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Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#81

Post by wink »

thehta wrote: post #49
pizza234 wrote: post #33

In my opinion you're looking at the wrong problem. If you're burned out, you won't have spare energy for anything else, and however you approach it, fitness requires a minimum amount of energy to be sustainable, which you don't have. Technical solutions may lower the energy threshold, but they won't stick, as they won't lower the energy so much that you will stick to them long term, if you are mentally depleted. It's…

IMO the energy you expend doing exercise is coming from a completely different place than energy for knowledge work. On the contrary, doing exercise clears your mind and engages your body -- the opposite of sitting at a desk. In my experience you will feel your baseline "mental energy" also start to increase.

Speak for yourself or citation needed as they say.

It's also only anecdata for me, but I do have hobbies that qualify as sports but after an exhausting day at work I want nothing less than to also exhaust my body and this has been a theme forever.

Also doing any kind of exercise in the morning is the worst and it doesn't clear my mind, it makes me want to get back to bed and the motivation to start work is at a complete low. Some people may well feel refreshed or good after exercising, for me it's the complete opposite - but I don't claim authority.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#82

Post by wink »

brundolf wrote: post #7

A lot of programmers get bored with normal exercises, but a lot of us seem to have affinity for both dance (especially swing) and rock-climbing. The correlation is uncanny, in my experience. Both of these are more mentally stimulating than most exercises, so it makes a certain amount of sense, though dance might be difficult right now with covid. Personally I also enjoy just taking walks. I can daydream the whole tim…

Maybe I've simply doing it wrong, and while I never went rock-climbing properly, but I've been going bouldering regularly for a long time and basically... I've not felt any change except a little bit of increase in arm/hand/finger strength, but also only for the muscles used in bouldering and nothing else. Nothing for stamina or general fitness, more like doing a single strength exercise with dumbells every day.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#83

Post by throwaway59553 »

Lift weights. It's that simple, you just have to find the discipline to do it. If you find that going to the gym is too solitary, and it is, try to find a team sport, in a club near you and start practicing there. Or get a running coach, specifically to prepare you to run those marathons.

>I mainly want become fit enough to run 5ks / half marathons by the end of this year

Things take time, and you need to set more attainable and smaller goals, otherwise by the end of the year, if you fail to run half a marathon it will be heavily demoralizing. Don't try to rush it.

It's hard to not spend time seated while we are working, but after work, just try to have a more active lifestyle. During the week try to walk for 30 mins to 1h. And during the weekends go hiking since you seem to enjoy it, it will be good for both your physical and mental health.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#84

Post by rpmisms »

If you just want to get into good shape, start eating healthy and doing something physical regularly. I do a high-protein diet, intermittent fasting, and play laser tag often. This will be enough, but if you want to speed it up you can always start deadlifting.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#85

Post by idiocrat »

I was in a situation was similar to yours, suffering many years because of lack of energy. I even could not walk up stairs, because of exhaustion. It seems nothing I could do to fix it.

A year ago my friend has suggested to try Magnesium supplement.

I then took 600-800 mg daily for the first week. That has completely cured my energy levels after only few days. I felt distinctly the change and I have my life back under my control.

Since then feel like I'm a new person. I'm very glad to have found the root cause for my specific problem.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#87

Post by markus_zhang »

I tried cardio and weights and they never sticked with me. They are kind of boring and unless you are into these things you can't stick for more than a couple of months.

Recently I picked up the hobby of fossil collecting and I can tell you it's excellent for your health (as long as you wear protective equipment):

- You have to hike, most likely in the wilderness (even in cities you are supposed to hike on riverside or hills, depending on the geological age)

- You have to use hammer a lot. Sometimes it's just fun to swing the thing the break rocks even you know there is nothing there (fossils most likely only reside in sedimentary stones and usually you can find some traces on its surface)

However I don't think it helps with marathons though, maybe in the long run it does, but not in a few months.

One thing I also found out was that, if I was not mentally engaged to the work/study, I would not have the motivation to workout.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#88

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

brundolf wrote: post #7

A lot of programmers get bored with normal exercises, but a lot of us seem to have affinity for both dance (especially swing) and rock-climbing. The correlation is uncanny, in my experience. Both of these are more mentally stimulating than most exercises, so it makes a certain amount of sense, though dance might be difficult right now with covid. Personally I also enjoy just taking walks. I can daydream the whole tim…

I also get bored with normal exercise and found, when I was a teenager, that martial arts motivated me enough to do exercise. Motivated probably isn't the correct word because I wasn't thinking about becoming good at fist fights or tournaments. Now that I think about it, the key for me might be exercise being a side product of some activity, with some authority telling me what to do.

Fast forward to now and I've tried running programs like Couch to 5k and tried walking and it just doesn't "stick". Fitness trackers annoy me because I can just dismiss things. Pandemic has me in worst shape I've been in, I'll blame pandemic but really I have had ample opportunity to exercise over the last 18 months.

> Just see if you can find something physical that you enjoy for its own sake, and then roll with it.

I think this is the key for software people.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get fit and healthy as a software engineer?

#89

Post by moneywoes »

komposit wrote: post #79

I want to caution you against obsessing over solving your problems with some great fitness overhaul. Part of your problem is not being able to muster the energy and the willpower to make that kind of change in the first place. Instead - think small. What is the lowest hanging fruit on a habit level that will give you a little more energy and boost your feeling of being in control. To give you an example, I recently g…

I've had dry mouth ever since I was a kid and also a habit of mouth breathing since my youth ( terrible habit that has cost me a lot today). What kind of tape did you use to tape your mouth, are there any risks I should be aware about?
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