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Ask HN: Staying fit whilst working from home?

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Re: Ask HN: Staying fit whilst working from home?

#41

Post by theandrewbailey »

A year into this mess, my company closed the satellite office that I and a few others in town were using. (HQ is states away, no other offices around.) Even before that, everyone else was in there maybe half the time. When they closed it and told us that we could have almost anything that wasn't nailed down, I took a standing desk. I'm trying to gradually stand during more and more of the day.

About every hour or two, I do some pushups and sit-ups.

On nice days (i.e. not winter), I would take a 20-ish minute walk before starting work, and walk around the neighborhood more in general.

Re: Ask HN: Staying fit whilst working from home?

#45

Post by erictd »

For me, the winners have been 1) a short flexibility/strength routine I try to do every morning 2) a treadmill in front of some sort of screen - these days it’s Zwift 3) dumbells and Peloton strength training classes

The first is for maintenance and recovery when I need it.

The treadmill is for when I just can’t bring myself to run or ride outdoors (too cold, too dark, so many excuses). An elliptical, bike or rower would work too.

The Peloton instructors and range of classes brought me from almost zero strength training to a regular practice.

But try different things and find what sticks. I also tried a mostly body weight routine called Iron Strength that’s good but hasn’t stuck. I see others in the comments as well.

Re: Ask HN: Staying fit whilst working from home?

#46

Post by ja27 »

For me, closing my exercise ring on my Apple Watch has been the best motivator. Maintaining a streak or collecting badges works well for me.

I used to cycle a good bit but some injuries have held me back. I got a cheap stationary trainer for my bike but that never worked well for me (again, injuries and just the uncomfortable position). I got a cheap recumbent stationary bike and have put a lot of miles on that thing. My biggest issues with it are that it's very easy to stop when you don't have to ride back to the start and that it's easy to get distracted by shit on my phone (now I start music / podcast and set it out of reach).

Just walking outside has helped a lot. I worked up to jogging and even some interval sprints but foot pain shut that all down. Just walking and trying to work my pace upward (again, Apple Watch helps there).

If you have the money, an online personal trainer may be great motivation. Or partner with a friend and do it together via Zoom.

Re: Ask HN: Staying fit whilst working from home?

#48

Post by thorin »

mrspuratic wrote: post #28
thorin wrote: post #24

Seems like your issue is motivation, not staying fit. Maybe align with colleagues for "exercise time" or even meet in person if they are close. You can still do your walking or cycling commute if you want to! Book meetings in your calendar for Youtube yoga. My routine is to do a walk every day while wfh, about 4 miles give or take. I do yoga or meditation as required. I go cycling or kayaking for fun a couple of time…

I hacked my motivation by making cycling to work my exercise (~1h, 12km/day). Now I have "covid belly" :( We (Ireland) had some brutal lockdown restrictions for quite a while, including a 5km distance-from-home limit. I could get stopped by police twice daily simply doing the grocery shopping. But it's nearly springtime here, and things are improving now.

Good luck to you! I'm in the UK - England, had some lockdowns, in the first one I got a puncture on a bike ride 10 miles from home and felt bad struggling to fix it. A guy stopped and helped and gave me some respect for humanity, it was a big deal at the time!

I won't be locked down to a specific distance in the future as this was never "law" in England, at least as interpreted by my local policeman friend, I'll quote him if asked! I too need to revisit the regularity and volume of exercise, but I'm not doing too bad considering. Nearly at the 2 year work from home anniversary!

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