Ask HN: Techies, how do you keep yourself physically engaged?

I recently started playing padel. Much easier to start and more satisfying than tennis. It's a very sociable HIIT workout. Matches are organised on an app Playtomic and the court is only confirmed once all 4 players pay. I find it hard to play tennis as there is no Tinder-like match system for it. I've seen my skills improve from hand-eye coordination, reading trajectory and rebound.

I also tap dance. It's a very technical and movement-dense dance where different combinations of steps are put together and can be in different styles by varying the rhythm and body movements.

Sailing is my new passion. Dinghy mainly and also some yachting. Dinghy racing combines adventure, a thrilling workout (pulling the trailer and the core workout of hiking) and STEM split-second decisions in a race like computing a self-driving car. Also great for mental health and like a support group as through yachting I've met career changers who are running away from depression.

I run 1mi/day. On average, meaning that I don’t run every day.

I’ve done it for the past 5y. The first 2 were the hardest. This year I run over 500mi (and in Mar & Apr I practically didn’t run). This is just to say that the key is consistency, if you can make it a habit then it’ll stay a habit.

Run works for me, but bike or push ups might be an alternative if you hate running.

If you start from 0, account for your growth. For example if you can’t run 1mi now, don’t set your target to 1mi/day. Set it to 2mi/week or so. To give you a sense, when I run I typically do 5mi, so I only have to run twice a week to stick with my goal, and I can catch up if I fall behind.

This year I’m prob trying 10 pull ups/day, just for a change. (I’ll keep running oc)

My watch tells me when to run and how much to run. I feel good after each run so I follow its instructions.

Tip: you don't need gear or even shoes to run, just run to the office or chase the kids.

Stationary bike with automatic resistance and various apps to ride real routes or 3D ones with friends and family. I lost 2st last year without trying, which I gained during COVID. Now at 91% lean mass and in the shape of my life.

The key thing is finding people to be competitive and supportive with. My partner has been an excellent source of motivation as we are both very competitive in outdoing each other in time and power.

10 miles in an hour, do it a few times per week, you'll be on top of your self.

I have a small home-gym that consists of a bench for press and leg curls, abs bench, old and ugly stationary bike that does the job, some push up bars and a pull up bar.

I also tend to walk everywhere.

As soon as I finish working it is training time. When I'm busy or out for a few days I take the push up bars with me. Sometimes I also do some push ups while working.