Stopping sugar and caffeine changed my productivity and sleep patterns in a very positive way.
Resolutions for programmers (2012)
201–210 of 228 posts
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
From personal experience I would urge everyone to start with some form of Yoga. It's less easy to quantify your progress than with weight lifting (whose easy conversion into numeric growth I wonder isn't one of its attractions when you're a data-driven kind of person) but has further reaching benefits beyond basic physical strength. After 3 years of fairly regular yoga practise (3-4 sessions a week), even when combin…
> There is an awful lot of pseudo religious bollocks that surrounds it but within that there's a really solid method for improving the quality of your life. I bet Christian yoga will eventually become really popular in the US. I'd imagine it would keep the physical elements of yoga but infuse light Christian meditation into it, rather than the vague eastern spirituality that's currently everywhere in the industry.
Well I can understand the difference in cultures that makes you feel that thr surrounding spirituality is vague and needs a change but there is a difference. Yoga is complemented with 'dhyaan' which is an unexplored area in the west. If you are not getting that/missing out on its importance, you are not getting the full package.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's even easier if you use UTC-0. Joking aside, after enough usage you don't even need to do the +12 maths. Personally, I'd take using metric over converting people to 24 hour time. My day job involves working with UTM spatial data (all metres) but our public facing outputs are all feet and miles for our American audience. It's trivial to convert but drives me insane when a customer asks if I can convert something f…
> I don't think I have ever seen a compelling reason for the US not to convert to metric. It's expensive, the benefits are minor, and our system is fine (it could be better of course: a switch to nautical miles would be nice, and making a gallon 256 cubic inches would be great). I've never seen a compelling reason to convert — and neither have Americans in general. > Every other country faced the same expense and lea…
And yet 98% of the world decided that the benefits were worth the expense. Standardization is so prevalent in many aspects of our world for good reason - suggesting that the metric system is somehow immune to these benefits is ridiculous.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you've never been to a gym before or done weights, please, please, please get a personal trainer for a session or two to show your the correct form. I see way too many people at the gym who have shit form but "lift" a lot of weight and it is ineffective and can be dangerous. Form is way more important than weight. Remember, many exercises are designed with a specific muscle to target and if you don't do it properl…
You're right, I can't imagine I could get proper form by looking at Youtube videos. There's no substitute for someone telling you where you're going wrong.
One thing me and a friend frequently do is record each other sets every now and then.
I've heard some people get pretty good advice posting form check videos on reddit's fitness board, and 4chan's /fit/.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're new to weightlifting, this is a simple, effective entry point: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ You use 5 compound exercises and work out 3 times per week. Recommendation is to start as light as possible.
I see stronglifts 5x5 recommended a lot on sites like reddit and generally disagree that beginners should start out with it. From what I've read online, the 5x5 structure often leads to quicker stalling in progression for some than doing 3x5 like starting strength has you do for squat, overhead, and bench. Also, some people really don't need to start as light as SL will have you starting on. Anecdotally, a friend of…
I thought about this some more, and much of the criticism in the article boils down to preferring more deadlifts and fewer squats. Stronglifts argues that you'll be doing so many squats that you won't need more deadlifts, and that doing more will cause you to stall unnecessarily. The article suggests you want more deadlifts, and to cut back on the squats so you won't stall unnecessarily.
Given your goals and which lifts you prefer, I think it's totally reasonable to trade out some squats for deadlifts.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are the women you say are beautiful "beautiful"? Because they are physically fit and have good child-bearing markers. We are hard-wired for this. That said I utterly agree with the other poster's assessment of the benefits of exercise - less stress, better sleep.
> [beautiful women] are physically fit Being muscular is neither a necessary or sufficient condition for being physically fit. And in fact most beautiful women are beautiful despite not lifting weights, so why should lifting weights be a factor in the attractiveness of men. (I will grant that some women do want muscular men, but I don't think it's that big a factor for most women.) > benefits of exercise - less stres…
> Being muscular is neither a necessary or sufficient condition for being physically fit.
"Fit" for men is fairly muscular, because moderate amounts of physical effort by a man will result in some muscles. "Fit" for women is not muscular, because women do not put on muscle easily the way that men do.
Fit for men doesn't mean looking like a body builder, but it also doesn't mean having the same muscle mass as a woman of equal height.
> so why should lifting weights be a factor in the attractiveness of men.
Because strength is masculine. The standard for masculine attractiveness is basically unchanged for millenia. Look at ancient Greek statues. The idealized male physique is muscular and lean. This physique indicates health and athletic ability, and therefore good genetics as well as good ability to provide and protect.
> I will grant that some women do want muscular men, but I don't think it's that big a factor for most women.
Women will marry physically unfit men, and ugly men, and also mean men, and men with all kinds of other negative traits. That doesn't mean that these aren't factors in women's choices. It means that 1) you can't generalize from "some women" to "most women" just because it fits with your narrative, and 2) women can look past any factor if other factors outweigh it (men can do the same).
I'm short. I don't pretend that height isn't a factor in attractiveness to women, though. It's a huge factor, despite the fact that some (even many) women marry short men.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't think I have ever seen a compelling reason for the US not to convert to metric. It's expensive, the benefits are minor, and our system is fine (it could be better of course: a switch to nautical miles would be nice, and making a gallon 256 cubic inches would be great). I've never seen a compelling reason to convert — and neither have Americans in general. > Every other country faced the same expense and lea…
And yet 98% of the world decided that the benefits were worth the expense. Standardization is so prevalent in many aspects of our world for good reason - suggesting that the metric system is somehow immune to these benefits is ridiculous.
> And yet 98% of the world decided that the benefits were worth the expense.
It was imposed on much of the world by Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin (much like right-hand driving, as it happens); one can't really say that many folks had any choice in the matter.
> Standardization is so prevalent in many aspects of our world for good reason - suggesting that the metric system is somehow immune to these benefits is ridiculous.
I'd never deny it. There really are benefits to standardization. The rest of the world is free to standardize on feet and pounds any time it wants grin
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lifting is actually very efficient and having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks. I think you are just hanging out with the wrong people if all (or even most) of the people you know who lift are doing it for "girls"
> having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks When I've discussed the motivation with weight-lifting friends, they bring up that very point. Then I ask them to give an example of something they did with their strength today or in the last month, that I couldn't have done just as easily (I'm average strength). After long thought they come up contrived examples like, I had to lift my motorbike to change a ti…
> After long thought they come up contrived examples
Probably because you put them on the spot. I can give you several examples off of when additional strength would be useful to me in day-to-day:
* Loading jugs of water onto the water dispenser
* Loading my daughter's stroller into the back of the car (somewhat heavy, very awkward)
* Carrying large/heavy boxes to/from the basement
* Loading heavy items (e.g. stand mixer) into overhead cabinets
* Pulling salal from my flower beds (deep, extensive roots make this a major chore)
* Carrying an Aeron chair up/down the stairs (I've done this several times)
* Moving heavy furniture
* Moving wooden sheet goods (plywood, MDF)
* Hanging my bike overhead for storage
* Holding heavy light fixtures overhead for installation
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lifting is actually very efficient and having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks. I think you are just hanging out with the wrong people if all (or even most) of the people you know who lift are doing it for "girls"
> having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks When I've discussed the motivation with weight-lifting friends, they bring up that very point. Then I ask them to give an example of something they did with their strength today or in the last month, that I couldn't have done just as easily (I'm average strength). After long thought they come up contrived examples like, I had to lift my motorbike to change a ti…
Weekly examples are moving large electronics. Maybe it is just psychological, but it feels as if I have far better control moving heavy bulky things the stronger I am. They are still bulky and not easy to move in tight spaces, but they are easier than they use to be. I also do some outside work (more seasonal), but things like chopping firewood, removing trees after storms, and the like are easier.
Finally, I'm better at taking all my groceries in with a single trip.
Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There is an awful lot of pseudo religious bollocks that surrounds it but within that there's a really solid method for improving the quality of your life. I bet Christian yoga will eventually become really popular in the US. I'd imagine it would keep the physical elements of yoga but infuse light Christian meditation into it, rather than the vague eastern spirituality that's currently everywhere in the industry.
Well I can understand the difference in cultures that makes you feel that thr surrounding spirituality is vague and needs a change but there is a difference. Yoga is complemented with 'dhyaan' which is an unexplored area in the west. If you are not getting that/missing out on its importance, you are not getting the full package.
I actually enjoy that aspect of yoga, and agree it's complementary. I'm not advocating that current practitioners or practices should change at all.
What I'm saying is that I think there's an untapped market of people in the US that would be more likely to commit to regular yoga if the spiritual component adopted traditions from Christian meditation. This is based on discussions I've had with family and friends that say they mostly enjoy yoga but find the spirituality component or 'a little silly,' off-putting, or distracting.
Many US yoga studios and instructors are not dogmatic and are quite experimental and creative in their craft. There are already a number of relatively popular disciplines that de-emphasize the spirituality and focus on the fitness component (i.e. power yoga). My belief is that as yoga continues to evolve and grow in popularity in the US, some studios will reintroduce the spirituality component by fusing traditional and Christian beliefs, and that these studios will succeed in reaching a broader audience.