
Ask HN: How do you stay in shape? - deadfall
People who sit at a desk 8-10 hours during the weekdays and many hours on the weekends working on side projects - how do you stay in shape?
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bnejad
There is no magic and you don't need any fancy equipment or clothing.

If you want to improve your cardiovascular health, do some cardio 3-7 times
per week for at least 30 minutes.

If you have the will/want/time, add in some weight lifting 3-5 times a week.

Lastly, controlling your diet will make arguably the biggest difference in
your body composition. If you want to lose weight you need to eat less
calories than you burn period, unless you have medical conditions. If you have
trouble losing weight you need to count your calories and figure out your TDEE
using a calculator(google will pull up a few).

So personally I go to the gym directly after work(bring everything you need in
the morning). This works the best for me because it doesn't allow me to get
home and be lazy.

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WaltPurvis
Agreed with all that, but I'd add that it's not truly necessary to do cardio
"for at least 30 minutes." High intensity interval training (you can google
for HIIT if you're interested) is proven to be just as effective, if not more,
than longer steadier cardio workouts.

Personally I alternate between both.

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tom_b
Interesting research results contradict HIIT as a pure _general_ guideline for
everyone (I think alternating between both is an excellent approach though).

"Given that ∼20% of subjects fail to improve aerobic capacity with intense
endurance training, while ∼30% do not enhance their insulin sensitivity (12),
it is clear that we must develop genotype-tailored lifestyle
interventions."[1]

[1] Using molecular classification to predict gains in maximal aerobic
capacity following endurance exercise training in humans

James A. Timmons, Steen Knudsen, Tuomo Rankinen, Lauren G. Koch, Mark
Sarzynski, Thomas Jensen, Pernille Keller, Camilla Scheele, Niels B. J.
Vollaard, Søren Nielsen, Thorbjörn Åkerström, Ormond A. MacDougald, Eva
Jansson, Paul L. Greenhaff, Mark A. Tarnopolsky, Luc J. C. van Loon, Bente K.
Pedersen, Carl Johan Sundberg, Claes Wahlestedt, Steven L. Britton, Claude
Bouchard Journal of Applied Physiology Published 1 June 2010 Vol. 108 no. 6,
1487-1496 DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01295.2009

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auxym
I've tried running, lifting and other training routines and I just can't keep
it up. I don't have the discipline to keep up something I find so boring. No
disrespect meant to lifters&runners, quite the contrary, I envy you guys.

Somehow though, cycling does it for me. I can go fast. It can take me places
conveniently. I can do it out there in nature when I get out of the city on
weekends. And, it fits in with my need to tinker with mechanical stuff :)

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seanccox
Eat in a manner commensurate with your activity level. I might be lucky in
this regard, but I simply don't get hungry when I'm not sufficiently active.
Drinking lots of water might have something to do with that, but I'm really
not sure.

Make being active a part of your daily experience: walk, run, or bike to your
office. Get a gym membership nearby so you can clean up before going to work.
Go back to the gym to do some lifting on your lunch breaks Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays. This will perk you up in the middle of the day and
keep you from falling into a post-lunch food coma. After your day at the
office is over, you've got another burst of activity awaiting you in order to
get home.

Diversify from workout routines and take time off. Block six to ten weeks for
the routine, then take a break for two weeks and try out informal, social
exercise (pickup sports, dance classes). Go hiking, do yoga, or catch up on
your social life in an active way, like a pub crawl or one of the boozy
bicycle group tours.

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yunyeng
I come from work wind up couple of hours then, 9 - 9:30 PM go to gym until bed
time then hit the bed 3-4 days a week.

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eclipxe
So, you only sleep 3-4 days a week? ;-)

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yunyeng
hahah, no I go to gym 3-4 days a week. I come from gym like 11:30 - 12:00 then
go to bed. :)

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include
do you take pills to sleep? Aren't you very awake after that exercise?

~~~
yunyeng
I sleep like a baby after exercise, you are tired already why would I be
awake? :)

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milkcircle
As a student I have a similar problem of spending too much time at my desk,
both weekdays and weekends. Here's what I hope to implement in the coming
semester to stay more fit:

1) Wake up very early (goal is 6:30am) to spend an hour working on fitness
before breakfast and starting class.

2) Follow /r/bodyweightfitness and /r/running, and use their beginner programs
to come up with my own schedule Mondays through Saturday.

3) Explore my city (walking, biking, hiking) early Saturday morning to
Saturday afternoon.

I think a major step in the right direction is waking up early and getting
your exercise "out of the way" for the day. It serves as a huge motivator and
is a great routine to become accustomed to. Not to mention, on Saturdays, if
you wake up very early, you can fit in 6 or 7 hours of fun and exploration and
still have half the day to be productive afterward.

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Zergy
I work out for about 4.5 hours a week (3 ~1.5 hour sessions, 30m cardio and 1h
lifting) and count calories. Fortunately I have a nice gym at my work and it
allows me to leave after rush hour ends. Results in a net loss of 3 hours a
week since my home commute at 6pm is 30mins vs the 10mins at 8 pm.

Personally I love it as a time to unwind. I spend so much time staring at a
screen both for work and for fun (I typically spend my down time playing
Counter Strike) that its nice to do something more primitive.

I also try to go hunting or multiple day hiking fairly regularly. I always
feel more appreciative of what I have and my station in life after a few days
sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag.

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blooberr
Two things that really helped:

1) I signed up for gym classes with a limited (13) number of sessions per
month.

This forces me to go 13 times a month. If I don't go, I'll be wasting money
and psychologically I don't like knowing that I just threw away money. That's
worked for me better than signing up for unlimited and never end up going
since I would mentally think, "oh I could go tomorrow I've got infinite gym
sessions."

2) I stopped eating out every day and cooked for myself. I learned how to
butcher a whole chicken to save on money.

I've lost about 15% of my weight over 14 months. My clothes are all baggy now
but that's a different set of problems.

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wtf_is_up
Concept2 rower

Amazing piece of equipment. Fits in a small space and will give you an amazing
workout. I love mine.

I mix rowing with pullups, pushups, curls, overhead press with kettlebell for
upper body.

Overall it's a nice base workout that you can do at home before or after work.

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caseyf7
I finally started doing push-ups again after getting the Perfect Push-up
(yeah, the infomercial thing). It makes a huge difference with sore
wrists/hands from RSI.

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kelt
I play ingress, walk around, sometimes too much...

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chudi
box 2-3 times a week, running every other day, eat homemade food, sleep all I
can

