Mini-workouts, and the people who have opinions about them

Yesterday I was busy with a bunch of errands and chores and tasks and to-do items, i.e. it was a normal Saturday. However, I found myself with not enough time to do a walk or yoga class. So, I thought, hey, let’s do one of those New York Times X-minute workout (where X is a number <10). They have 6, 7 and 9-minute workouts, along with modifications. Great– this is just the ticket.

I did the standing 7-minute workout, which was sufficient for my busy-day needs. You can try it here.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the NYT comments for the article. What I found was plenty of opinions:

• use of the term “exercise snack” made them think about potato chips, which they didn’t want to do
• the workout felt too much like a warmup
• the workout needed more of a warmup
• they suggested sprinting up three flights of stairs would be a better short workout
• they expressed horror at the idea of sprinting up three flights of stairs
• they wanted a printable version of the workout
• apropos of nothing, they expressed their disapproval of leaf blowers (which I share, but..)

All this reminded me of a post I did a few years back about the NYT 6-minute workout. Now THOSE readers had some serious opinions. If you’d like to look at it, here’s the post below.

And however many minutes you choose to devote to working out, I wish you well. And don’t think about potato chips (unless you want to).

-caw