Gretchen Reynolds

Reynolds provides an enjoyable and data-rich take on what science tells us now about exercise and fitness. Often authors of this kind of book insert themselves into the text too much, but Reynolds includes just enough to provide some levity.

Thanks to this book, my children and I are running intervals, brushing our teeth while balanced on one foot, and doing homeschool in 20-min increments to avoid being too sedentary. And using chocolate milk as a recovery beverage.

This is an ideal book for someone just starting out--or planning to start out--exercising because he, hypothetically, knows that he should and that he's getting old enough that he should do the responsible thing and get into better shape than he's been in for the past decade or so. Hypothetically speaking. Ms. Reynolds strings together lessons and conclusions from a large number of academic studies on various aspects of exercise and its effects. The fact that she held my attention for more show more than 250 pages explaining the contents of these studies speaks to her writing ability. And it really was striking for me--er, the general audience--to hear. For example, as the title suggests, just getting some exercise for only twenty minutes in a day can make significant improvements in physical and mental health. There are some unexpected but welcome tidbits, such as the one that explains the lack of empirical support showing much benefit to stretching before exercise. The evidence she presents shows not only what we all know--exercise is good for you--but it also poignantly shows how much better for you it is than you even thought. Not only will you live longer, but you'll live much, much better with even a little consistent exercise. It's enough to motivate the hypothetical person with lingering guilt about his physical fitness get out there and exercise. show less

Gretchen Reynolds is a New York Times columnist who distills health and exercise research down to practical, readable advice. I’ve never dog-eared as many pages in a book as The First 20 Minutes. Reynolds writes about why you might want to brush your teeth standing on one foot, work out before eating breakfast, and how pickle juice might help with cramps. Should you get a cortisone shot? Does it help to believe in luck? Does long-distance running make your knees less healthy? Is chocolate show more milk a good recovery drink? Read the book and find out.

Whether you’re a couch potato or a ultramarathoner, you’ll probably learn something interesting and helpful from Reynolds’ book. Reynolds also writes with the easy readability of a seasoned newspaper columnist, and each chapter ends with bite-sized summaries of what the current scientific research recommends. My only nitpick is that I wish Reynolds had included footnotes pointing to the original research for people who want to dig deeper. show less

This was interesting. It took me a while to get through, it's dense and wasn't a page turner for me. But there's a ton of information and they backed it up by explaining the studies, not just citing the sources in the back of the book somewhere. It made a case for several ideas about exercise, that we've all just taken as a given for ages, to be turned on their heads. It was thought provoking.