New fitness habits being created during Covid? • Hacker News Board

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#11

Post by hammock » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:08 PM UTC

theNJR wrote: post #10

PTON stock has doubled since COVID. Lulu bought Mirror We saw MAU higher than New Years during peak COVID (health and fitness app) and our peers said the same. Can’t buy weights to save your life. Question is what happens after reopen?

Gyms have reopened in Chicago in the last ~month. I'd say even today it's about 25-30% full compared to what it typically would be. I know gyms have been open in other places a lot longer, can't speak to that.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#12

Post by shwoopdiwoop » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

site-packages1 wrote: post #3

Anecdata: I have always wanted to do a full body exercise routine, gravitating toward body weight exercise. I _never_ wanted to deal with personal trainers and didn't really know where to start. I tried a few step-by-step guides over the years and always lost motivation. Always, sometimes relatively quickly. I'm healthy, skinny and do a lot of aerobic exercise and outdoor activities (soccer, frisbee, etc.), but I alw…

Apps are great to recommend a training and exercise plan, showing you different ways of working out etc. However I found that without having a professional by my side, especially in the beginning stages, it was impossible for me to know if I'm making mistakes in the way I carry out the exercises, wrong postures, incorrect movements or alignment of limbs. Once you learned to do them incorrectly, it can be very hard to correct this and have bad consequences for your health to a point where you can seriously hurt yourself. No app can do that for you.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#13

Post by justanother » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:14 PM UTC

Work for a leading 'online fitness experience' provider. Our MAU has gone through the roof and well into the sky. I'm not sure what this says about 'fitness' as I've no idea if these people are gonna quit within 6 months (ie if the mechanism by which fitness aspirations begin and die has merely changed) or if people are indeed on the cusp of a new way of living. I hope for the latter, as this has indeed happened to me. But I fear it will not be the norm.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#14

Post by noelherrick » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:15 PM UTC

theNJR wrote: post #10

PTON stock has doubled since COVID. Lulu bought Mirror We saw MAU higher than New Years during peak COVID (health and fitness app) and our peers said the same. Can’t buy weights to save your life. Question is what happens after reopen?

I'm outside the US in a place with no community transmission for about two months. When gyms reopened, at first it was slow, but when everything reopened without any new cases, everyone went a bit crazy (people are hitting the gyms a lot). It's still crazy. People I saw who were a bit overweight before lockdown lost weight. Same with myself - gained weight during lockdown - lost it 2 weeks after everything reopened since now life was fun again. I imagine that people are going to go pretty hard with socializing, travel, live music, etc. when/if Covid is contained.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#15

Post by kking50 » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:16 PM UTC

It's not a new golden age of fitness. There may be a short-term boon, but people's motivation will eventually nose dive without social interaction.

"Previously, 50% of gym-goers quit after 6 months." Why would you not expect the same thing to happen with people's quarantine workout motivations? We're still within the first 6 months of quarantine.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#16

Post by sickcodebruh » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

The only people I know who seem to feel really good about their COVID fitness levels are those who prioritized it before the pandemic and are so committed that they were willing and able to figure out alternatives. People who didn't prioritize it or struggled to get into sustainable schedules are doing poorly. Even some of my friends who had really good routines fell into pretty serious depressions at the start of it and haven't been able to find a new schedule that works for them.

I'd love to see stats on who's buying home gym equipment and what percentage of them are people just getting started training VS former gym-goers who are trying to adapt. The home fitness market was already exploding before this, I'd love to know if this is just the same target audience adopting it faster than anticipated.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#17

Post by thomascgalvin » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:23 PM UTC

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #8

Based on my social circle, no. A few people I know used the lockdown as an opportunity to improve their diet, find ways to exercise that don't require access to a gym, etc. but the majority have just gained weight, gotten more online, and generally become less healthy.

One definite benefit I've noticed is the lack of eating out. When I was commuting to Boston every day, most of my eating was based on convenience or opportunity; I was out of the house for twelve to thirteen hours a day, and taking the time to make a meal just wasn't realistic.

Now that I'm home all day, prepared-at-home meals are not just more realistic, they're (for the most part) the only option.

And this doesn't even require becoming a Michelin Star chef; a bag of chicken and vegetables from Trader Joes is easy, and much healthier than grabbing a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese from Dunkin.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#18

Post by iakov » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:23 PM UTC

site-packages1 wrote: post #3

Anecdata: I have always wanted to do a full body exercise routine, gravitating toward body weight exercise. I _never_ wanted to deal with personal trainers and didn't really know where to start. I tried a few step-by-step guides over the years and always lost motivation. Always, sometimes relatively quickly. I'm healthy, skinny and do a lot of aerobic exercise and outdoor activities (soccer, frisbee, etc.), but I alw…

This app sounds really cool and smart for what it is trying to do. Do you mind sharing the name?

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#19

Post by ilaksh » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:25 PM UTC

I have been doing a good job of playing Eleven Table Tennis on the Quest every day. Forme that's an accomplishment because my standard is absolutely zero exercise and I work from home and don't go out much.

But I am going to have to try harder because I have not gotten any less fat from that. Its kind of minimal movement really.

What actually is the most exercise on the Quest for me is bowling, believe it or not. Because to release properly you actually have to get pretty low. So it's like I am doing a bunch of lunges.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#20

Post by thelazydogsback » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:25 PM UTC

I think of the many (dozenish?) people I know who've bought personal exercise equipment over the years, all of them have become primarily clothes-hangers and usually eventually sold. Personally, I'm doing the best I can, but I find it really hard to get a good workout in at home and look forward to my gym re-opening.