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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?

#201

Post by swat535 »

I can't speak for boxing but as someone who does weight lifting, you can get pretty far by just lifting at home (and go to the gym for heavier weights or start purchasing more expensive equipment if you have the space for it)

I love Bowflow adjustable dumbbells. You can go with 552 or 1090 depending on how much experience you already have and how strong you are: https://www.bowflex.ca/en-ca/selecttech/552/100131.html https://www.bowflex.ca/en-ca/selecttech/1090/710000.html

Julian from HN has a great guide on how to do this, I always give him a shout out when I can because his guide is very sensible and easy to follow: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro

See the relevant thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223 .

I think the most important factor is consistency and discipline. It's more of a lifestyle change than achieving a certain goal and you have to be patient with yourself. The rest of it pretty much boils down to: sleep, eat enough calories and lift a bit heavier every time..

Good luck!

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

#203

Post by logicalmonster »

Look into bodyweight fitness stuff. Pushups, pullups, squats.

You don't need fancy equipment, though a few minor things (can be much less than $100) like a pullup bar add a lot of value.

You can definitely do it in your home though the backyard or park might be nicer.

And you can tailor your approach to your fitness level: if you can't do traditional pushups, you do pushups on your knees. If normal pushups are too easy, you can do decline pushups. There are different levels of exercises for every part of your body.

As a bonus, you get to move around a bit which is what you say you want to do a bit more of.

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

#204

Post by rcarr »

Cheap equipment for resistance training at home:

- Good quality, XL exercise mat (google miramat). This should be your first purchase. Make an environment you actually want to train in. Alternatively, if you're building a full home gym, look at buying some rubber stable mats.

- Sandbag (goruck are pricey but insane quality)

- a set of resistance bands and a door strap (search slim panda on amazon)

- suspension trainer or pull up bar or both.

- paralettes

Cardio, choose one or more of:

- Rucksack with weight plates (can also use it for resistance training, again recommend checking out goruck)

- Skipping rope

- Concept2 rowing machine and EXR app - Was doing this last year at the gym and it was great fun.

- Zwift Hub, Bicycle and Zwift App - I'm doing this right now and it's super fun.

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

#205

Post by mistymountains »

duped wrote: post #200
mandeepj wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apartment is about 735 sq ft; I live in a big city's downtown. How big is your apt? Also, how much space, do you think it will take - "an exercise mat, dumbbell set and incline/decline foldable bench"?

I live in a 2,000 sqft house with an attached garage and barely have room for that and an exercise bike. I definitely didn't have space in my last 750 sqft apartment.

Right, but you have room for a television and multiple couches etc. Give me a break.

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

#206

Post by rcarr »

lwerdna wrote: post #121
car wrote: post #103

Indoor rowing on a Concept2 rower has been my solution to keeping in shape. I usually row for 30-40 minutes 3 times a week at a low load. It’s a compound exercise, working the legs, core and upper body muscles (87% of all muscles supposedly) while sparing the joints. Also very convenient, no need to get dressed like for the gym or running. It took months to get up to speed with a lot of initial back pain, but the str…

I too have benefited recently (since 3 months) from rowing, and started by simply emulating Dark Horse rowing on a laptop set to the front/side of the machine. I really like Rowalong channel now, because he gives effort instructions in terms of your best 2k pace. For example, he'll say "2k+18" for the next interval so if your best 2k time had average 2:00/500m pace, then row currently at 2:18 pace. Compare to Dark Ho…

You might be interested in this, great fun and it'll get you rowing using FTP which is a better way of doing things than pace (standard in the cycling world, surprised it's taking so long to filter into rowing): https://exrgame.com.

There's also this for rowing form but I haven't personally tried it out:

https://www.rowingperformance.com

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

#208

Post by Balgair »

nanomonkey wrote: post #119
cykros wrote: post #78

30 minutes a day? For weight management, it'd be hard to beat High Intensity Interval Training, particularly with a jump rope (if you don't mind dropping some cash, the weighted jump ropes from Crossrope are pretty slick). If it's more about maintaining strength, I'd get yourself a copy of Pavel Tsatsouline's Kettlebell: Simple and Sinister, and a kettlebell or two that fit your size and strength, and get swinging. B…

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 cards being 10 and aces being 1 (you can change this to Aces as 11, Kings as 13, etc). So, a 7 of hearts would mean 7 sit-ups. Continue through the deck until your can hear your soul dying. You can keep the jokers in and do 10 burpees or 1 of each exercise, or 10 of each. Up to you.

You're going to need to take breaks, but try ot go as fast as you can otherwise. I'm down to ~45 seconds per card on average. The hardest exercise to add in here are pull-ups, FYI. You're going to need to rest a lot if you have pull-ups as an exercise.

I also walk the dog at a pretty good pace, maybe in Zone 2 cardio. Usually takes ~30 minutes every day.

As an aside: I Hate working out. Some people report that they get a good feeling after a work out or that they have endorphins or some such thing. Fill in the blank yourself. I do not have any such good feeling after a work out. To give some bone fides, I've run marathons. I've swum miles and miles. I've biked all over many mountain ranges. I've been in combat sports, ball sports, artistic sports. I've done a lot of forms of work outs. I have never had a good feeling after a work out or some exercise was over. I just feel tired and sweaty and sticky. The Deck of Pain is the only routine I've been able stick to for any real length of time. It's just so punishing that I somehow don't care that I hate it.

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

#209

Post by mmh0000 »

anthonypasq wrote: post #155
mmh0000 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the years, I tried gym memberships and always go bored and stopped going after a week or two. I got a personal trainer 7 months ago, and it's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I find having someone besides myself to feel accountable to very motivating. It's also nice to have someone walk you through all the movements, proper form, and telling you what to eat. When I started with the personal trainer…

its physically impossible to have gained 25lbs of muscle in 7 months unless you're doing steroids

wink wink nudge nudge

If I'm going to waste time going to the gym, I'm going to get the maximum time to benefit ratio.

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

#210

Post by theturtletalks »

fierro wrote: post #195
Cpoll wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have the science to back this up, but I think it's plausible, if we make some assumptions. It's basically 3.5lbs/month. - 2lbs/month is reasonable for beginner gains [citation needed, but sounds right to me]. - If you're really skinny, you'll get bigger gains. - If you're training optimally (adequate diet, good exercise volume) you'll get better gains than the average beginner. - Genetic lottery chances. - Me…

2lb/month of weight gain, including muscle, fat, and water, is very doable for a beginner lifter. 2lb/month of true lean tissue mass is indeed "impossible" without exogenous hormones.

And it gets harder adding muscle. Adding 2lb the first few months is doable. Eventually adding even 1lb gets harder to do and you plateau.
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