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Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

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Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#61

Post by siculars »

for minimal time commitment i would definitely recommend running. i recently started running to train for the nyc triathlon. running is easy to pick up and offers serious physical challenges. time wise, you can adjust the challenge to your fitness level by increasing the speed without increasing the time. as noted elsewhere, you dont even need a gym membership, all you need are a pair of sneaks you feel comfortable running in.

as for things you can do at home i would recommend the basics, ie. pull ups, push ups and the plank instead of sit ups. mix in various twisting efforts into the standard pull ups / push ups/ plank and you will start to notice the difference in just a few weeks. add a medicine ball to your routine to mix things up and confuse your muscles. these kind of exercises can be done without leaving your house and for a few minutes at a time.

if you feel comfortable exercising outside the house i would seriously consider exercising with other people. friends, strangers, people who are at your level or a bit beyond to help motivate you and get you past your current plateau. get social. you will find that fitness is an infinite challenge with no level cap. whereas your mage in wow can only get to level 80 (currently) you can keep going indefinitely. but beware! you can also regress.

doing the aforementioned will bring you a long way to getting in shape in just a few weeks. after that you will start to plateau if you do not ratchet up the intensity/time/difficulty or mix up your routine.

something i would definitely not recommend and specifically argue against would be any sort or weight training. weight training, imho, should only be done by those who already consider themselves in shape at a certain threshold. weight training works to isolate specific muscle areas and does not on its own encourage an overall health level.

personally, i had been a swimmer in my high school years and then did some club water polo. i always biked but never ran. so last year i decided to get into the triathlon scene at the sprint level and did my first last october. the tri concept is appealing to me because of the multidisciplinary nature and multiple entry points for the novice. i would wholeheartedly recommend sprint distance triathlons to those in moderate shape looking for a physical challenge.

lastly, but perhaps most importantly: stop drinking soda excessively. some might even say completely. just this one act will go a long way to slimming you down and greatly adding to your overall health. follow this up by cutting out sweets/chocolate/popcorn/insert favorite junk food here. it can not be overstated how much a healthier diet will help you reach a greater level of fitness than exercise can alone.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#62

Post by silencio »

I've been trying so hard to get in the habit of exercising for any amount of time on a regular basis, but every time something's managed to break it, something usually involving massive amounts of pain in my legs or chest that make me not do anything for like 3-4 days when it becomes impossible to get motivated to pick up the routine anymore. (My doctor is pretty convinced I'm just accident prone.)

So far the list's included p90 (gave up first day), two different gyms (smelly and old vs. new and clean?), wii fit (this gets boring fast), pilates, walking around, snowboarding (live in LA, don't get much of a chance to go see snow...), swimming, or (really) sex. The last of which is the only thing that happens regularly but isn't enough exercise. Oh well.

I'd love to do something I could actually stick with, but I don't have a huge motivation to do so when clothes still fit (even my teeny weeny not yellow or polka dotted bikini) and I can go up a couple flights of stairs without a problem. I'm pretty surprised to see so many people here are exercising regularly (or maybe they're the only ones answering...:P), maybe I can pick up a few good tips from here :D

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#63

Post by inglorian »

krschultz wrote: post #27
carterschonwald wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on one hand, I love this joke, but on the other hand, while i enjoy nice weather, I'm sufficiently sun burnable that my idea of nice outdoor weather is a bright day with diffuse light due to a thin film of clouds [edit: i do tan, just very very slowly :p, though that may be a consequence of summers spent doing cs / math research rather than healthy stuff :)]

Sounds like skiing is for you, get to enjoy the great outdoors while usually being protected from the sun.

Ouch, I'd advise you to never go skiing without copious amounts of sunscreen. I've gotten crazy sunburns from the sun reflecting off the snow.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#64

Post by beza1e1 »

scott_s wrote: post #40
erlanger wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to add that I believe basic calisthenics to be superior to weight training for most people. Whereas weights are designed to exercise specific muscle [groups], I think that activities like sit-ups and push-ups work muscles in such a way as to deliver more real-life benefit. They certainly expose you to less risk than weight-training and can deliver a full workout without much planning, a requirement when usin…

If you do a bodybuilder-style lifting workout, it will target specific muscle groups. But if you're doing squats, cleans, deadlifts and their variations, you're using many muscles, sometimes your whole body. The transfer is going to be the same. You are exposed to more risk (I'm recovering from a minor strain in my lower back from deadlifts - I'll be more conservative next time), but I think in the long run, the rewa…

Do you have an idea, how to do deadlifts and cleans without "professional" weights and without a gym?

Bodyweight squats are good. So are chin-ups, pull-ups, dips, push-ups, burpees and planks. I'd avoid sit-ups, especially if you hunched over your desk all day. A fun way to spice up the workout is "Parkour".

My workout is running a few kilometers to a selected tree, doing some of the exercises above and running home. Takes about an hour each. Three times a week.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#66

Post by jacoblyles »

I'm an outlier. I could never stick to running or lifting weights. Too lonely, too boring. On the other hand, a team sport that met once a week was too easy to skip.

So I fight. I admire fighters, and I figure it is right for a young man to try to earn himself some glory.

It's the hardest thing I've ever done. I lost 20 pounds. I did things I never thought I could do. I've cried after practice.

On the downside, my schedule is packed between grad school and Muay Thai/ Jiu Jitsu practice. Also, I'm not sure that getting punched in the face is the best way to stay healthy.

But you know what they say: it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Plus, there's no better cure for the ennui, the malaise of the modern world, the lack of purpose, the depression of your savanna mind sitting behind a desk all day than to experience your body as it was meant to be, in all its glory, in the world's most honest and objective form of competition.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#67

Post by dave_au »

beza1e1 wrote: post #64
scott_s wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do a bodybuilder-style lifting workout, it will target specific muscle groups. But if you're doing squats, cleans, deadlifts and their variations, you're using many muscles, sometimes your whole body. The transfer is going to be the same. You are exposed to more risk (I'm recovering from a minor strain in my lower back from deadlifts - I'll be more conservative next time), but I think in the long run, the rewa…

Do you have an idea, how to do deadlifts and cleans without "professional" weights and without a gym? Bodyweight squats are good. So are chin-ups, pull-ups, dips, push-ups, burpees and planks. I'd avoid sit-ups, especially if you hunched over your desk all day. A fun way to spice up the workout is "Parkour". My workout is running a few kilometers to a selected tree, doing some of the exercises above and running home.…

I've been doing this (other than doing it I'm unaffiliated with the site):

http://www.simplefit.org/

It's been good - it's a program of pull-ups, push-ups and squats with 3 sessions a week and a series of levels to work through. Pretty nice if you're busy, none of the workouts go past 30 minutes because there's a focus on high intensity in the workout.

Probably wise to take the guys nutrition advice with a grain of salt, since it doesn't see to be his main area of knowledge.

Other than that I run about 5km 3 times a week.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#68

Post by zcrar70 »

erlanger wrote: post #36
lowe wrote: post #4

with exercise i've found benefit as a function of time to be crazy non-linear. there's a much bigger difference between 0 minutes and 20 minutes spent exercising than between 20 and 40 or 40 and 60. so when i'm busy, i do what i can, keep it short, but never cut it out. i try to do something every other day at least. it clears my head and resets my stress. i like to run. simple. no gym membership. no complicated/expe…

I'd like to add that I believe basic calisthenics to be superior to weight training for most people. Whereas weights are designed to exercise specific muscle [groups], I think that activities like sit-ups and push-ups work muscles in such a way as to deliver more real-life benefit. They certainly expose you to less risk than weight-training and can deliver a full workout without much planning, a requirement when usin…

I agree with this. If you're looking for exercises using body weight only, I'd recommend checking out Ross Enamait or Matt Furey, both of whom publish reasonably priced books with good workout suggestions.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you exercise a day/week?

#70

Post by zcrar70 »

kajecounterhack wrote: post #28
lowe wrote: post #4

with exercise i've found benefit as a function of time to be crazy non-linear. there's a much bigger difference between 0 minutes and 20 minutes spent exercising than between 20 and 40 or 40 and 60. so when i'm busy, i do what i can, keep it short, but never cut it out. i try to do something every other day at least. it clears my head and resets my stress. i like to run. simple. no gym membership. no complicated/expe…

Hmm I'd recommend against treadmills if you can find a good park. Less boring, easier to stay focused, breath of fresh air, better for the knees.

The park is definitely the better workout, because the uneven surface also makes you work out all the small muscles you need to keep your balance. People who run 5 miles on a treadmill often get tired after 2 in the park. Best to run on the grass if you can though.
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