{"id":4778,"date":"2011-04-16T05:02:54","date_gmt":"2011-04-16T03:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=4778"},"modified":"2015-02-16T09:08:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T14:08:04","slug":"the-nyt-asks-whats-the-single-best-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/the-nyt-asks-whats-the-single-best-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"The NYT Asks: “What’s the Single Best Exercise?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

And I respond: “That’s\u00a0a really\u00a0dumb question!”<\/p>\n

I imagine the author, Gretchen Reynolds, had good intentions, but\u00a0the article is a complete mess<\/a>. To begin with, she never defines\u00a0what she means by “best” – but leaves this up to the various experts she queries.\u00a0Not surprisingly, the responses she gets are all over the map. The only reason the “debate grows heated” is because\u00a0“best” is\u00a0so completely open to interpretation. Other than “weight control” (which is mentioned 5 times),\u00a0she offers\u00a0no clear criteria.<\/p>\n

Thus, I \u00a0got a chuckle out of Hamilton Nolan’s takedown at Gawker: “What’s the Single Best Exercise? A Retort<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Gretchen Reynolds quotes a variety of tea-sipping “experts” who variously suggest burpees (okay), high intensity interval training (decent), or even\u2014and I hasten to add that this is a direct quote to which someone allowed their name and reputation to be attached in the paper of record\u2014”brisk walking.”<\/p>\n

Brisk walking.<\/em><\/p>\n

Only one man (Stuart Phillips, Ph.D.) is both brave and hardcore enough to step forward and speak the true name of the Single Best Exercise in the Whole Wide World: Squats. Glorious squats!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Spoken like a true iron warrior! For the record, however, I’d nominate deadlifts… but that’s just because I like them more than squats. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

But seriously… what the “best” exercise is, is relative to the person doing it, and what his\/her needs (or limitations)\u00a0happen to be.<\/p>\n

But even the “best” exercise isn’t sufficient as a standalone – a point that\u00a0Reynolds seemed to miss completely. It’s a lot like asking “what’s the best food?” Even the “best” can’t cover all the bases… and there’s no reason\u00a0to assume it should.<\/p>\n

In a previous Gawker post, Nolan advised:\u00a0“Never Take Fitness Advice From the New York Times<\/a>.” Overall, I think that’s a little too harsh, but in this particular case, he’s got a point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And I respond: “That’s\u00a0a really\u00a0dumb question!” I imagine the author, Gretchen Reynolds, had good intentions, but\u00a0the article is a complete mess. To begin with, she never defines\u00a0what she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,12,19,28],"tags":[610,1280],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4778"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9849,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions\/9849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}