How Many Calories Does the 7-Minute Workout Burn?

When it comes to gym workouts, time and money can both be an issue—but anyone can spare 7 minutes to do a workout, especially when it doesn't require you to spend on gym memberships or exercise equipment.

The One and Done7-minute workout is designed using multiple compound exercises of 60 seconds each, along with warm-up and cool-down periods. These exercises focus on major muscle groups and burn more calories.

It becomes even more effective when combined with HIIT (high-intensity interval training), and it's worth a full day’s workout. Spending just 7 minutes a day on these exercises boosts not just your physical health, but also your mental well-being.

» See what the experts say about the 7-minute workout

The Tabata Study

To determine how many calories the 7-minute workout burns, let's take a look at the results recorded by the Tabata study from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Similar to 7-minute workouts in their intermittent principle, Tabata-style workouts use a protocol of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off—for example, sprinting or cycling for 20 seconds and then 10 seconds of rest. This means you can do 2 sets in a minute, amounting to 8 sets in 4 minutes.

The Tabata study recorded that you can burn about 15 calories per minute with this type of exercise, which would translate to over 100 calories in total with the 7-minute workout model. These results are surprising, as they show this type of high-intensity workout is just as effective as an hour-long moderate-intensity workout.

What Determines How Many Calories You Burn During a Workout?

While a Tabata-style workout with a quick warm-up and cool-down is said to burn about 117 calories, this isn't a set number—in HIIT workouts, the higher intensity, the more calories you burn. The number of calories burned during a 7-minute workout will depend on multiple factors, such as:

• Afterburn: The higher the intensity, the more the hormones are released during the workout. This includes the growth hormone, testosterone, and even irisin, all of which considerably boost the afterburn. This leads to calories continuing to be used up even when you're at rest.
• Weight: The heavier you are, the harder it gets to do high-intensity workouts. You may also have more fat and less muscle mass, which impacts your ability to do workouts as well as the afterburn—the more muscle your body has, the more intense the afterburn.
• Age: As you grow older, muscle mass decreases and it gets harder to burn calories.

Burn More Calories With the 7-Minute Workout

The 7-minute workout is a great way to lose weight efficiently. About 4 minutes of high-intensity workouts along with a warm-up and cool-down routine is all you need—these routines make use of compound exercises in combination with HIIT to create maximum calorie burn and help you achieve your weight loss goals.

» Reach your weight loss goals with the One and Done Workout