My daily exercise goals are bite sized individual bursts of activity: 10 push ups, 10 squats, 30 jumping jacks, etc. I have a to do app on my phone (I use Productive for iOS) that is able to track to do items like x/times per day. Since each activity only takes less than a minute, it's never an inconvenience to do one or two quick exercises. None of them require any equipment beyond the pull up bar in my closet. Sure I have 10+ to do items dedicated to exercising, but each one is so small, it's never a problem to quickly bang one out. Over the course of days, weeks, it adds up.
Ask HN: How do you exercise?
81–90 of 99 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#82Yes. I exercise my brain continuously every day.
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#83My grandmother, who was fit and healthy into her 90s, used to chuckle at the idea of "exercising". I now understand where she was coming from – a simple active lifestyle can be all the exercise one needs. These days I live in a rural Australian town and mostly walk or ride a bike to get around. We don't have a TV, a dishwasher, an air-conditioner or a ride-on lawn mower. Life is great. I'm working on a small building…
Gyms and exercising is a direct response to our bodies not getting enough movement in our modern day lifestyle.
I do think we need that balance. I'm trying out farming on a small plot of land to keep a moving lifestyle.
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#84I'm definitely no fitness expert, but this is what I do. I don't have a strict workout schedule, because I feel like that is demotivating for me. - Under desk treadmill with standing desk - I spend a lot of time at the computer, so I have a standing desk and a treadmill that goes under it. I find that if I use it for about a half hour, 3 times a day, that gets me about 8,000-9,000 steps. Then I can get to the recomme…
Any recommendations for a under desk treadmill? I’m purchasing a standing desk soon and this seems like a great addition
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#85[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#86location and resources change every so often (i get bored / i find something else that excites me) but the cycle has traditionally been weightlifting at the gym -> spending a few months doing only cardio (for a long time it was just boxing, but recently acquired a quest 2 and not a session goes by where i'm not dripping sweat) -> home gym -> back to an actual gym. as far as benefits, i couldn't use enough words to describe how much it's helped with my mental state (specifically when i get into the zone and get consistent with it). it often becomes that one place/time where i can completely tune out, not have to talk to anyone, interact with anyone, think about anything, worry about anything.
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#87I’m a bodybuilder. I train 5x per week, generally around 5.30am so I can get it done before work starts. It serves as a backbone for my day and I appreciate that no matter what happens, what I do at the gym is entirely under my control and I enjoy having that to fallback on when things are messy in life. Health wise the benefits are obvious, but I appreciate the discipline and need to create abstract goals for the fu…
Wow cool. Mind sharing more info about your program / diet?
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#88I'm a slave to my Apple Watch and closing those rings!
It's easy to get the Stand ring closed - just stand when the watch tells you to do so. I've noticed I stand a lot longer than I'm "supposed" to.
The Fitness ring is also pretty easy to close. A brisk 2.5 mile walk does the trick. Having a dog helps in that regard.
The Activity ring is harder for me to close, especially in the Winter. I've found about 30 mins of light aerobics from a YT video closes the ring.
You're still going to need to do strength training and core training. In the Marine corps they drilled into our heads not to use weights - you gain strength at the price of flexibility and the flexibility is more highly valued. You can never go wrong with body weight. Push-ups, pull-ups, tricep dips, calf dips, lunges, planks, crunches - those all build strength. Won't do much for that Activity ring though!
Final thought - run stairs. Stairs will get you into shape like nothing else. I'm talking actual stairs, not stair machines at a gym. I know people who are marathon runners yet they're winded after running a few flights of stairs. Like I said, stairs will kick your butt and get you into shape!
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#8944m and my primary for of exercise these days is cycling. I clocked aust about 4,300 miles riding last year (down from 5,000 the year before). I ride 3-5 days a week normally. Some of these are 45 minute indoor rides on a trainer in the winter, but most of them are 1 hr to 5 hr rides after work or on the weekends. It helped to join a club that has regularly scheduled rides. I do a tuesday gravel ride and a thursday road ride with the club every week during the summer. They take up most of the evening (530-730 roughly), but I feel great when I'm on this schedule.
Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?
#90I have a fairly close-knit team at work and in 2022 we challenged each other to a monthly exercise. February was push-ups, March - standing squats, etc. It was just do what you can, but do it.
I started this as an evening ritual, then would shower and go to bed. I would add reps to the exercise and build on it, but each month I would continue to do the prior month's exercise and build on the routine. Before too long I had a 15-20 minute workout without owning any equipment or gym membership.
I had a few times where I just couldn't get to the routine. I noticed that I would feel worse (weaker, less rested in the morning) if I didn't get the routine in before bed.
In 2023, we don't really do that anymore for various reasons, but I still try to do the routine 3-4 times per week. If I go too long between workouts, I find its sometimes necessary to lower the number of reps and build back up.
The key for me is to just do it and be consistent about it (it really is only about 15 minutes so I find it hard to make excuses to skip it). I'm at the age where there is a lot of benefit to consistently moving your muscles and stretching...