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Ask HN: How do you exercise?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#91

Post by justspamjustin »

LecroJS wrote: post #84
justspamjustin wrote: post #80

I'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

I bought one from Amazon, but I'm not really sure if I'd strongly recommend it. It works well, but sometimes makes weird noises. If you plan on using it a lot, I recommend considering purchasing an extended warranty.

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#92

Post by LecroJS »

justspamjustin wrote: post #91
LecroJS wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations for a under desk treadmill? I’m purchasing a standing desk soon and this seems like a great addition

I bought one from Amazon, but I'm not really sure if I'd strongly recommend it. It works well, but sometimes makes weird noises. If you plan on using it a lot, I recommend considering purchasing an extended warranty.

Good to know. Thanks for taking the time to share your insight

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#93

Post by pengo »

Sixty eight year old female here. I start every day except Sunday with 30 situps, 30 pushups and 30 squats. I ride my (non-electric) bicycle when I go shopping (including supermarket shopping for two), and do two or three 45 minute rides a week which include sprints. One long walk, often on the beach, completes my usual weekly routine.

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#94

Post by patatino »

lexandstuff wrote: post #79
patatino wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you see improvements this way or just keeping your current fitness level?

Very minor improvements: adding an extra rep every few weeks or so. I won't be winning any CrossFit competitions, but I feel much better than not working out at all. I would love to push myself a bit harder, but this is the only way I've managed to stay consistent over the long term.

Thanks for the follow up

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#95

Post by _trackno5 »

uptownfunk wrote: post #87
_trackno5 wrote: post #15

I’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?

Sure, anything specific you wanna know?

== Training

I follow a periodised routine where a mesocyclo (block of training) lasts between 4-6 weeks and I take a deload week between mesocycles.

I'm a big believer in Renaissance Periodisation's [0] approach of starting a training block at the minimum effective volume (MEV) and building up volume throughout the mesocyclone till you reach your maximum recoverable volume (MRV).

By the end of a mesocycle I'm pretty close to overreaching and it's time for a deload to drop fatigue and restart the training process.

I won't share the specific details of my program since that was designed by my coach (I highly recommend getting one), but I can share the overall structure:

- Day 1: Legs

- Day 2: Pull

- Day 3: Push

- Day 4: rest day

- Day 5: Legs

- Day 6: Pull + Push

Even though I said legs, push, and pull, that's just the focus of my sessions. It doesn't mean I only train those body parts or movement patterns.

For example, today was my first pull day of the week and while my primary exercises were for the back, I also did hammer curls, calf raises, and cable crunches.

== Diet

I pretty much just stick to whole foods and reserve some of my calories for junk food. I got quite the sweet tooth so I eat some kind of chocolate/cookies pretty much every day (less often when I am dieting down though)

I'm on a massing phase (i.e., bulk) right now and I am eating at around 2700 kcal per day.

Here's what I ate today for example (I vary the foods, but the structure is the same):

-- Pre-training

One scoop of athletic greens with water

200ml of soy milk + 30g of whey or just a protein bar (generally Grenade's white chocolate flavour)

1 cup of coffee

-- Post-training ("breakfast")

20g of dark chocolate

70g blueberries

250g of skyr

1 plain bagel (I'm weird, but I really enjoy this)

1 cup of coffee

-- Mid-morning snack

60g of cocoa pops (my junk food for the day)

-- Lunch

1 flatbread wrap with: 15g mayo, 80g 97% lean beef, 1 whole tomato, red onion, pickled jalapeños, and rockets

1 banana

-- Afternoon snack

1 bagel with: 40g of peanut butter, 40g of jam, 1 banana

-- Dinner

Same as lunch

== Other stuff

I usually avoid drinking my calories, but every now and then I enjoy having a beer so I just adjust my food intake for the day to account for that. Not a big deal since I can't really handle more than a pint anyways :P

When I have some kind of social event, it's usually in the evening. If I know I won't have much control over what I eat, I tend to do a protein "fast" (mostly eat protein-rich foods) throughout the day prior to the event so I have extra calories to spend there.

I average around 12,000 steps each day. I get those steps mostly from walking to and from the gym and doing errands or walking to work. I keep track of the number of steps on a spreadsheet so I can refer to it in the future.

I also weigh myself every day and keep track of the measurements in the same spreadsheet. It's pretty handy to see what level of activity and food intake I need to reach to lose weight, for example. I can just look up what I did last time and just follow that.

[0] https://rpstrength.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-grow...

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#96

Post by NickC25 »

unknown_user_84 wrote: post #26
Someone1234 wrote: post #4

So exercise improves my mood and energy level, and the effect can last anywhere from 24-48 hours. This can INDIRECTLY help you eat better as you aren't using foods (e.g. sugar, fat, caffeine) to boost you in one sense or another. I find that a mix of resistance training and cardio mostly on zone mid-high zone 3 or low zone 4 works best (high zone 4, or zone 5 seems to have a detrimental effect both in recovery and du…

May I recommend Dance Dance Revolution / Stepmania. I have yet to find a good setup in Stepmania that is fundamentally easier to approach than endless mode on DDR X on the PS2. They have the songs divided up in levels of difficulty. I can roll in level 2 at this point after getting the hang of 1/8th beat steps, this took months (*edit: off and on for years). Before that level 1 kept me in heart rate workout level wha…

Used a DDR setup for rainy-day training when playing basketball and tennis in high school. Loved it, but kinda got bored with it after a while, because once you can do 10 footers in doubles with no bar, there's no real further challenge (RIP In The Groove with its 11 and 12 footers!). Also, the pads tend to suck unless you plonk down a few hundred for a metal pad which really takes up space.

Re: Ask HN: How do you exercise?

#98

Post by seattle444 »

themodelplumber wrote: post #14
seattle444 wrote: post #12

Double kettlebells. Clean/press/squat complexes. Pullup bar. Walks if you don't have much walking in your daily life. All you need. I think people getting into fitness focus too much on endurance, neglecting strength and it's bone health and connective tissue benefits. Lifting itself + long walks will give you all the cardio you need and then some.

This lifting + "all you need is walks" meme has been making the rounds lately. Did somebody start this on a popular channel?

Lots of of sport trainers are starting to see the light. Thai boxers traditionally ran themselves to death. Most of the top coaches and athletes are cutting back on that in favor of resistance training. Of course cardio is a pillar of fitness it's just many athletes neglect the other pillars.
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