Maintain, Don't Gain in only 7 Minutes

As part of my school's health and wellness campaign, I joined the "Maintain, Don't Gain" program to motivate me to not give in to excess during the winter holidays. That's not an easy task around my house because my wife is a former professional pastry chef who has a simple catering business during the holidays. Starting around Thanksgiving, we will have roughly two hundred dozen cookies in the freezer. And, of course, working in a school, there are countless parties and treats around school and in the community that are specifically designed to derail our healthy efforts.

Additionally, I've found that my workout routine - which is effective and routine for much of the year - can really take a hit during the midpoint of the school year. I can go from 3-4 days of cardio and weights down to one, usually only on Saturdays. I am certainly an afternoon exerciser. The mornings are reserved for waking up with the coffee and paper. And because we start school at 7 am, there is simply no way I am going to get the workout done early. Normally, I will run for 25 minutes outside, or work out with weights for at least that long.

So, I was intrigued when I read about "The Seven Minute Workout."

This high-intensity, interval workout featured on the New York Times blog might actually be all it's cracked up to be. Anyone can spare seven minutes, right? There have been times that I come home and want to crash on the couch with a beer and the news, but I've been able to commit seven minutes of intense exercise before that. And, it's easy to do with this really cool workout app. I've even added to it when I have the time ... and the energy. So, I'll do a 9-minute workout. And sometimes a few minutes of weights afterward, or even ten minutes on the bike in the basement. So, if you are hoping to keep yourself in check this winter, consider this workout: