On Sun, 7 Jul 2002, M.E. C wrote:

> In a message dated 7/7/2002 8:31:14 AM Central Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> >  figured I could
> > easily devise my own 7-minute high-intensity routine.  So I do
> > this every day.  It may help with weight loss, but since I'm
> > manipulating diet variables at the same time I can't be sure.  I
> > think the 7-minute idea is roughly congruent with Art DeVany's
> > "power law" approach.
>
> Very interesting....do you mind telling what your 7 minute high intensity
> routine is?

Well, a few months ago I bought a piece of exercise equipment, a
clone of the "total gym" that you see on infomercials.  Even
though it looks too easy to be a good workout, I have found that
at a fairly steep incline it's a lot harder than it looks --
rather like working out with a pretty heavy set of dumbells.  So
I do a fast set of exercises on that thing, with no pauses.

> 7 minutes sounds too good to be
> true...but the adrenalin/cortisol stuff you mentioned makes sense. I am going
> to read further on the subject.

I went to the bookstore again today and looked at that book
again.  My summary was basically accurate, except for the
cortisol part, which I had confused with another book I was
perusing.  I picked up this further refinement:

The method requires you to target the areas where you want to
lose fat, and then work them every day.  The theory is that
working the muscles forces adrenaline-charged blood into the
region, causing fat-burning in that region.  So the 7 minute
workout should target one area.  In the book he has three
exercises for each likely problem area: abdomen, butt, arms, etc.
You are supposed to do one exercise until you "burn" then
immediately switch to the second, then the third, and back to the
first, etc., until the 7 minutes are up.  So, in effect, you
really hammer one region for 7 minutes and that's it.  The
justification for this, rather than more global whole-body
exercise, is that the concentration of adrenaline is less if
directed to multiple regions.  Better to focus it on a single
region.

So I'll try it that way.  Almost all my fat is in the abdomen, so
I'll just work on that and see what happens.


Todd Moody
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