Ask HN: How do you exercise?

I started with cardio and calisthenics/weights videos, which I found to be great to establish a baseline level of fitness. After a while it became a bit too repetitive for me. Then I combined those videos with a treadmill for some added variety. Eventually I tried a rowing trainer, and combined with the kinomap app and concept's online challenges, I found my jam. Rowing felt great to me, it did not irritate my knees, I felt as though I had used all of my body, and the rhythm of rowing was engaging and almost a zen like movement for me. Some good music, maybe a rowing video/race/challenge on the app, and 30 minutes+ just fly by. I am now considering a rowing skiff and try my hand at actual rowing or joining a rowing club. As an introvert, the latter is still in question for me.

My goal was general cardio/lung fitness, and I tracked this with my resting heart rate and weight, and during exercising I used a heart rate monitor to track training zones. Apps tracked all the rowing metrics.

Starting from day zero is really hard, and having the discipline to stick with it at first is very difficult for me. At some point it stopped feeling like punishing myself and became about proving to myself that I can do this, and it became rewarding and a bit validating.

At my peak, I was exercising from five to six times a week. I built up to this level slowly over time, as I pushed myself with various challenges. It really is a sort of personal journey.

The benefits were mostly intangible. Mood and ability to handle stressful situations improved, my energy was generally better throughout the day, and food made me less sleepy. My sleep quality improved, which had further knock-on effects to everything. I felt good about myself and being able to meet the goals of the various challenges offered, and my own. If I can do this, what other goals can I accomplish? I felt better about myself as I set a goal and could see the progress and meet it. This was a thing I did just for me, and it helped me feel good about myself. Depression could no longer gain a hold on/over me.

The tangible benefits were on the scale, and visible physical changes. I became more defined and lean, and this felt nice to see something positive in the mirror.

I had a long break last year, as a lot of life happened. I am slowly getting back into it, and whereas I still grumble a bit about not feeling like it, once I finish, I always feel better for having done so. Starting over is not fun, but the difference is that now I know I can.

I share my routine here: https://wiki.nikiv.dev/fitness/exercises

It's bit aspirational but it's mostly bodyweight workouts few times a week.

You mean like soccer, football, Tennis, Squash, or the myriad of other games played as sports?

I walk my kids to and from school most days. Then I find a local patch of bush to hike or run, far enough to tire out my cattle dog. We hit the dog park if I’m feeling lazy.

I volunteer as a firefighter, and get plenty of exercise if I get called out on a job. I get some movement in during training.

I find gyms don’t work for me. They just feel a bit pointless. Immediate term, I need to move so that my dog won’t bug me when I’m trying to work. Medium term, I want to be fit enough to perform on the fireground. Long term sure I want to live long and well, but I can’t rely on that for motivation. Too abstract.

Concept2 Rowing Machine. Row for an hour first thing in the morning, six days per week.

Rowing machines can be real instruments of torture if you want them to be. I prefer to keep my sessions long and low heart rate, about 65% of my max bpm. I'll do some more intense stuff when the weather warms up a bit.

Some people struggle with the boredom of long rowing sesisons but I'm lucky that I can cope with it, put my music on and go into a half awake half asleep state until the mins are gone.

Concept2 have a great web site, plenty of challenges and ways of tracking your progress. Machines are quite expensive but hold their value and are extremely robust, I've never had a single issue with mine.