Ask HN: What keeps you from exercising?

I've exercised consistently since 15, I'm now 39 and have conquered my beer belly. I'd ride 9 miles each way in to work, was very muscly and a reasonable standard high school basketball. Here's my advice.

.

Understand just what the overall reaction of the body to exercise can be.

* Some people are super responders, some people are super not-responders. Find out where you are and make peace with it.

* There is a tradeoff between tiring yourself out and replenishing your energy. Don't overtrain

* There are two types of muscle short explosive muscle for strength and bulk and lean muscle for duration / marathon

* Muscle training works by tearing the muscles a little bit. This needs to recover and regrow. Segment the muscles you train. Biceps and Triceps one day. Shoulders the next, then legs the following.

* A lot of exercise is boring. Treadmill esp. Consider watching a live sport while treadmilling... that keeps it more interesting. ( Get outside and use communal facilities )

* Exercise releases endorphines, which registers as pleasurable to you brain and body. However they are weak and only slightly addictive. Get to a place where your body craves the endorphin release of exercise. Remove caffeine and sugar from your diet which are much stronger than endorphines and erase the addiction.

* The body adjusts to any exercise and you get diminishing returns often. Switch your routine to incorporate different body parts.

.

Understand yourself.

Exercise within reasonable boundaries of what is possible for your body type

I'm 6"2' and 100KG I just can't do rock climbing easily, altough I look at American Ninja Warriors with envy.

Do you need a Personal Trainer to get motivated ?

Are you best in the morning or after work?

Things change with age. I used to be able to exercise in the evening. Now it has to be the morning.

.

Ignore The Noise

Fashions, drinks, creatin, powders, straps, gadgets, expensive gyms and personal trainers. Ignore them all.

Exercise can be a mild meditation. Encourage that via having a rythmic routine, yet still including variety.

Sometimes the starter is something like breaking up with your partner and finding yourself both single and perhaps out of shape. That might kick you into the gym but it is not going to keep you there on the long run.

To keep going on you have to have a goal oriented mindset. Mine was to get toned at the beginning. After losing some fat and gaining the initial muscle, then I decided to have a six pack. I realized it is a lot harder then I though. I started to bulk and cut. It takes about 6 months or so, then I realized it was not enough, and I needed some more muscle, so did it again. Another 6 months (4 bulking, 2 cutting), and now I am at the best shape ever.

Now I can't not even think on staying too long without working out. 2-3 times a week minimum, and I always feel awesome after a work out (lifting). And this feeling lasts for 2-3 days. I think cardio doesn't have the same after effect feeling that proper weight lifting does.

1. Goal oriented, (i.e lose 15 lbs of fat and gain 10lbs muscle). Or get to 13% body-fat and be strong at the same time. Or get a 6 pack.... whatever it is.

2. Reward yourself by buying new/well fitted clothes, enjoy the positive attention you get when you get really fit

3. Keep doing it for long enough (6 months at least), and it becomes who you are. You wont even think on not going to the gym for too long.

a) Most importantly, I would rather program, browse the web, watch TV or play games than exercise: any of these is a more enjoyable experience than exercising.

b) Even ignoring my preferences, exercise is miserable. It is painful, unpleasant and sweaty. So not only would I rather do something else, I would rather not exercise. I know that some folks disagree, and that's fine. I don't, myself, want to spend an hour panting & sweating like some wild animal instead of engaging my brain like a human being (I'll admit that this is a character flaw, because it is).

c) I must get ready for and clean up after exercise, which is adding insult to injury: when changing & showering I'm getting no benefit from exercising, and yet not engaging in any activity I enjoy. So, in order to exercise I must devote even more time to doing something other than the items in (a).

I do exercise, because I ought to, but I hate, loathe and detest it immeasurably. If medical science would invent a pill which I could take and which would cause my muscles, organs &c. to undergo the proper chemical changes that exercise causes, I would take it religiously.

Depending on what you are interested in swing by http://reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness. Their recommended routine is based around gymnastics so the higher end workouts end up with you being able to do some interesting moves. Equipment to do it at home is pretty cheap. I use a 30 dollar doorway pull up bar and a 30 dollar set of gymnastic rings, but you can get away with less or have a pretty nice setup. As far as the kids go, I get up an hour before they do to workout at home.

I'm lazy and don't feel motivated to exercise. I wish I could post a longer more meaningful comment but that's all there is.