> It's sort of like saying, "Now that I'm no longer busting rocks on a chain gang, I don't get any physical exercise." The response to which would be fairly straightforward, right? Join a gym, exercise at home, take up weightlifting as a hobby, etc
Well, I'm pretty sure the average construction worker is way stronger and tougher than the average coder with a gym subscription.
Try comparing a hobby musician with a professional one. The first one may be devoted, but he'll have a natural tendency to practice songs that he personally likes, and up to the level which is personally acceptable to him. Unless he gets bored and ends up browsing memes for the rest of the evening. The professional one will have to learn all kinds of different material, at the level required for playing to the audience, and for a specific deadline.
I've tried some of the items from your list, especially in my 20s I had quite an active hobby life, but if socializing with people requires an active effort, not always works out, and you don't have strong external motivations, you eventually end up looking for excuses to browse memes in the evenings.
Not to mention that accomplished people tend to stay in their own social circles, and don't usually hang around networking events / hobby groups looking for new people to meet.
> - Read a book out loud. Yes, even vocalizing alone is good exercise as it forces you to do what you're missing when working remotely, which is to quiet your mind and focus on speech.
This sounds like a particularly depressing idea. I absolutely don't want to be spending my life reading books out loud to practice my own speaking.