THE 7-MINUTE EXERCISE

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July    22     1205    7128         1293     1120        572

Aug    12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

Sept     3     1094    5886        830     1083         174
            9     1208     6222        1136      1168          82

Oct      8       957     6420         730       967        160

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          18       448     4040           215       578         63

Summary:  Nice decline, but let's see how these figures look during mid-week.

Have you heard of the 7-Minute Exercise?

• 2013: first appeared in the American College of Sport Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal.
• In only 7 minutes, you can lose weight, gain higher endurance, reduce developing Type 2 Diabetes and attain stronger cardiovascular and muscular fitness.
• Just 12 high-intensity exercises in a small room with no equipment, where you can use this tutorial.

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  If you feel great during the process or immediately thereafter, you ARE NOT DOING THEM INTENSELY ENOUGH!  You need to be stressed. 
• In general, though, there seems to be a sense that this exercise regimen is mostly for the younger generation.
• From what I've been able to determine, it works.  Here, something from Business Insider in 2019.

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  To summarize:
• Cost:  free.
• All you need is a chair and wall.
• Apparently does not work well for beginners, for you need to stick to it, and most of us are weak in body and mind.
• Here are six 7-minute apps that are popular.

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  According the authors:  (Brett Klika and Chris Jordan):

The authors don't recommend this program to people who are overweight, previously injured or elderly. Some of the exercises are not recommended for persons with hypertension or heart disease.

• That pretty much wipes out most of you who come to this blog site.  However, if you are older and can't safely do the above, you can try to approximate the effort by using a stationary bicycle, or, for me, a cross-trainer where you sit and use your arms and legs.  Just perform reps of 30 seconds to a minute, with five to ten seconds of rest in between...for a total of 7 minutes.
• Here, though, is a 41-minute tutorial entitled 7-minute home workout for seniors.
• Clearly, if you are in any way physically or age challenged, talk to your personal physician first.

There has been a plethora of high intensity interval training systems.  While the above variation underscores the advantage of only 7 minutes of your time, most of the others feature some warm-up, followed by a cool down period.  Worse, there are articles that suggest you need to repeat these 7 minute cycles three times to optimize any results.

I am beginning to experiment with this 7-minute session as part of my MWF afternoon use of a cross-trainer.  In addition, I have a TuThSat morning routine that takes around half an hour, and is not strenuous.  I began these exercises in bed six months ago as a result of knee therapy treatment.  My knees feel stronger with less pain, but, as importantly, and maybe more so, I've benefited my life in three important ways:

• Improved posture, which I try to maintain when I walk anywhere.
• Strengthened toes, which are crucial when taking a shower.  Keeps me better balanced.
• Promotes bowel movement.  I was getting the point where this was beginning to be a problem.  No more.

For those not in condition or, like me, old, use one of those blood pressure / heart rate devices which you place on your wrist to keep your numbers from going off the charts.   I hate to exceed 120 pulses/minute for any length of time and totally avoid reaching 140 PPM.  My blood pressure usually drops, so that should not be a problem, except that, for this intensive period, my body seems to be going in the opposite direction from walking on a golf course, for at this point in my first attempts, my blood pressure does go up (but not seriously so), while my pulse rate does not rise so much.  Oh, this must be done DAILY!  But that would be for the serious exercisers.  Not for me.

My life in general quarantine is a combination of mostly serving as a couch potato, with those above exercise exceptions.  As much as possible I also try to walk on a golf course weekly, but this is getting to be too gruesome for me.  The last two times I went, I took photos.  First, to the left, the 15th hole at the Bayview golf course, and the other three, at the end of the second hole at the Ala Wai course.

I'm now at #72 of my favorite songs, and here are the contenders:

• Mule Skinner Blues:  The Fendermen
• Sincerely:  McGuire Sisters
• Jezebel:  Frankie Laine
• Jambalaya:  Jo Stafford
• Tiger Rag:  Les Paul and Mary Ford

Mule Skinner Blues was written in 1930 by Jimmie Rodgers and George Vaughan, but the one I remember came from The Fendermen in 1960.  This rockabilly duo met at the University of Wisconsin, soon after which came their only hit.

The McGuire Sisters began performing in 1952, the year they won on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.  Sincerely was recorded in 1954.  Watch them performing for PBS half a century later.  They were 78, 76 and 73 years old, and looked fabulous.

Frankie Laine had a whole slew of hits, and was still performing at the age of 92, here with That's My Desire for PBS.  This was his first hit in 1946, which was exactly 60 years before that 2006 finale'.  In 1949 he had the top two songs in the nation, That Lucky Old Sun and Mule Train.  1951 was a particularly big year for Laine, as he recorded High Noon (he sang this song in the movie) and a double-sided Rose, Rose I Love You and Jezebel.  That year he also teamed with Jo Stafford on Way Down Yonder in New Orleans.

The next two rose to the top of #72 because I lived in Louisiana for 3.7 years.  Jambalaya, also a Creole/Cajun dish, was written by Hank Williams in 1952.  However, the Jo Stafford version that year rose this song into the popular category.  In case you didn't know, both gumbo and jambalaya are concoctions of shrimp, chicken and vegetables, but the difference is that gumbo is a soup and poured over rice, while the rice is cooked with the rest for jambalaya.

My selection for #72 is Tiger Rag by Les Paul and Mary Ford, which was recorded in 1951.  The original was copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917.  This song was essentially the national anthem of LSU when I was there, for our mascot was a tiger.  Can't ever forget Tiger Rag at a football game in Baton Rouge, for that song is played at the beginning, and after every touchdown.  The Chemical Engineering building was adjacent to Tiger Stadium.  Auburn and Clemson also are known for this song.

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