Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

hackerbody.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–48 of 48 posts

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#41

Post by grrowl »

Cakez0r wrote: post #28
jplarson wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A business needn't go for as broad a market as they could, and is often rewarded by targeting (and really resonating with) a narrow niche. Due to the name I immediately felt right at home, that this was totally for me. "Feel Better. Code Better. Level Up."? Heck yeah, speaks right to me. I signed up without hesitation and enjoyed a nice 26 minute break from coding. Something aimed at "office workers who sit all day"…

The idea of a pragmatic plan to get in shape appealed to me as a programmer, but I read this kind of language and cringe: "Feel Better. Code Better. Level Up." "Being healthy will make you a better programmer." I think the "hacker" market can be captured without being so patronizing.

> "Being healthy will make you a better programmer."

This resonates with me more than "...Level Up.", because it's true. When I was working out my whole body worked better, including my brain, so I appreciate that angle in the marketing.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#42

Post by xiaoma »

jacques_chester wrote: post #39
xiaoma wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "meat head free" line was good. I'm really tired of seeing how often programmer-focused sites tend to advocate eating huge amounts of meat, equate muscles with health, bash on endurance training and simply ignore things like yoga or pilates. This could be related to the extremely male-dominated demographic of the audience. Regardless of the reasons for this, I believe hacker-centric health services really could u…

You missed his point. Calling people "meat heads" is as judgemental using "geek" as a pejorative. We're supposed to be better than that.

I disagreed with his point. Your assertion is sensible but tangential to the discussion.

While it's true it's not nice to call specific people meat heads, it's perfectly reasonable to have "meat head free" messaging. Similarly, I would be very careful about calling a particular advertiser a huckster but would have few qualms with a site's messaging including a "huckster free zone".

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#43

Post by oneandoneis2 »

Lost my interest at "A New Workout Every Day" - that's the antithesis of useful training:

"Exercise is physical activity for its own sake...Training is physical activity done with a longer-term goal in mind...random exposure to a variety of different movements at different intensities...is Exercise, not Training, since it is random, and Training requires that we plan what we are going to do to get ready for a specific task." - Mark Ripptoe

It also removes the ability to accurately track progression, which is something that tends to matter to the geek with a fitness app. AKA your target market.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#44

Post by oneandoneis2 »

cheez wrote: post #38

As a "geek", I can vouch for the bodyweight fitness that this guy is recommending. The toughest part is working out regularly. The main benefit of choosing BWF is that you can literally do it anywhere. I even did it on vacation. The things I've found that help are: 1. Subscribe to fitness-related forums on reddit or find friends with whom you can compete. Huge motivational boosts here. 2. Try not to let yourself get…

Weeks? You mean years! :)

I actually find the "no end in sight" aspect of BW work to be really helpful: I don't have to worry about what happens when I "run out" of exercises, there will always be another progression: Pullups are getting too easy? Try one-arm pullups. Pushups getting too easy? Work on handstand pushups.

etc. etc.

The important thing is to ensure that you feel like you're making progress on each workout: Adding reps, moving to a harder version, or just improving form. Stagnating is an absolute killer.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#45

Post by Ayaz »

At work, I get a lot of heat for being the one and only guy who is never around on the seat. It's turned into a favourite joke on me with a number of people. Despite that, I don't mind it one bit -- in fact, I joke about it myself. I have made it a point not to sit on a chair in front of a computer continuously. I take breaks quite often. I stand up and work/read. I roam around the office, spend time with people from other departments, discussing things, solving issues, etc. I learned early on how detrimental a geek's profession is to their health and body. Not only your eyes, wrists, and your back, but your entire body is at risk. As we read so often, our bodies were never made to be forced to remain in a sitting posture for a considerable length of time. Obviously, it didn't descend on me from nowhere. I learned the value of proper ergonomics and proper health management the hard way. Bad eye-sight, headache, migraines, yadda yadda. But I'm glad I learned it before things got out of hand.

I also try and follow a 7-minute workout routine every morning. Apart from that, I'm an active tennis player -- although, after having joined a work-from-office job (since a year), I've been getting less time to be on the courts than I'd like.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#46

Post by LyndsySimon »

g0atbutt wrote: post #4
acconrad wrote: post #2

As a hacker who enjoy fitness and lifting weights, the message "'meat head' free" tainted my impression of this site, as if my way of working out was bad. I happen to be someone who doesn't want "muscles on muscles on muscles" but I am also someone who works at a desk 8 hours a day and wants to stay healthy, and trust me, even lifting heavy weights 3 times a week does not turn you into some freak of nature. That said…

Acconrad, I appreciate your thoughts on the tagline, "meat head free". My goal was to appeal to people who aren't already doing something active. HackerBody isn't the end-all in being active but it's a great place for people to get started. The videos are just the tip of the iceberg. I wanted to get this launched and get feedback before I push out new features. Thanks for taking time to give me your feedback!

I see where you're coming from, and I'm probably in your target demographic - male, full-time programmer, and completely ignorant of fitness in general.

I'd dump the line entirely and play up the "Feel better. Write better code." part, particularly how regular exercise can reduce mental fatigue.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#47

Post by cheez »

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #44
cheez wrote: post #38

As a "geek", I can vouch for the bodyweight fitness that this guy is recommending. The toughest part is working out regularly. The main benefit of choosing BWF is that you can literally do it anywhere. I even did it on vacation. The things I've found that help are: 1. Subscribe to fitness-related forums on reddit or find friends with whom you can compete. Huge motivational boosts here. 2. Try not to let yourself get…

Weeks? You mean years! :) I actually find the "no end in sight" aspect of BW work to be really helpful: I don't have to worry about what happens when I "run out" of exercises, there will always be another progression: Pullups are getting too easy? Try one-arm pullups. Pushups getting too easy? Work on handstand pushups. etc. etc. The important thing is to ensure that you feel like you're making progress on each worko…

Great points :)

But I was referring more to work-work, like coding...

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#48

Post by eglover »

nbody wrote: post #31
eglover wrote: post #27

Are the videos necessary, how about photos and a timer for low bandwidth/speed? Just a though. ;)

I'm on the opposite side, several times I tried apps that give only 3-4 frames per exercise and sometimes (if they are not shoot with an appropriate angle) they are not enough to make clear what you have to do.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3575489574 250MB/day limit.
Post reply on HN