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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?

#231

Post by rodw »

legerdemain wrote: post #229
rodw wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do it or don't, man. I don't care.

But I stand by the statement that most able-bodied Americans could find some way to incorporate more human-powered transport into their routine if they really wanted to. And in many cases they could do it without any adding any superfluous travel. I.e., it may be slower or even less convenient in some way, but it was a trip you were going to make anyway. You're just changing the mode of transit.

(Incidentally if it's truly too dangerous or inconvenient to walk across the Costco parking lot with a loaded shopping cart I think we're well on our way to the people from Wall-E.)

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

#233

Post by digianarchist »

ThereIsNoWorry wrote: post #140

Paid $800 for a stationary cycle, best purchase I've ever made, no joke. It's very hard to find an excuse to just sit on your cycle during useless passive meetings, in breaks, before or after work and watch youtube while doing it. One+ hour a day, 5+ days a week, intensity with a pulse over 120 bpm was all what was needed to go from BMI 24.5 down to 22.6 within 6 months. I also do 5 minutes of intense muscle training…

Which bike did you buy?

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

#234

Post by pdimitar »

Me and my wife hated it as well.

Bought an elliptical and hyper-extensor at home and we love both. The elliptical can give you a very powerful cardio session and that's very important for us the sedentary people. Plus it helps with weight loss.

The hyper-extensor activates muscles that get lazy with sitting. Works very well.

From then on just go crazy; all sorts of squats, situps, stretches and whatnot.

I don't like it in the gym. Too much preparation time in both directions.

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

#235

Post by deterministic »

I highly recommend the book “Body by Science”. I have followed it for months and my strength has more than doubled. Spending only 15 minutes a week in the gym. Yes fifteen minutes. Once a week. The book explains why it works. The actual exercises is only a few pages. Perfect for anybody who hates going to the gym and/or can’t do cardio.

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

#236

Post by nanomonkey »

Balgair wrote: post #208
nanomonkey wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, you cannot do HIIT daily, it leaves you too sore. Do you have a good routine for this? Are there biological benefits to doing HIIT that I'm unaware of? Pavel's S&S, or other anti-glycoletic training methods due work well for me as there is no soreness or need for recovery. I incorporate long walks (5 miles or more) daily to get in the cardio, sometimes go for a run or hard hike.

I'm a HIIT daily person. I used to feel sore after I upped it to every day, but that only lasted ~2 months. I was at every other day of HIIT previously. My routine is the Deck of Pain. https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/prison-workout-routin... TLDR: Shuffle a deck of cards. Assign a body weight exercise to each suit (hearts are sit-ups, spades are push-ups, etc). The pips indicates the number of reps, with face…

Thanks! I like the variety that this adds. It's a good means of adding waviness to your routines, I'd imagine.

I personally like working out, once I'm in the groove. I've found that I only enjoy it on an empty stomach and in either long distance runs through the hills (where truly pushing it feels purposeful, and the effort is varied), or when I'm doing non-glycolitic work outs (sticking to the short periods where you're only using ATP). These crazy fast taxing short bursts are nice because your body can bounce back within 1 minute to 70% or 3 minutes to 100%, so it's easy to rotate through a number of push or pull exercises with small amounts of rest in between (I do yoga stretches and breath work in between). It may be the breath work that supplies the majority of the high, I don't know.

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

#237

Post by DamnYuppie »

My comment will not help the OP based on what they are looking for. For others who don’t like standard gyms there are many types of gyms that have very different vibes. CrossFit, Starting Strength, and Brazilian Jujitsu come to mind quickly. These I have found are much more social and supportive than the standard gym format.

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

#239

Post by Balgair »

nanomonkey wrote: post #236
Balgair wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a HIIT daily person. I used to feel sore after I upped it to every day, but that only lasted ~2 months. I was at every other day of HIIT previously. My routine is the Deck of Pain. https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/prison-workout-routin... TLDR: Shuffle a deck of cards. Assign a body weight exercise to each suit (hearts are sit-ups, spades are push-ups, etc). The pips indicates the number of reps, with face…

Thanks! I like the variety that this adds. It's a good means of adding waviness to your routines, I'd imagine. I personally like working out, once I'm in the groove. I've found that I only enjoy it on an empty stomach and in either long distance runs through the hills (where truly pushing it feels purposeful, and the effort is varied), or when I'm doing non-glycolitic work outs (sticking to the short periods where yo…

The main reason I like the Deck of Pain method, I think, is the randomness from a shuffled deck of cards. With nearly all other methods of exercise, I'm always counting down the miles/reps/laps/minutes, etc. But with the randomization, I only know the number of cards left and have no real idea what the next card holds (until the last one, I guess). Often, I'll shuffle more than one deck of cards and then just do 52, with the other half ready for the next workout. That way, I can have 'hard' days with some exercises and easy ones, further randomizing things.

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

#240

Post by greenyouse »

Honestly, hire a personal trainer to help you stay on track. Keep with it for at least 6 months. I started this back in December and it has been great!

Left to my own devices I would have done one or two sessions and then quit. Now I do two strength sessions per week and long walks one or two days per week. It's not a lot but I can feel the change. I might stick with it for 12 months but it costs a decent amount.

My trainer drives out to where I live and we do exercises using body weight and basic equipment (dumbbells and boxes). It also helps since I can make note of the exercises and copy the routine once I kick into my own training. They can give you lots of useful tips for how to build muscle and stick with it too!

I was treating it more like a course in how to stay in shape for the rest of my life. I'll probably do strength training and walks from here on out until I die of old age. (early 30s btw)

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