The New York Times seven-minute workout

Our first step to becoming antifragile is to deepen our connection with what matters most to us and who we are at our best. This brings us more calm, more clarity, more confidence.

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

But when we live such busy lives, how can we find the time?

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 and its former chief executive, starts each day by performing this workout three times.

Would you benefit from taking more exercise? Could you fit seven minutes of exercise into your day? Or maybe even ten or twenty? (Other forms of exercise are available — but they needn’t take long.)


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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