Go to the gym.
Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
31–40 of 275 posts
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#32Cheat yourself.
I’m not a fan of gym myself, I’m also a terrible swimmer but I love water and found out I can easily backstroke for an hour at a time and this is fun. Even tho I can barely swim any other style (working on it!).
I hate running but taught myself inline skating when I was 25 and now, 10 years later it’s super fun.
I love walking but most of the time it’s not enough, but I love sightseeing even more so I try to travel to new places a few times a year and if those places happen to be in remote mountain regions…
And when I can’t go out and want to do a quick cardio I simply start some interesting vid on YT/Netflix/whatever and start hula hooping. If the content I’m watching is good I simply forget I’m working out.
Also hula hooping while playing FIFA makes it way more fun and immersive.
Just do the stuff you like, there has to be something.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#33Indoor rowing: Does not reqire to much space, can also be done outdoors, and provides a full body workout with variable intensity. 20 minutes every other day can be enough to get/stay in shape.
I strongly recommend that anyone with a spare bedroom own a Concept2 rower. You can put thousands of km on them without replacing a single part. Nothing beats the consistency.
If you can find the discipline to do 5+km/day, you probably don't ever need to go to the gym. There are a few movements that would be beneficial as a supplement, but you can use bodyweight for most of those. The simple pushup gives you about 80% of the missing picture. I typically do a 5km row and then 2-3 sets of pushups and call it a good day.
I strongly believe the barbell squat is the best exercise by miles. But, its the biggest pain in the ass in terms of logistics. Rowing feels like a really happy compromise, especially considering the continuously-variable intensity and the mechanism of action.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#34Increase intensity. Hit the boxing bag hard for 5 minutes twice a day will burn more calories then walking for five hours.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#35I have a weight rack in my office. I do sets in between meetings or when I need to think. It's not as beneficial as doing all of your sets at the same time, but it's enough for me.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#36Live somewhere you can bike and/or walk to work and for your daily needs. Admittedly this can be weather-dependent, so it might not suit your requirement (though even living in Ireland I find rain only rarely causes an issue).
I lost about 100 pounds this way.
Moving to a new country would be one of the more extreme options but this video describes the idea of "The Gym of Life" well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#37No need to exercise at all. It's all about diet. This is something that pretty much everyone agrees on.
Exercise can help weight loss, but if your diet is bad even exercise won't work.
Remove all processed foods, at least all white sugar and refined oils.
Eat only food that physicaly existed 200 years ago (minus sugar that rich people could afford in large quantities only). Removing white sugar and white flour and processed oils and all processed sweets is the safest best.
TLDR: eat whole foods.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#38I'm like you OP. I hate the gym too. I only run and bike. Both are very surprisingly effective at keeping you fit. They are also very efficient in terms of time and burning calories.
The only times we could use the gym would be when it rains or gets too cold to run outside and we don't have a treadmill at home.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#39Indoor rowing: Does not reqire to much space, can also be done outdoors, and provides a full body workout with variable intensity. 20 minutes every other day can be enough to get/stay in shape.
Concept2 are the gold standard of indoor rowers. You can find them used for cheap and they are built to last a lifetime. There are tons of rowing program channels on YouTube to follow and keep it interesting.
Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?
#40At 30 min limit - you’re stuck to something at home. I’d suggest pick the cardio you least hate, buy the home equipment version of it, put it in front of a tv and add it to your daily habits!
Treadmill/stationary bike/rower/home swim setup … there’s no real limit here.