintain that weight. Without some form of strength training activity as we age, we gradually lose muscle, and without a decrease in our food intake, weight gain soon follows. I want to know if this program will help build muscle as effectively as it promises.

A new friend of mine introduced me to the program. Her name is Suzanne, and she started the 7MWO when it was first developed in March 2011. Diets alone didn’t work for her previously, but with this program, combined with improvements to her diet, she lost 75lbs in 9 months and has continued to maintain the loss for a year now.

Here’s what makes the 7MWO program interesting. First of all, the recommendation that you need only do 7 minutes of exercise at a time. Even I, with my busy schedule, can find 7 minutes to dedicate to working out. That’s actual exercise time. When you add in some rests, it might take 10-15 minutes. (Early on it takes even longer while you’re learning how to do the exercises themselves.)

Next is the part that distinguishes it from all the more “conventional” exercise regimes I’ve seen.  Before I get into it, we must first understand that strength training is inherently catabolic – when we work our muscles to the point where they can’t do any more (eg. we pick a weight that we can only lift 8-12 times before we are exhausted), that causes damage to the muscle fibres. We are stimulating those fibres to grow to be able to handle that amount of weight. But early on, we have broken down our muscles. It takes a few days just to heal back to their original state. The problem is, according to the trainers of the 7MWO, most people will begin weight training after those few days, so they break down what just healed. What needs to happen, they suggest, is that your muscles should be allowed to rest longer to have a chance to actually grow.

So what does this translate to? A workout of one or two muscle groups (eg. tricep & chest OR biceps & shoulders OR quads etc.) every other day, over a 10-day cycle. Then repeat. This way, you let every muscle group rest for a full 10 days before working it out again. And if you’re only working one or two muscle groups, it can easily be accomplished in 7 minutes.

The theory sounds really good to me. I know from experience that the last time I tried an exercise routine, I felt like I had made much more progress on those occasions when I “fell of the wagon” and took more days off of exercising than I had intended. I couldn’t explain it until now. And it’s a small enough commitment that I’m willing to give it a try for a couple of months at least.

My objective is to get my body fat percentage into something respectable! I’m on Day 16 right now – midway through the second cycle. Not really enough time to notice any significant improvement, so I don’t have anything to report as yet. I didn’t take measurements before starting (didn’t think of it), but I did take it somewhere in the first week, but didn’t mark the date because I hadn’t expected to be blogging about it. I’m just going to say Jan 1 because it would be somewhere close enough. Here goes:

I expect there to be some fluctuation in my weight and body fat percentage. Depending on hydration status, fluid retention, and few other factors, both can change. What I’ll be looking for is a trend. For your information, below you can see the generally accepted body fat percentages developed by the American Council on Exercise.

If you’re interested in trying this out with me, then please order through this link. 7MWO is advertised through network marketing, so that’s Suzanne’s link to sign up. (As I see it, if you’re going to try it out, it would me nice for the commission to go to the person who introduced us to it.) The cost is less than $10/month, and there’s no contract, so you can cancel at any time.

And if you do give it a whirl, please comment and let me (and others) know how you’re finding it. You can “friend” me on the site, too! I really want all the feedback I can get. Is Suzanne’s success a fluke – more just good diet than exercise – or does this program have merit? Expect a progress report from me in about 10 days.

I look forward to hearing from you!