A beginner doesn't need a perfect routine. They need to do something.
Sure, but it can't be just any ol' snake oil thing. If they keep buying into snake oil after snake oil, they will never see results and only become more depressed and unmotivated. Snake oil exercise regimes are actively detrimental because of this.
The routine in the NY Times doesn't seem like snake oil. Jumping jacks and push-ups? Hardly revolutionary. It's not like their were promoting strange supplements or buying expensive fitness equipment.
It's not "snake oil" in the sense of something which has no effect. It's just that it's so utterly unbalanced and poorly thought out that it's ultimately very little better than nothing.
Posted elsewhere in this thread but very much worth reading, a devastating take-down of the piece:
The way I see it there are basically four types of exercise. Basic fitness, sculpting what you look like, preparation for some specific activity, burning calories.
But the dirty little secret is burning calories though exercise is basically a waste of time compared to simply eating less and it takes vary little to get basic fitness. So assuming your diet is reasonable you can look like someone that spends 2 hours a day in the working out by doing to same basic routine without the cardio.
Ever hear of skinny-fat? That's where someone is at the right weight, but because they do no exercise they have NO muscle tone. It's better to exercise and not have a perfect diet than not exercise and have a perfect diet.
That's where basic fitness comes in. 10 minutes of high stress activity a day builds more muscle mass than 2 hours of low impact cardio. Or to put it another way typists don't build large muscle in there forearm but a bricklayer does because stress is far more important than duration when it comes to muscle growth.
That's not to say cardio is pointless, rather unless your trying to build stamina for some reason cardio takes a lot of time for little short term benefit.
Sure, but it can't be just any ol' snake oil thing. If they keep buying into snake oil after snake oil, they will never see results and only become more depressed and unmotivated. Snake oil exercise regimes are actively detrimental because of this.