The New York Times seven-minute workout

Our first step to becoming antifragile is to deepen our connection with who we are at our best and what matters most to us. This will bring us the clarity, calm, and confidence to deal with anything that happens.

One of the top ways we recommend for achieving this is exercise. This not only keeps us healthy and happy but also helps us to process the stresses we can so easily feel in a churning world. And as we deepen our connection with our body, so we also deepen our connection with ourselves.

But when we all live such busy lives, how can we find the time for proper exercise?

John Ratey, psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, says that useful exercise needn’t take long:

“Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your mood, memory and learning. Even ten minutes of activity changes your brain.”

And if you don’t have ten minutes, The New York Times has published a series of exercises that take just seven minutes to complete. In the Scientific Seven Minute Workout, described below, the only equipment you’ll need is a wall and a chair.

Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, founder of BlueSky, and chairman of Block, says he starts each day by performing this workout three times — which naturally takes him 21 minutes.

Would you benefit from taking more exercise? Could you fit just seven minutes of exercise into your day? Or perhaps twenty? Or would it suit you better to “snack” on two minute sessions of exercise spaced throughout  the day, as this article describes? What small improvement will work best for you?


Diagrams for the Scientific SEVEN-Minute Workout :

Diagrams of exercises

For people who prefer to work with weights, the Advanced Seven Minute Workout’ is also available. And a free app provides step-by-step instructions and timings for both.

If neither of these suits you, the NY Times also offers alternatives lasting one minute, four minutes, or ten — plus repeating cycles of just 10, 20, and 30 seconds.


Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.

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You can buy the book here and the workbook here.

(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also need to do the practice.)


Photo By Internet Archive Book Images via StockPholio.net

One Reply to “The New York Times seven-minute workout”

  1. Pingback: Billionaires’ Fitness Secrets: Unleashing Your Inner Titan – BodyGNTX: By Dr. Neeraj Mehta

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