The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 845 ratings

Price: 26.32

Last update: 01-06-2025


About this item

Every Wednesday, Gretchen Reynolds singlehandedly influences how millions of Americans work out. In her Phys Ed column for The New York Times, she debunks myths, spurs conversation, and creates arguments among her readers by questioning widely held beliefs about exercise.

Expanding upon her popular columns, Reynolds tackles the questions we all have and (sometimes) ask about exercise. Consulting experts in physiology, biology, psychology, neurology, and sports, she uncovers how often we should exercise, how long workouts should be, how to avoid injury, and how to find the right form, routine, and equipment for our goals.

She also reveals some surprising answers, like:

  • 20 minutes of cardio at a time is enough to obtain maximum health benefits. (And in some cases, just six minutes is all you need.)*
  • Stretching before a workout is counterproductive. (It's better to just start easy, i.e., walk before you run.)
  • Core strength is nice but not necessary. (A six-pack looks great but actually has little bearing on performance.)
  • Walking improves your memory; housecleaning improves your mood. (The brain is like a muscle - it likes to exercise.)
  • Chocolate milk is better than Gatorade for recovery. (Providing the best sports nutrition is often the simplest.)

Drawing on scientific expertise as well as her own athletic experiences, Gretchen Reynolds will help you find the right workout for your body, age, fitness and goals. Whether your desire is to be fit for the rest of your life, to look great in a smaller dress size, or to run your third marathon in Boston, The First 20 Minutes will make your workouts work for you.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Richard W. Cummins
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a gift for you to understand how to live long and well
    Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2012
    This is a great book that explains the most recent breakthrough understandings in health and exercise science. Acting on the information Reynolds reports could add more years to your life and more life to your years.

    As one aspect of well-being, there are many great reasons to exercise, and you don't have to be an athlete to do so, nor do you need to join a gym. Walking is the best exercise there is, and there is no resistance training quite like some push-ups, pull-ups, and squats in the privacy of your own space.

    Just moving more has huge health benefits because most of us spend a great many hours each week at our desks in chairs. Even if you exercise daily you will still be susceptible to heart disease if all you do is go from the exercise and then sit at your desk for 23 or more hours each week. The deficits of sitting are starkly revealed in a study out of Australia, which concluded that every hour's worth of TV after you turn 25 "potentially snips twenty-two minutes off of the viewer's lifespan" (Reynolds, 2012, p. 253). Humans are designed to be on the move; our hunter-gatherer ancestors gave us genes that like us to walk between 12 and 20 miles per day.

    Jeremy Morris, an English epidemiologist that Reynolds references, studied the coronary profiles of London double-decker bus drivers versus those of the bus conductors in the 1940s. The differences were huge, with conductors having less than 50 percent of the heart attacks of bus drivers. His study, which also included waist sizes of the two groups, found that conductors lived longer with better health whether they were small, medium, or large. Fitness matters much more than BMI. He replicated his research with postal delivery workers and postal clerks. He found the same correlations and laid the foundations for all subsequent research into aerobic activity and good health.

    The key factor is being active, not whether you exercise every day. We're powerless until we realize the consequences of a sedentary work style, but getting more active isn't that difficult. Park far away from your office, stand up and stretch a bit every 20 minutes, go have a F2F with your colleague in the office next door instead of texting her.

    And do buy this book to gain some powerful insights into how to create a more vibrant and healthy future for yourself, no matter your shape, size, or age.
  • Jessica
    4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, entertaining, but not a "how to" book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2012
    I purchased The First 20 Minutes for my Kindle on whim. At $13.64 it was an expensive whim (price now is $12.99). Published in April of this year in hardcover and digital by Hudson Street Press (a division of Penguin), The First 20 Minutes provides more in depth chapters on many of the exercise related topics Reynolds covers in her blogs for the NYT ("Phys Ed" for the Well Blog) and articles for magazines like Outside. Subjects include the value (or lack thereof) of stretching, sports nutrition, weight loss and exercise, endurance, strength training, burnout and injury, the relationship of exercise to the brain, genetics and fitness, and longevity.

    Each chapter begins with an anecdote, usually results of a "recent" study that fly in the face of common sense or conventional wisdom, then proceeds to take the reader through several other studies on the subject, with comments -- often wry or ironic -- from researchers, and some comic aside or an autobiographical comment from Reynolds. Here's an example of Reynolds' subtle humor:

    "In a study that might well have gone viral if more teenage girls subscribed to the British Medical Journal, scientists in Denmark discovered that those of us with sturdy, muscular thighs, typically conferred by strength training, live longer than those with stick figure slender thighs. Contrary to popular belief, thunder thighs are desirable and healthy."

    The First 20 Minutes is well-written and readable, exactly like Reynolds' magazine and blog writing. Indeed, as is typical of books by journalists, many of these chapters are expanded and/or updated versions of previously published articles.

    The book is marketed as as a "how to" and while that's not exactly misleading, readers should be prepared for meandering chapters which report on study after study, many of which contradict each other, are tentative and provisional, or are limited in applicability to the average reader. Helpfully, each chapter concludes with concrete suggestions ("take-aways") for the reader. Reynolds has a flair for science writing for the lay reader, and makes a big effort to connect the science reporting with the how-to aspect of the book, but a reader who doesn't care about the "why" and just wants exercise and fitness tips should borrow this title from the library and read the last two pages of each chapter.

    The First 20 Minutes has all of the limitations than any science reporting does. Reynolds says in the genetics chapter: "This chapter is out of date. It would have been out of date if you'd read it the week I finished it." But that is true for the entire book, really. In chapter after chapter Reynolds reminds us of once widely held but now discarded beliefs (like that stretching cold muscles is a good way to prevent injury, or that straight legged sit-ups are the best route to abdominal strength, or that you can keep doing the exact same exercise routine and expect to keep improving fitness). Those discarded beliefs of yesteryear hang like ghosts around The First Twenty Minutes, reminding the reader that even "recent" studies may be outdated before long.

    Reynolds has reported on masculine bias in subject selection, so I was glad to see that she was usually careful to state the genders of the study participants. And she goes to some lengths to talk about the way gender specific factors, like estrogen, impact (often positively) fitness and health. She was also good about signaling the fitness levels and ages of study participants. Many studies are done on super lean, super fit, super young male college athletes, and those results aren't always directly applicable to the average person, especially if they have different goals. For example, stretching doesn't improve (it actually hurts) performance, and flexibility doesn't seem correlated at all with athletic ability or reduction in rates of injury. But stretching might still help some people meet some goals (reach a soup can in a bottom drawer?).

    The overall take-home message is clear. Here's how one doctor put it:

    "Do you want to live to be a hundred? ... being active is the best, easiest, and cheapest way to decrease all-cause mortality and increase functional life span. People who don't exercise are at greatly increased risk of dying earlier than they need to."

    The First Twenty Minutes is a quick, interesting, and informative read. I'm not sure how much of it will stay with me, but if you are interested in this topic, I recommend checking it out.

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