Consider the audience. For an overweight person who only walks to their car and back the routine in the article could get them to a meager level of fitness. For someone who walks or bicycles for any of their transportation or for pleasure it won't have any effect. As a European this is most people I know.
The nyt article is pretty high intensity - walking alone (i speak as one who walks everywhere) doesn't get your heart rate racing unless you really put some effort into it, and certainly doesn't stress any muscle groups. Your average sedentary individual would not be able to complete the 7 minute workout. If they were signicantly overweight they would likely collapse 2 minutes into it.
The goal of this type of training is to yield the greatest amount of impact with the least amount of effort in the shortest amount of time.
Anybody who did the nyt 7 minute exercise at max intensity for a couple months is going to be in good shape. Do it everyday for 6 months and they will be in the 90th percentile of physical fitness in the United States for their age group.
Which I think is a pretty good return for 7 minutes out if your day with no equipment other than a chair.
