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Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

workoutbff.com

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Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#61

Post by babuskov »

andrewstuart wrote: post #39

No app will work. You just have to reprogram yourself to do it. Nothing else but ACTION will suffice for exercising. A very fit friend of mine said to me many years ago "I just don't give myself any choice about whether I'm going to the gym." You can talk and use apps and make plans and get trainers and coaches and excuses etc etc etc but in the end the ONLY thing that works is ACTION - go and exercise. Find an exerc…

> You can ... get trainers and coaches...but in the end the ONLY thing that works

> it's really great to do a group class where the instructor tells you what to do

So, trainers and coaches are useless, but "instructors" are alright? I fail to see the difference there.

Interacting with other people can motivate you. Having a trainer or a coach does work. Having someone tell you what to do takes off the mental part off your shoulders and then you can "just do it". And you might also feel bad if you don't show up.

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#62

Post by r00fus »

cconcepts wrote: post #38
iandanforth wrote: post #31

Streaks are often self-defeating. A few samples from the duolingo forums where this comes up frequently: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/17598950/The-demotivation... https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3705144/Streak-Breaker-Wh... https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/7927344/Lost-streak-and-m...

I had a several hundred day streak on duolingo, lost it and haven't opened the app since. Why would I, all my hard work is lost? I didn't actively think about it until I saw this.

Perhaps something like a "moving average" would be better to motivate people to keep things going without creating an expectations bubble.

"You did great for the past 4 weeks - perfect streak" or "you are doing really well - only missed one day in the past 4 weeks". You know, something a human might say.

Start off with a x Days, then switch to x Weeks and then moving average.

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#63

Post by nefitty »

iamsb wrote: post #54
iandanforth wrote: post #31

Streaks are often self-defeating. A few samples from the duolingo forums where this comes up frequently: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/17598950/The-demotivation... https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3705144/Streak-Breaker-Wh... https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/7927344/Lost-streak-and-m...

As some one who had lot of bad habits, using stream method really helped me. I will give you an example. Smoking - I used to smoke a pack a day since I was 21. 5 years ago I decided to quit. I started a stop watch on my wrist watch to count number of hours since last smoke. Once that went up 250 hours, I used a wall calendar to mark of days. I tend to break the stream couple of times a year by smoking socially. But w…

A wall calendar helped me as well with a meditation habit. My longest streak was 100+ days of at least 20mins sitting. I tried with apps later on, but nothing matches a huge calendar and marking the box with a big X.

I'm glad to hear someone else had the same experience. I wonder what it is that causes one to work better than the other...

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#64

Post by WA »

IanCal wrote: post #21
WA wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, this is where technology can’t help. Weaseling around with half-done tasks won’t cut it. Why did you want to track the goal in the first place? This is probably the most important question. Why didn’t you set the goal to 30 minutes, if there are days where it’s likely that you miss your more ambitious goal? If you set the goal to walk an hour per day and you just walk 30 minutes, you obviously failed to reach th…

> Why didn’t you set the goal to 30 minutes, if there are days where it’s likely that you miss your more ambitious goal? Because the goal is still an hour, but there are different levels of failing. A simple binary "pass/fail" means the record shows the same difference between lying in bed all day Vs running a marathon and walking 59 minutes Vs 61. If I'm 2 grams above my goal weight at Christmas is that a simple "fa…

But walking for 15 minutes is also better than lying in bed. Or for 5 minutes. Where do you draw the line?

You could make this percentage-based. Track the progress, show green or some kind of achievement only when you have 100%.

I’d argue that this system is okay too, but more complicated than a simple binary yes/no choice.

Walking 59 minutes or 2 grams above goal weight: If you are serious about the goal, this could serve as a great reminder that you should push through the last minute of walking or get down on Christmas and burn an extra 150 kcal.

Again, depends on how serious you are about your goals.

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#65

Post by iamsb »

nefitty wrote: post #63
iamsb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As some one who had lot of bad habits, using stream method really helped me. I will give you an example. Smoking - I used to smoke a pack a day since I was 21. 5 years ago I decided to quit. I started a stop watch on my wrist watch to count number of hours since last smoke. Once that went up 250 hours, I used a wall calendar to mark of days. I tend to break the stream couple of times a year by smoking socially. But w…

A wall calendar helped me as well with a meditation habit. My longest streak was 100+ days of at least 20mins sitting. I tried with apps later on, but nothing matches a huge calendar and marking the box with a big X. I'm glad to hear someone else had the same experience. I wonder what it is that causes one to work better than the other...

I think wall calendar is always there. I have it in my bedroom, so I see pretty much first thing when I wake up and last thing when I sleep. App - you have to look for it and it is constantly in your face, so to say.

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#66

Post by vinodkd »

babuskov wrote: post #61
andrewstuart wrote: post #39

No app will work. You just have to reprogram yourself to do it. Nothing else but ACTION will suffice for exercising. A very fit friend of mine said to me many years ago "I just don't give myself any choice about whether I'm going to the gym." You can talk and use apps and make plans and get trainers and coaches and excuses etc etc etc but in the end the ONLY thing that works is ACTION - go and exercise. Find an exerc…

> You can ... get trainers and coaches...but in the end the ONLY thing that works > it's really great to do a group class where the instructor tells you what to do So, trainers and coaches are useless, but "instructors" are alright? I fail to see the difference there. Interacting with other people can motivate you. Having a trainer or a coach does work. Having someone tell you what to do takes off the mental part off…

I think OP meant the part about showing up at the gym - that nobody but you can do. Once you're there, however, having an instructor helps you not having to think about what to do.

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#67

Post by jehlakj »

andrewstuart wrote: post #39

No app will work. You just have to reprogram yourself to do it. Nothing else but ACTION will suffice for exercising. A very fit friend of mine said to me many years ago "I just don't give myself any choice about whether I'm going to the gym." You can talk and use apps and make plans and get trainers and coaches and excuses etc etc etc but in the end the ONLY thing that works is ACTION - go and exercise. Find an exerc…

Like myself, I’m guessing you don’t need that mentality any more. You simply go. It’s part of your lifestyle

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#68

Post by harrisonjackson »

dominotw wrote: post #6
smitty1e wrote: post #2

I drank the Samsung kool-aid, with the Galaxy Sx phone, Gear Active watch, and the Level headphones. The Health App has been a win. Tracking meals and what have you is straightforward. But the real win is the gamification of the Global Challenge. While completely meaningless in any real-world sense, somehow keeping the step score and all of the silly achievements and missions help to quantify and motivate. Recently,…

This is exactly why duolingo owl has so much power over me. Can't lose my 235 day streak and can't drop out of to a lower league after working so hard to get to that league.

Was/is Duolingo effective for you? How much have you improved since starting it and what was your skill level when you started? Asking because I've had a couple of false starts with it, but I'm feeling motivated again!

Re: Show HN: Simple tool to make a habit of exercising

#70

Post by coolness »

krilly wrote: post #14

There's a great open source android app[0] which has most of the functionality here in a really polished package. [0] https://github.com/iSoron/uhabits

I use this one as well, didn't know it was open source! There's a certain satisfaction to ticking a box after you've done something
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