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Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

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Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#221

Post by brotchie »

I felt the same way about the gym. Now I go 3-4 times a week and are in great shape.

There's a few things I've optimized that make it real easy and sticky as a habit:

    1. No cardio. I'd always procrastinate going to the gym because I'd always row or run on a treadmill to "warm up" before lifting. I dropped the requirement to "warm up" and just get straight into lifting. This was probably the single most impactful change that made me go more.

    2. Wear clothes to work that I can go to the gym in. Have a few sets of pants that are gym-ready, wear a t-shift, wear shoes that can be used at the gym. This removes another element of friction "damn, I have to go change, etc." Now I just walk in, drop my bag, and start lifting.

    3. Use Strong App with 3 x different workouts I created myself and have iterated on over time. Can't recommend this app any more strongly (pun not intended). I couldn't find a workout app that fitted how I wanted to track my progress and sets. I sat down and wrote PRD for the perfect workout app. I then stumbled upon Strong, and it satisfied all the reqs in the PRD + many more useful features.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#222

Post by rodw »

duped wrote: post #199
scoofy wrote: post #189

The automobile is why modernity is out of shape. The most simple solution for most folks is to live in an area where, instead of sitting at a de facto lounge chair to move from place to place, it's done by walking or cycling. This may not solve issues of being over-weight, which is mostly an issue of diet and modern food culture, but it will increase general fitness.

Nothing about that is a solution or simple.

The "simple" part could be up for debate, but in what way is "replace some of your car/bus/train travel with walking or cycling" not a solution to the problem of staying in shape when you hate going to the gym?

It may not be feasible in all cases, but it's definitely feasible in some cases, and it absolutely works.

In particular, bike commuting is an excellent way to integrate exercise into your daily routine without going to the gym or the tedious exercise-for-it's-own-sake activity. It's not practical for everyone, but between power-assisted e-bikes and the observation that you don't need to do it _every_ day, it's a lot more achievable than many think.

Similarly, if you take public transport to work (or elsewhere) you could get off a stop or two early and walk the rest of the way to get some of the benefits even if lacking the time or stamina to do the whole trip on foot.

Integrating exercise into some task or activity you were going to do anyway (e.g., commuting or running nearby errands, if applicable) is much easier than trying to maintain discipline and motivation to exercise as a dedicated, stand-alone activity.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#223

Post by damjanv1 »

herr_gurke wrote: post #24

Calisthenics is the way to go. You can start without any equipment and you can do it indoors and outdoors. There are plenty of calisthenics tutorials on youtube. Apart from that I suggest making a 20-30 minutes walk around lunch break

yes get some olympic rings. look into the (free) app You are your own gym(Yayog) Buy overcoming gravity (or join the reddit group where the author answers many of the questions). Working out with bodyweight is fantastic imo

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#225

Post by TrackerFF »

I love the gym, but hate cardio. I'll have to do cardio though, so my solution is to just bring my phone or ipad, and put on a 30-45 min episode of whatever and do a low-intensity cardio workout. Doesn't work as well as HIIT did for me, but is about 1000 times more enjoyable.

Being able to focus on something entirely else did the trick for me.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#226

Post by legerdemain »

rodw wrote: post #222
duped wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about that is a solution or simple.

The "simple" part could be up for debate, but in what way is "replace some of your car/bus/train travel with walking or cycling" not a solution to the problem of staying in shape when you hate going to the gym? It may not be feasible in all cases, but it's definitely feasible in some cases, and it absolutely works. In particular, bike commuting is an excellent way to integrate exercise into your daily routine without…

I am not going to walk 15 miles to Costco and carry a week of family groceries on my back. I use literally zero public transit. This advice is insane for people who live in a suburb.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#227

Post by anacrolix »

kylecazar wrote: post #177
hakunin wrote: post #100

I hate gym too (also mid 30s), and use the hate as a tool. I hate it so much, that nothing will stop me from going, because I'm always at the lowest possible desire level anyway. I don't care if the weather is bad, if my mood is bad, or anything else. I just deliver myself to the place no matter what. For over 13 years now. (People who like gym risk not going when they don't like it. I have no such risk. I'm not teth…

Out of sheer curiosity -- when did "gym" replace "the gym"? Is this a UK thing?

I assumed it was an American thing. Gym is a noun.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#228

Post by rodw »

legerdemain wrote: post #226
rodw wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "simple" part could be up for debate, but in what way is "replace some of your car/bus/train travel with walking or cycling" not a solution to the problem of staying in shape when you hate going to the gym? It may not be feasible in all cases, but it's definitely feasible in some cases, and it absolutely works. In particular, bike commuting is an excellent way to integrate exercise into your daily routine without…

I am not going to walk 15 miles to Costco and carry a week of family groceries on my back. I use literally zero public transit. This advice is insane for people who live in a suburb.

A "buy in bulk" warehouse store is of course one of the least reasonable examples you could have selected, but per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 52% of car trips in the US are less than 3 miles, and 28% are less than 1 mile. Those are both very walk-able and bike-able distances.

Surely somewhere in that more-than-half-of-all-car-trips there are a few examples of car errands that could be easily replaced by bike, scooter or foot.

EDIT: incidentally even in the most car-centric dystopian suburb there are ways to incorporate more walking into your routine. The next time you go to a strip-mall or big box store you could park on the far side of the lot and walk to the door. A minor inconvenience in both time and effort, but you could probably add 1/2 mile or more of walking to your Saturday afternoon errands that way.

Re: Ask HN: I hate gym. How to stay in shape?

#229

Post by legerdemain »

rodw wrote: post #228
legerdemain wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not going to walk 15 miles to Costco and carry a week of family groceries on my back. I use literally zero public transit. This advice is insane for people who live in a suburb.

A "buy in bulk" warehouse store is of course one of the least reasonable examples you could have selected, but per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 52% of car trips in the US are less than 3 miles, and 28% are less than 1 mile. Those are both very walk-able and bike-able distances. Surely somewhere in that more-than-half-of-all-car-trips there are a few examples of car errands that could be easily replaced by…

A quarter mile of dodging cars with an ungainly, loaded shopping cart sure does sound like an "inconvenience," and not one I would recommend to a friend to improve their fitness.
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