The 7-minute workout consists of 12 bodyweight exercises performed for 30 seconds each, with 10 seconds of rest between them. The routine was published in 2013 by exercise physiologists Brett Klika and Chris Jordan in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal, and it cycles through total-body, lower-body, upper-body, and core moves in a specific order designed to let one muscle group recover while another works.
All 12 Exercises in Order
The sequence matters. Each exercise targets a different area so you’re never hitting the same muscles back to back. Here’s the full list:
- Jumping jacks (total body)
- Wall sit (lower body)
- Push-up (upper body)
- Abdominal crunch (core)
- Step-up onto a chair (total body)
- Squat (lower body)
- Triceps dip on a chair (upper body)
- Plank (core)
- High knees / running in place (total body)
- Lunge (lower body)
- Push-up with rotation (upper body)
- Side plank (core)
The pattern repeats: total body, lower body, upper body, core. This rotation gives each muscle group roughly 90 seconds of recovery before it’s called on again, even though you never fully stop moving.
How the Timing Works
You perform each exercise for 30 seconds at high intensity, then rest for 10 seconds before moving to the next one. That adds up to about 7 minutes and 20 seconds total. The short rest periods are intentional. Keeping your heart rate elevated throughout turns what looks like a strength routine into a cardiovascular workout at the same time.
The target effort level should feel hard. On a standard exertion scale, you want to land around a 7 or 8 out of 10. If you can carry on a conversation during the exercises, you’re not pushing hard enough for the protocol to work as designed.
What Each Exercise Looks Like
Jumping Jacks
The classic move you know from gym class. It warms up the whole body and gets your heart rate climbing immediately. Jump your feet wide while raising your arms overhead, then return to standing with arms at your sides.
Wall Sit
Slide your back down a wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor, knees bent at roughly 90 degrees. Hold that position for the full 30 seconds. Your quads will start burning quickly, which is the point.
Push-Up
Standard push-ups from the floor. If a full push-up is too difficult, you can place your hands on a countertop, a sturdy bench, or even the wall to reduce the load. The higher your hands, the easier the movement becomes.
Abdominal Crunch
Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Curl your shoulders off the ground by contracting your abs, then lower back down. Keep the movement controlled rather than fast and sloppy.
Step-Up Onto a Chair
Place one foot on a sturdy chair, bench, or stool and step up until you’re standing on top of it. Step back down and alternate legs. A staircase step or a curb also works if a chair feels unstable.
Squat
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and lower your hips as if sitting into a chair. Go as deep as you can while keeping your heels on the floor. If balance is an issue, hold onto a door frame or the back of a chair for support.
Triceps Dip on a Chair
Sit on the edge of a sturdy chair, place your hands on the seat beside your hips, then slide your hips forward off the chair. Lower your body by bending your elbows, then press back up. Your feet can be closer to the chair (easier) or farther away (harder).
Plank
Hold yourself in the top of a push-up position, or rest on your forearms, keeping your body in a straight line from head to heels. Don’t let your hips sag or pike up. Thirty seconds feels a lot longer than it sounds.
High Knees
Run in place, driving your knees up toward your chest as high as you can. Pump your arms as if sprinting. This is one of the most cardiovascularly demanding exercises in the sequence, so it’s placed after the plank to let your arms recover.
Lunge
Step one foot forward and lower your back knee toward the floor, then push back to standing. Alternate legs with each rep. Keep your front knee tracking over your ankle, not shooting past your toes.
Push-Up With Rotation
Perform a push-up, then at the top, rotate your body to one side and extend that arm toward the ceiling so your body forms a T shape. Return to the push-up position, do another rep, and rotate to the opposite side. This combines upper-body strength with core stability.
Side Plank
Lie on your side and prop yourself up on one forearm, stacking your feet. Lift your hips so your body forms a straight line. Hold for 15 seconds, then switch sides for the remaining 15. This finishes the circuit with a core challenge that targets the obliques.
Equipment You Need
A wall and a sturdy chair. That’s it. The wall is for the wall sit, and the chair handles step-ups and triceps dips. A park bench, a staircase step, or any stable elevated surface can substitute for the chair. No weights, bands, or gym membership required, which is a big part of why the workout went viral.
Why This Specific Sequence Works
The alternating pattern isn’t random. By cycling between muscle groups, you can work at near-maximum effort on each exercise because the muscles you just used get a break while different ones take over. This approach, called high-intensity circuit training, produces cardiovascular benefits comparable to longer moderate workouts. Research comparing short, intense interval protocols to traditional 45-minute cardio sessions has found similar improvements in aerobic fitness and the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar.
Your body also continues burning calories at an elevated rate after you finish. During high-intensity exercise, muscles sustain minor damage that requires energy to repair. Your heart rate and breathing remain slightly elevated for a period after the workout as your body restocks its energy stores and repairs muscle fibers. This afterburn effect is modest for a single 7-minute session, but it adds up if you do the routine consistently.
Making It Harder or Easier
The original protocol is designed to be scalable. If you’re new to exercise, modify the push-ups by doing them against a wall, hold your wall sit higher up, and march in place instead of doing high knees. The goal is to keep the intensity high relative to your own fitness level, not to match what someone else can do.
If the workout feels too easy, the simplest fix is to run through the entire circuit two or three times. Two rounds take about 15 minutes and significantly increase the training effect. You can also slow down the lowering phase of each exercise (taking 3 to 4 seconds to lower into a squat, for example) to make the muscles work harder without adding any equipment.