Just wondering what the HN crowd does in terms of exercise. Feel free to share your habits,experiences and routines. It can be physical or mental exercise.
Twice daily burpees (twenty in the morning, twenty in the evening; haven't missed a burpee in two years. Approaching 30,000 cumulative in a couple weeks), though I don't count them as exercise. They are one of my SIDCHAs -- http://joshuaspodek.com/number-one-best-tool-improve-life-se....
For exercise I look for things like marathons or ultimate frisbee occasions to practice for.
Actually, I don't count them as exercise either. They're for fun.
You are missing some key options, 3-6 times a week (which is the category I fall under). Exercise is important to ensure that the body stays healthy, and thats important so the mind can stay sharp. Eating right and exercising can have a profound effect on the way people think and act, often in the positive, and will allow you to have the energy to push through rough times and continue down your path. My mental exercise is my work, as I often leave everything I have in the terminal by the end of the day.
Background on myself. I weighed 245 lbs, 5' 10" at age 17. After a self administered diet and exercise regiment I dropped to 170. Today, age 27, I weigh 205 - 208. I have learned a lot about weight and health management.
I am not a fan of the "fad" diets or diets that have "claims." Throughout the years, I have found that balance in life facilitates happiness/mindfulness.
I have found that my body feels best, when it has good rest, good food, and has been active. Those are subjective to each person and their current state of health.
I have a few tips for anyone looking to live a bit healthier. These are from my experiences.
Exercise is important. But, the opposite is just as important, rest. I used to run at least 5 miles every morning, and sometimes run again in evening. I found that I was increasingly tired, and anxious. Rest days are important, and so is sleep in general. Listen to your body.
Throughout the years, I have found that my body responds best to a mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. I used to lean 75% aerobic and 25% anaerobic, but today its more like 35% aerobic and 65% anaerobic.
Learn proper techniques in everything. Food intake and exercise have direct impact on your well being, there is no reason to injure oneself.
Do not compare your physical fitness to others.
Set goals. I find that achieving success, whatever you deem that to be, is just a series of steps done in a linear progression.
I like to keep calendar/alarms to remind me to eat properly and exercise. For example, right now, during the holidays. I made sure to have cardio built into my week, otherwise it gets pushed aside.
My exercise is mainly running, but I do like to swim every now & then. I guess swimming indoors is better suited for the winter period here in the Netherlands. I hate the cold. In the summer I love to run 2-3x a week in the greener areas of my city.
I voted "everyday", even though it's really 5-6 times/week (which is more than a "few times", IMO). Though I walk the dogs 30 minutes or more every single day (because I don't like my house chewed to shreds), so maybe it really is every day. But what I count as exercise is 3-4 commutes to work on the bicycle and 3-5 runs every week. I'm going to try the new Xbox Fitness app, both out of curiosity of how well the Kinect does, and because running doesn't do much for rock-hard abs and beefy biceps.
I go bouldering (indoor rock climbing) at least once/twice a month. I want to go more, but it works out quite expensive. I used to do a lot of cycling (road bike) but had to sell my bike.
Really I want to start going to the gym. I'm 6ft 3", 10st and a terrible BMI - which is to be expected. Now that I've started putting on a bit of weight (I was 9 stone, regardless of what and when I ate) I feel like I could be doing more to turn it into muscle and actually tone myself a bit.
It's a thing for me to do throughout 2014 I think.
I started bouldering a few times a week during lunchtime this year. It's been great. I had to put money down for the full year membership (having to pay every time you go is a good way to lose motivation to go.)
I find simply lifting weights gets too boring and I lose interest. At a bouldering gym there are constantly new problems to work on. There is also a nice community/vibe to go with it which is great if you work alone from home.
> I find simply lifting weights gets too boring and I lose interest.
I find it hardly boring when I actually lift. I mean, if it's hard (as it's supposed to be), I may be overexerting, but I'm certainly not bored. I also found that bringing a book to read in between the sets helps a lot - before I had been just lounging around the gym for 3-4 minutes every time after doing a set (that was a bit boring).
I also found that for me, lifting is a great complimentary exercise to do in the evening (shortly before going to bed), while the main exercise of the day should be some kind of a cardio workout/sport.
Actually... I could start going on my dinner. It's about a 5 minute drive, which gives me a good 40 minutes to do so. I can eat before/after too. I never thought about that. But that would be expensive at £11 a session. It's the shoe and chalk hire at £4. Might be worth buying some shoes.
There is also a gym 2 minutes down the road, that I've never thought about. Again, that's something else I could do which would be cheaper. I'd need someone to spot me lifting because I'm a "pussy" as my mates call me haha.
If you have Wii Fit U, you can find me on the miiverse as user "smt-ddr" in the daily-gym community!
And before anyone says wii Fit is a joke; note that I lost nearly 40lbs doing this. But it took discipline and I do the more intense exercises rather than the light & playful things like hula-hoop.
1 hour cycle commuting (30 mins each way) 4 days a week, 4000km a year just commuting, usually another 2000km a year on longer leisure/training rides (best year was an extra 6000km of long-distance rides). 5-a-side soccer twice a week (1h and 40m).
Just started back into using the gym at work to go for a run twice a week (starting at 20 minutes, building up to doing a 10k twice a week).
Even days with no specific exercise involve a long walk or other activity with my 4-year-old (lugging her about is quite a good upper body workout!)
(Ignoring the debate about the suitability of BMI for everyone...) My BMI is currently over 30 (92kg, 1.73cm) but I'm quite stockily built and haven't seen it below 25 (76kg) since my teens, not even when I was running cross country half marathons and doing lots of long-distance cycling (rides of 200km+). It's crept up as I'm eating too much and drinking a bit too much. Aiming to get back to 76kg; at a steady/sensible 0.5kg a week that's 30 odd weeks; done it before, it's not tricky. I find the bit from 85kg to 76kg much easier than the first bit from 92kg to 85kg; running is much more unenjoyable (I dislike it at the best of times) when heavier.
I lurch between years of lots of exercise and fallow years, 2014 should be a good year.
Haven't done any specific lifting for years. Having children means spare time disappears (not that I'm complaining; I just look back and wonder WTF I did with all my spare time before having a kid).
There is a bench at the work gym but there's rarely anyone else around when I use it so I'd be wary of doing anything but light weights; with no-one to spot for me I'm not going to try to get back to benching something near my own weight.
But, as I said, a 17kg 4-year-old is a semi-resonable substitute for proper lifting.
Started out as a short asthmatic kid. Did a little bit of running in high school, but didn't get serious about it until halfway through college, when I joined the running club to try to apply some implicit social pressure to keep up with it. Got into road racing and didn't stop. Once I got up to doing one full hour of cardio regularly, after a couple of months it was like breaking through a wall, and I was able to go from 6 miles to 12 miles in only a few months. Getting from 3 miles to 6 miles took four years. At some point a few years ago, I realized I didn't need to use my inhaler before running anymore- my lung capacity increased to overcome the inefficiency. I did a marathon in 2010 (Tokyo) and have tried to maintain an active lifestyle since then, with usually a race or two a month (5k - half marathon). Finally broke a 20-minute 5k a couple of months ago. Three years now with a standing desk (Ergotron workfit). My motivation is to try to be as healthy as possible.
I don't have a goal, I just like to do moderate physical exercise because it feels good and I just can't stay sitting and immobile for days.
I go swimming once a week, and twice a week during the winter. I swim for one hour and how fast that goes depends on my energy level that day. After swimming, I might do some painfully slow abdominal and back muscle sets after swimming, just for fun. Or not.
Then I walk a few kilometers every day: I walk the dog, I walk to the public transit, and then again from there to work, and I walk or cycle to do local errands.
I walk stairs and almost never use the lift.
I don't need to look fit but I kind of like knowing I'm fit at least to an extent. I don't want to start panting after taking up a flight of stairs or when I walk or cycle.
I neither exercise, nor pay much attention to what I eat; if it's delicious, I eat until I'm physically in pain. I don't see myself as having any less energy than my peers who do exercise (if anything, I have more focus), and nor do I have any physical difficulties of any kind.
I weigh about 60kg (~130 lbs) and am about 1.75m tall. I've been about this weight since I was 14 or so, with almost no variance. It puts me just on the border between underweight and normal weight based on BMI.
AFAICT, exercise is a fad that wastes an enormous amount of time, and is only worthwhile if you enjoy it. (I'm being a little facetious, but thus far in my life, I see only downside, no upside.)
So in other words you have high metabolism. A lot of other people do not, so it's just a bit arrogant to say exercise is 'a fad' just because of your anecdotal experience.
I think it's more than a fad, it's more like a cult, or a cultural ritual.
I don't watch much TV or consume much advertising, but on the occasions I do, I'm blown away by how heavy the marketing emphasis is on being fit, one way or another. Marketing thrives on people's self-perceived inadequacies, because it creates a very base need for products.
Not being plugged into the culture, I feel its pressure all the more. It may be confirmation bias, but I perceive the downvote as a form of peer punishment too.
The downvotes are because you are insulting a part of many peoples lives which you pretty much claim to know very little about. For one, I want bother linking because any simple search will yield the results, exercise is, not surprisingly, the root of many physical and mental health benefits. I've read numerous stories here on HN showing how it can help lift people out of depression, and exercise is important to many professions and hobbies.
But aside from the direct benefits, does marketing show healthy and fit people? Yes it does, but I'd go out on a limb and say that even without that, people of the opposite sex will find healthy physical features attractive, so you're always going to have people do it for that reason as well. It's not the most noble motive (however you define that), but you shouldn't ignore the other very honest reasons for exercise just because you hate the stereotypical gym jock.
IMO you're coming at it from the wrong angle. i don't even own a tv at all. yet i compete in bodybuilding and go to the gym every day because i love it.
just because your idea of what is fun doesn't mesh with someone elses, doesn't mean it's stupid.
additionally, your n=1 example of eating whatever you want and not getting fat holds little statistical significant. when the average person consumes more calories and doesn't make up that increase in caloric intake with exercise, they will gain weight over time.
I thought like that until age 30, but at that point I started getting injuries and back pain. Stumbling a bit was enough to pull a tendon in my foot. Pulling my hand away too quickly from splashing cooking oil and I'd pull a tendon in my shoulder or hurt my neck. Sitting at my desk for too long and my back would start to hurt.
My metabolism is similar to yours. I never gain weight. Not everyone is like that, but there are some age related changes we all have in common. We lose muscle mass, but muscles are the only thing that prevents wear and tear in our joints and spine.
I hate exercising, but I don't want to live in pain and look geriatric at age 50.
The things that give me injuries are usually motorcycle accidents :)
I do pull the odd muscle every now and again (once or twice a year?), but it's usually because I'm doing something extremely strenuous - last was pulling my VFR onto its centrestand. And indeed, simply physically moving a 250kg machine around every few days is a form of exercise. As are all the other things I do that prompt effort or get my heart rate up. But they are only incidental parts of living.
I don't know your age, but what works for you now may not work for you as you get older. And many people exercise not because of how it makes them look but because of how it makes them feel; in fact, for many people who exercise, their appearance changes very little, if at all. And some people find that exercise helps mitigate chronic illnesses such as MS, hypertension, depression, asthma. . .or at least the symptoms thereof.
I work about 65 hours per week. Exercise is a top priority. I either run 10k per day, spin for an hour, or do kettlebells. Eating well is also a priority. I prepare a salad every day without exception.
It's all habitual at this point. 36 y/o, 6', 150lbs. My wife is very supportive and eats well with me. I've had to sacrifice television and video games to dedicate the time to staying fit.
As a side effect, people tend to yield more professional respect to people who have this lifestyle, not that it has an iota an influence over whether or not I do it. However, overall, I'd classify it as a great career move.
My big gap is getting enough sleep. I average about 6.5 hours.
Every morning I go for a two hour walk in the city. It’s by far the most creative activity I’ve ever done. In some miraculous way walking manages to clear my head, help me solve problems, make better decisions and overall refresh me in so many ways. The downside of it is that walking in the city vs walking in nature isn’t that healthy but I get to see many interesting things. The time I enjoy most walking is at early dawn. To watch the city waking up and the sun rising creates very positive feelings. Then I return home and feel an urge to create things.
Every day, as part of my morning routine. Making it routine is key. When I'm done, I'm "in a good way" tired and my mind is sharper.
A little over a year ago, I started stretching every morning, slowly and gently, as part of my shower routine (shave, shower, stretch sort of thing).
A few months ago, I integrated strength exercises. I started with squats, just squats. After less than a month, the nascent roundness had left my face, my pants were less snug around my thighs, the overall layer of bacon wrapping was dropping away; I still have a little belly, but I'm 48 - a friend of the same age runs marathons and has a slight paunch.
After a bit, I started doing push-ups, chin-ups, etc., a little bit here and there. GAH! It was hard.
Now a complete routine, done once-a-weekish, is 3 rounds of PCLPDS: Pull-ups (wide; x10), Crunches (x20), Lunges (x20), Push-ups (narrow, x10), Deadlifts (x20), Squats (x20).
Most days I'll work intensely where I feel I need to (I've developed pretty good body awareness over the last 15 years, so I pay attention to it). The last couple of days has been arms and chest; this morning was 20 wide push-ups and 10 wide pull-ups, moderately quickly, 10 normal push-ups and 8 "normal" chin-ups, both more slowly, then a break (trimmed my nails, shaved), then another round of 20, 8, 10, and 7, respectively.
Tomorrow will probably be 2-3 rounds of squats, deadlifts, and lunges, with some crunches at the end, and a break the next day.
Make it routine. It's amazing the effect exercise has if you stick to it. It took very little time to drop from 190 to 180, and now I'm slowly over 190 again, heavier than I've ever been, but with less fat and something I never, ever imagined I'd have: A chest. And muscular arms. And those muscles all around the armpit. Looking in the mirror when I get out of the shower is a nice ego boost.
Not to mention that I can move more easily, I have far less stiffness, practically no back pain - for a 48 year old guy who just two years had a back episode so bad it took 10 minutes to get out of bed (by which I mean rolling onto the floor on hands and knees, wondering for the life of my how I was going to make it onto the toilet), this is fantastic!
Training for a marathon since 2 weeks now, so 5 days of running a week, 1 day of cross training (skating / cycling / fieldhockey).
Before that it was 2 days of running, 1 field hockey training and 1 field hockey match a week.
Every day 2 x 20 push-ups, immediately when I am out of bed, or going to bed, it's part of my routine since half a year now.
Running clears my mind of things, it feels great to finish and improve your timing, plus you get out. Fieldhockey is mostly a social activity for me, but besides that it feels good to play (and win ;) matches with your team.
Just a few sets of bench presses, shoulder presses, squats and deadlifts, a couple times a week, seems to do wonders for both appearance (and posture) and mood (hugely). Because it's so efficient, and actually feels good, going to the gym is something I now actually look forward to.
The trouble with this kind of survey is what falls under exercising? Does a daily hour of walk or having a regular sex life qualify as doing exercise? What about biking to work daily or nearly so?
It kinds of remind me of a survey that a friend conducted a few years back in Nantes (France) on alcoholism. To the question, how many liters of alcohol per day do you drink?, alcoholics would reply a certain amount. The next question was: how many liters of beer or wine do you drink in addition? Quite a few added liters. Go figure.
Was a college athlete but fell off after I graduated. For 5 years I didn't do anything and found it hard to motivate myself because I was used to daily practices, my coaches/teammates and the associated competitions motivating me. I started working at (and using) Fitocracy a few months ago and it has done wonders to motivate me again. Not for everyone, but the gamification elements and community definitely help to get you going. you can also learn a lot from the users.
I do Jeet Kune Do at Anderson's Martial Arts in Manhattan. It's an amazing workout, teaches you how to defend yourself, is a huge boost to self confidence, and really is pretty fascinating once you learn the history of the art and the other arts that helped to create it. I've never been in better shape in my life.
Surf every day there are surfable waves, which means 3 or 4 times a week down here in southern Portugal -- winter swells have been huge for a month straight, so 5+ days per week has not been possible (unless you enjoy getting pounded by 4 meter bombs that is ;-))
Compared to my urban past, beats the hell out of going to the gym...
I teach Karate twice a week and compete occasionally. It's the only exercise I've ever been able to maintain as it's masked as learning/practicing a skill as opposed to exercise for the sake of general fitness. I find jogging, going to the gym, cycling etc all very boring.
I spend at least one day a week hiking, sometimes two or more if opportunities arise. I used to bike 10+ miles daily but haven't been for a while and need to get back into it. Several times per year I do week long backpacking and/or volunteer trailwork trips.
Another vote for hiking. Its awesome for socializing. The sights can be spectacular (depends where you live, I guess). I either hike or "just walk around" almost every day.
Snowshoeing is hiking on snow. Big fun, I love it.
I think this poll is likely to be very biased - those proud of their habits are more likely to participate and comment. So far in this poll, it's saying that 72% of HNers work out "a few times a week" or more?
Need criteria defined like "do you need to shower"
For example your bodies thermoregulation system has not evolved to understand clothing, so when its 0F out and you're snowshoeing if you sweat and soak your clothes you'll more or less promptly die of hypothermia, or at least its going to really suck. So do my couple mile snowshoe hikes count if I carefully never break a sweat? If I knock back 2+ miles walking after lunch and dinner (only takes 45 mins or so each time) is that real exercise or not? It adds up to a marathon or so every week, its not like I'm only walking to the vending machine or something.
not to nitpick, but there are other, dare I say, more important variables that you gotta consider as well - workout intensity being the main one.
there's no 'correct' intensity - just like there's no 'correct' frequency - just depends on the athlete's goals.
what's clear tho, is at the edges of performance, there are gonna be trade-offs between highly frequent and highly intense training - unless you're a pro athlete, of course
for the large majority of peeps, i guess this distinction doesn't really matter, but since hn is about optimizing at the edges, i figured i'd mention!
that's not necessarily true. an individuals capacity for work is flexible. during a period of functional overreaching, you can increase your capacity for work and thus adapt to a greater workload.
obviously a casual gym go-er doesn't have to think much about that, but i just thought i'd point out that it is possible to train intensely every day and also have a day job. i compete as a bodybuilder and work full time in software development.
nah don't think of it that way. its better to exercise moderately unless you have some specific goal in mind. i have an addictive personality, and bodybuilding has been my way to satisfy that in a more productive manner.
Very good and timely question, but I smell a selection bias. Regular exercisers probably just logged in to vote, and couch potatoes probably just hit the back button.
got into triathlons last year. Love the structured training required and the varied sports. Believe it or not I have become even more productive at work even with a 10-20 hour a week workout schedule. My time management skills and energy levels are at an all time high.
I was 6'2" and 235 when I started endurance training (was a 12+ hour a day programmer before). Now down to 185 and in the best shape of my life.
the survey - and certainly the comments - might be biased since the people who look at and respond are self-selecting :-)
i just joined a crossfit ( like today ) but that's cuz the gym I wented to was loud and had broken machines.
coding requires sitting in front of a computer... and coding. my job is far away from my gym. all these things make it difficult to move around on a regular basis.
Crossfit 4 to 5 times a week. Crossfit is one of the best exercise regiments that I have found for a busy lifestyle. You go 4 to 5 hours a week, learn some great skills, you are a part of a great community and you stay healthy. I credit Crossfit for getting back to a healthy weight, becoming stronger and keeping sickness at bay. Whichever type of exercise you choose I think consistency is key. Keep doing it, make it a habit you can't beat.
Started crossfit 3x a week 2 months ago. I was a bit trepidatious given the horror stories online, but I had a few back and forth emails with the gym owner about my concerns and he was on the same page as me. I was also worried that since I haven't really been in shape since highschool, 20 years ago, crossfit would be a bit much.
It was definitely a challenge, but I am now able to get through the workouts, feel great after and constantly look forward to the next one. I feel better than I have in years. I wish I had done something sooner, but it was admitting that I can't stay self motivated for long periods that finally caused me to seek out a group/instructor led program.
For exercise I look for things like marathons or ultimate frisbee occasions to practice for.
Actually, I don't count them as exercise either. They're for fun.
I guess I just try to lead an active lifestyle.