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What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

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Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#71

Post by mlvljr »

egonschiele wrote: post #52

After spending a couple of years exercising on and off and never really getting these gains, I have finally gotten into a routine where I exercise at least 3 times a week. I've been doing this for more than a year. Here's what I've learned from that experience: 1. Start small. It's much easier to talk yourself into exercising for 10 minutes 3 days a week. 2. Exercise at home. I hated going to a gym so I never did it.…

...and wine testing and boxing sometimes happen in a nicely combined fashion :)

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#72

Post by steve-howard »

ams6110 wrote: post #70

While I don't deny that exercise helps some people feel better, this has got to quite variable from individual to individual. For example exercise doesn't make me happy or energized, it just makes me tired.

Me too. Some people report that exercise makes them feel smarter; after I work out I can sometimes barely form sentences (and I'm not doing anything extreme, either). There's a minute chance that it helps my overall mental health at other times, but I don't really have a way to measure that.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#73

Post by deepGem »

brown9-2 wrote: post #16
ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

People that keeps logs tend to be those that want to focus on increasing the difficulty of their workout over time - progress in how much weight you can lift in a certain exercise, etc. It's no surprise that if progression is not your goal then logging is not for you.

It's not necessary to keep a log to focus on increasing the difficulty of workout. Over a period of time your body gets used to a certain weight and at that time you'll feel that it's too easy to lift that certain weight. You then increase the weight.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#75

Post by mbesto »

tryitnow wrote: post #10
mbesto wrote: post #7

A year and a half ago I started doing triathlons and moved all the way up to doing a full Ironman this year. Due to the amount of training involved it's an awesome motivator to get you in shape and control your daily plan. Highly recommend it (even if just doing sprint/olympic/half distance) to anyone looking for a structured approach to staying healthy. I also think it's a great way for entrepreneurs to exercise the…

I don't do triathlons because of the time commitment involved. I'm training for a marathon and that's a big enough commitment. I still think the best way to learn to be an entrepreneur is to be an entrepreneur. If you enjoy a specific sport or activity, enjoy it for it's own merits. Rarely do things like marathons or Ironman or sports make sense just as ways to keep in shape - unless that's the only thing that will m…

> I still think the best way to learn to be an entrepreneur is to be an entrepreneur.

I whole heartedly agree. My point is that it gives you a framework much like building a business is; to create a mind and attitude built for winning in a long-term competitive atmosphere. Too often I find myself trying to find the easiest way out of a problem. It's nearly impossible to do in the longer distance triathlons.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#76

Post by mbesto »

twoodfin wrote: post #55
dlo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2:30 is an eternity away from 2:03:38. I am not thinking of dabblers; many people will do marathons after having barely trained. The goal for these people is just to finish. I think 2:30 is achievable for a healthy, moderately talented man who is not merely dabbling: someone who is training correctly and has put in a few years of sustained, injury-free effort. 2:30 is still very much an amateur time. For example, I t…

Of course it's an amateur time: You're not going to win any serious marathons running a 2:30, and if you have no chance to win, you can't really be described as a "professional". But c'mon, 2:30 is an amazing time for an amateur. Obviously it's "achievable", since maybe a dozen "amateur" runners managed it in Boston this year, but it's well beyond "good", as you initially described it. It's well into the top 1% of am…

This whole argument is slightly tangental, but I figured I needed to chime in ;) A 2:30 is a ridiculous time for an amateur. It'll easy put you in the top 0.5% of amateurs in the world. To put in this in perspective... a 2:30 marathon pace puts you at doing roughly 17m30s 5km's, 8 times in a row!

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#77

Post by ramblerman »

deepGem wrote: post #73
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People that keeps logs tend to be those that want to focus on increasing the difficulty of their workout over time - progress in how much weight you can lift in a certain exercise, etc. It's no surprise that if progression is not your goal then logging is not for you.

It's not necessary to keep a log to focus on increasing the difficulty of workout. Over a period of time your body gets used to a certain weight and at that time you'll feel that it's too easy to lift that certain weight. You then increase the weight.

I train with weights, and I they certainly do not weigh the same on different days. Some days are better than others, a log helps keep me on track.

Of course that's me. It might work for you though. In my coaching experience I find, that most people are not objective enough (or have a good enough memory) to work like that.

Tracking calories on paper vs in your head is a similar objective/subjective mess for most people. The mind is very good at deceiving itself.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#78

Post by Roelven »

ciupicri wrote: post #39
zacharyvoase wrote: post #34

Interesting that very few of these life hacking blog posts attempt to draw a distinction between different types of exercise. A marathon (or training for one) is a very different form of stress to a low-rep high-intensity power or oly lifting session, and I would expect their neurological effects to be miles apart. Regarding the endorphin hypothesis, there's another parallel hypothesis which is that the good feelings…

I saw recently a show on Discovery about the rescue swimmer training program and they mentioned that euphoria is one of the symptoms of oxygen deprivation. At one moment one of the candidates stayed too much under water and fainted, yet when they pulled him outside, he had a grin on his face and looked euphoric.

I have trained in swimming for a big part of my youth, not competition but skills. When practicing swimming under water all teachers were certain to warn us to not push too far. If you are reaching your limits there is a small window where you don't feel anything anymore, which you can possibly ignore by a feeling of "I can do this", which makes you euphoric as well. Combined with lack of oxygen the euphoria will actually put your life at risk while your down there being happy...

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#79

Post by sbjustin »

ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

I am naturally a competitive person. While lifting weights isn't necessarily 'competitive'. I have found that by tracking it I make a competitive with myself. I always want to do better than the last time. While I might not always lift more sometimes you win some sometimes you lose some against yourself.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#80

Post by brown9-2 »

deepGem wrote: post #73
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People that keeps logs tend to be those that want to focus on increasing the difficulty of their workout over time - progress in how much weight you can lift in a certain exercise, etc. It's no surprise that if progression is not your goal then logging is not for you.

It's not necessary to keep a log to focus on increasing the difficulty of workout. Over a period of time your body gets used to a certain weight and at that time you'll feel that it's too easy to lift that certain weight. You then increase the weight.

Well, a log is the easiest way to remind yourself what you weight you lifted a few days ago, if you are having trouble remembering. But no, it's not required.
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