The music video was released the same year, with cameos from Legend, Ben-Ari, Anna Nicole Smith, Fonzworth Bentley, Tracee Ellis Ross, Vida Guerra and GLC.

[1] Tareck Ghoneim of Contactmusic.com had praise for West's performance: "[he shows] excellent wordplay that is original, humorous and the touch of irony makes for very clever use of lyrics".

[2] Paul Cantor of Billboard acknowledged that "Some critics argue that "The New Workout Plan" doesn't fit in with the rest of [The College Dropout]", but praised it as what "should be commended as much for its conceptual ingenuity as its arrangement".

[6][5] Cameo appearances are included from John Legend, Miri Ben-Ari, Anna Nicole Smith, Fonzworth Bentley, Tracee Ellis Ross, Vida Guerra and GLC.

[7] Anna Nicole Smith's cameo sees her playing the role of Ella-May and having a star like her frequently featured in a video of West's went against the idea of so many at the time that he'd fail as a rapper.