New fitness habits being created during Covid? • Hacker News Board

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#41

Post by silviogutierrez » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

People are frustrated since home gym equipment is hard to find. And that's a valid frustration.

However, bodyweight exercises and outdoor cardio can go a long way. Even just walking.

The single most critical aspect you can control is diet. And that requires no equipment, just the right choices. WFH has thrown a big wrench into the eating habits for many.

I run a nutrition application[1], and we've seen a big uptick in sign ups and usage. Curiously, later into the pandemic. No surprise, based on articles like this: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/nyregion/coronavirus-tail...

[1] https://www.joyapp.com

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#42

Post by site-packages1 » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

vladvasiliu wrote: post #6

site-packages1 wrote: post #3

Anecdata: I have always wanted to do a full body exercise routine, gravitating toward body weight exercise. I _never_ wanted to deal with personal trainers and didn't really know where to start. I tried a few step-by-step guides over the years and always lost motivation. Always, sometimes relatively quickly. I'm healthy, skinny and do a lot of aerobic exercise and outdoor activities (soccer, frisbee, etc.), but I alw…

That sounds interesting. I've also been contemplating getting a personal trainer. Would you mind sharing the app's name?

Freeletics, there are some discount codes online as well, I guess from personal trainers with partnerships.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#43

Post by site-packages1 » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

randomfitnessq wrote: post #7

site-packages1 wrote: post #3

Anecdata: I have always wanted to do a full body exercise routine, gravitating toward body weight exercise. I _never_ wanted to deal with personal trainers and didn't really know where to start. I tried a few step-by-step guides over the years and always lost motivation. Always, sometimes relatively quickly. I'm healthy, skinny and do a lot of aerobic exercise and outdoor activities (soccer, frisbee, etc.), but I alw…

I've been looking for something exactly like that. Could you share the name of the app?

If course, I should have mentioned it in the original post. See above ^^^

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#44

Post by WorldMaker » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

lnanek2 wrote: post #31

sickcodebruh wrote: post #16

The only people I know who seem to feel really good about their COVID fitness levels are those who prioritized it before the pandemic and are so committed that they were willing and able to figure out alternatives. People who didn't prioritize it or struggled to get into sustainable schedules are doing poorly. Even some of my friends who had really good routines fell into pretty serious depressions at the start of it…

Definitely not my experience. I was going to the gym regularly before: lifting weights and cycling. Post pandemic I've lost 5 pounds thanks to cycling outdoors, swimming outdoors, lugging heavy bags camping in the wilderness, Ring Fit, Just Dance, Box VR, Audica, Beat Saber, yoga and pilates TV shows, and first one set of resistance bands and now a second more advanced set. Started doing acroyoga with my girlfriend,…

A lot of people are only socially motivated to fitness: 1) With less socialization in general, less motivation towards fitness. (The "who cares if I am a fat slob if no one sees me outside of the house?" problem.) 2) Gym tools like personal trainers are an "accountability-buddy", a big reason why they are such a common gym amenity is that some people need that "mentor that keeps me accountable" or other peer pressures of a gym environment.

You can only do so much social motivation over Zoom.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#45

Post by chimen » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:32 PM UTC

thomascgalvin wrote: post #21

sickcodebruh wrote: post #16

The only people I know who seem to feel really good about their COVID fitness levels are those who prioritized it before the pandemic and are so committed that they were willing and able to figure out alternatives. People who didn't prioritize it or struggled to get into sustainable schedules are doing poorly. Even some of my friends who had really good routines fell into pretty serious depressions at the start of it…

It's been impossible to buy any kind of home fitness equipment for a couple of months now. I've seen kettlebells going for $500 on Amazon. People definitely thought they were going to jump into home fitness with both feet, but just like New Year's resolutions, I doubt that many of them stuck with it. If I had to guess, there are two groups of people who are taking advantage of the quarantine to better their fitness r…

Get a TRX equipment and work with your body weight. I train all my muscle groups with it. It weighs about 500 grams and can fit in any backpack.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#46

Post by sickcodebruh » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:46 PM UTC

lnanek2 wrote: post #31

sickcodebruh wrote: post #16

The only people I know who seem to feel really good about their COVID fitness levels are those who prioritized it before the pandemic and are so committed that they were willing and able to figure out alternatives. People who didn't prioritize it or struggled to get into sustainable schedules are doing poorly. Even some of my friends who had really good routines fell into pretty serious depressions at the start of it…

Definitely not my experience. I was going to the gym regularly before: lifting weights and cycling. Post pandemic I've lost 5 pounds thanks to cycling outdoors, swimming outdoors, lugging heavy bags camping in the wilderness, Ring Fit, Just Dance, Box VR, Audica, Beat Saber, yoga and pilates TV shows, and first one set of resistance bands and now a second more advanced set. Started doing acroyoga with my girlfriend,…

It's very difficult for many people to change their routines, especially where fitness is concerned, even more so when paired with the anxiety of the pandemic.

My wife is just like you. She went from daily workouts in the gym to daily workouts with Nike Training, running outdoors, and Yoga with Down Dog. I'm in the other camp, I went from very regular (but not daily) training in the gym and schedule-permitting Muay Thai to a month of depression to a few weeks of inconsistent home workouts before I finally fell into a great routine that's close to my wife's but with more weight training. My wife had made fitness a big part of her life for years and she was used to changing it up; I had a routine that I was happy with but it was a struggle to even get there and when it changed, I had a really hard time building up momentum again.

These are just a couple anecdotes, everyone is different, but I know more people whose experiences are closer to mine than my wife's or yours. It probably has a lot to do with the circles we all travel in -- I don't know a lot of people who were very fit before COVID so I'm less likely to know them now -- but I don't think we should overlook how challenging it is to change fitness habits. I think we're entering a great age of home fitness options but I'm not convinced that it's going to radically transform the health of as many people as the companies operating in this space would like it to.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#47

Post by t0mbstone » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:47 PM UTC

I realize my own experience is merely anecdotal, but I just want to say that this whole lockdown has been hugely beneficial to my health!

Instead of eating out with co-workers every day for lunch, I have been cooking healthy meals and eating at home every day with my little family.

I have lost around 30 pounds since all of this started, and my wife has been losing weight, too!

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#48

Post by sickcodebruh » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:49 PM UTC

thomascgalvin wrote: post #30

neutronicus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other side of the fitness coin is diet , and the two hours a day returned to me have been instrumental in improving that. People may come out of quarantine simultaneously less fit and less fat. Fitness-wise, there's only so much you can do with a 4-8-month-old in a third-floor apartment, but jogging a couple miles with a stroller is kind of nice at any rate.

This might be a case where perfect is the enemy of good. People overestimate how much and how hard they have to work to make a positive impact on their fitness. You don't need to join Crossfit, run ten miles a day, or lift for forty-five minutes, five days a week. For someone who is sedentary, jogging a couple of miles with a stroller is a huge improvement. So is twenty minutes of yoga. Consistency is more important…

Even _walking_ a couple miles with a stroller is significant!

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#49

Post by thomascgalvin » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:59 PM UTC

chimen wrote: post #45

thomascgalvin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been impossible to buy any kind of home fitness equipment for a couple of months now. I've seen kettlebells going for $500 on Amazon. People definitely thought they were going to jump into home fitness with both feet, but just like New Year's resolutions, I doubt that many of them stuck with it. If I had to guess, there are two groups of people who are taking advantage of the quarantine to better their fitness r…

Get a TRX equipment and work with your body weight. I train all my muscle groups with it. It weighs about 500 grams and can fit in any backpack.

I had a TRX setup, but switched to wooden gymnastic rings. The rings are a lot more durable.

Re: New fitness habits being created during Covid?

#50

Post by neutronicus » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 6:00 PM UTC

thomascgalvin wrote: post #30

neutronicus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other side of the fitness coin is diet , and the two hours a day returned to me have been instrumental in improving that. People may come out of quarantine simultaneously less fit and less fat. Fitness-wise, there's only so much you can do with a 4-8-month-old in a third-floor apartment, but jogging a couple miles with a stroller is kind of nice at any rate.

This might be a case where perfect is the enemy of good. People overestimate how much and how hard they have to work to make a positive impact on their fitness. You don't need to join Crossfit, run ten miles a day, or lift for forty-five minutes, five days a week. For someone who is sedentary, jogging a couple of miles with a stroller is a huge improvement. So is twenty minutes of yoga. Consistency is more important…

Personally I've been pretty hardcore about various kinds of fitness (including the synecdoche of the day, CrossFit) so it's been an adjustment to be the dumpy dad jogging behind a stroller.

I will say that I really wish I could lift weights or at least do pull-ups right now because I'm getting all kinds of random aches I don't get when my upper body's in shape.