I hate exercising, but I do it religiously. I am 64 years old, and in the best shape of my life. Same weight (and weight distribution!) as in college, good muscle tone. I think three things were critical, for me:
1. Absolutely no soft drinks at all. Not with sugar, not with artificial sweeteners. Nothing. Just seltzer. I used to drink a LOT of Dr. Pepper, and was told that they were contributing to my frequent kidney stones. So I stopped cold turkey, 30 years ago. I've had, I think, two Dr. Peppers since then. (I try to avoid processed foods in general, but I'm not a fanatic.)
2. Find an exericse regimen that requires you to show up, on time, and be accountable to others. I want a trainer to tell me what to do, turn off my brain, and just do it. That external accountability is crucial. I could find crossfit routines online, but then I don't do them. (I tried that, early in the pandemic.)
3. DO NOT treat exercise as a priority. Because then it is subject to your other priorities. Instead, make it a habit. You don't schedule brushing your teeth, and it is never traded off for other activities. You just do it when you're supposed to.
When circumstances pull me away from my routine (pandemic, extended family emergency), I feel like shit. My joints get creaky. Certain muscles start hurting. I have no energy. This all goes away once I return to my exercise routine. I hate it, but I love having done it -- I feel so much better in general. The high point of my day is when I am walking OUT of the gym.
Step 1 is actually finding the things that work for you. Your step 2 is the exact opposite of what works for me. Mine would be:
2. Find a way to work out by yourself, where no one else is aware. Cycling makes this incredibly easy, but I also drive back to the office at 7pm to use the empty gym for weightlifting. I work hardest when I’m only accountable to myself.
3. Find why you like exercise. I love it when I’m already stressed out, but if life is fine and easy I don’t excessive. Create stress so that working out can resolve it.
And for someone in between. I can run or bike solo every day and push myself to new personal records (though I never did break the 23 minute barrier on a 5k run). But strength training (primarily bodyweight) and yoga (picked up after a back injury left me crippled for a good chunk of a year), for me, require some other factor for me to stick with it for more than a month or so at a time (which is better than none, but doesn't help me get where I want to be).
Taking a class got me to push myself much further and harder than I ever did solo, and these days I'm making do with online classes because they keep me going in a similar way (though without the same social commitment since it's not actually social).
For me, the biking and running is trivial to start and obligates you to finish. That is, if half way through a ride you want to stop... Well, you still have to get home.
Much like you, I found it's most important to find exercise that I enjoy. Cycling, yoga, kayaking, hit that button for me, but others like different things.
65, and not remotely in the best shape of my life. (In my late 20s I ran at least a couple of marathons every year.) I run about four times a week, and have always regarded running as the perfect exercise for a lazy man: find your shorts, find your shoes, and head out; no need for reservations, exercise partners, etc. And I walk most days: generally twice a day on days I don't run, once on days I do. And I do not hate running or walking: I inherited a love of walking from my mother, and it carried over to running.
I should do more resistance work, but don't. Something in one shoulder does not care for push-ups. Well, in the summer I do yard work.
Anyway, I'm glad you found something that works for you. Would that I had the same body-fat ratio that I had in college.
That running, per se, ruins your knees as been debunked. Just search "running knees arthritis" and you'll find numerous recent (>2015) papers showing that running can be in fact protective. It's amazing how the body seems to follow a "use it or lose it" philosophy in almost everything.
I think it's important to note, that not all activities someone could call running are good for the body, and not all are bad for the body.
You can break bricks karate style and be fine, if you build up and take it slow and steady. You can also just tap or lift bricks 1k, 10k times per day and be fine.
However it won't end well if you use bad form, try to go max on day 1 (didn't build up), or try to break 1k bricks/day, every day¹.
Stupid running can be 1k-10k impacts per day with bad form (twisted joints), high stress (stomping on concrete), low regeneration (cartilage needs squishing for nutrients) - use it like this and you will lose it blazing fast.
This is true, like anything, you need to build up to it. I lived an entirely sedentary lifestyle for the first 30 years of my life, hated all sport and physical activity. Dated a girl who taught me the joys of exercise and movement and I've been hooked on running for the past 4 years.
Takes some time to build up a base, and of course you need to be careful if you are quite heavy initially like I was. If you just listen to your body and don't overdo it, it all comes together pretty naturally. While bad form is a risk, a lot of what I've read seems to indicate that your body will naturally find a running gait that is optimal for your body and minimizes impact. Running without headphones also helps, just listen to your footfalls and adjust your stride to minimize impact. (I can't find any studies on this, but I can't help but feel that a lighter footfall is likely minimizing impact on joints somehow)
> lighter footfall is likely minimizing impact on joints somehow
Simple: less stress (impact) => less damage (impact).
Listening to you body helps a lot. You body will (usually) tell you when you're doing something wrong, but it can be hard to understand.
I wanted to warn, because misconceptions like: I'm running => running is good for body => I'm doing good for body, even though my knees hurt every time; they can ruin many knees. Usually it won't get far, but there are always those who push.
Dumb luck, picked the right parents? Some of my running friends from back in the day have had knee problems.
My mileage was never that high, even during my late 20s: maybe forty miles per week as maintenance, rising to around sixty when training for a marathon. And frankly it wasn't that fast.
I am rather early on in the program but I’m mainly doing it for my hip moreso than my knees but so far I definitely notice an increase in knee stability and my ankle mobility is incredible. In life and in sports you cannot always avoid having your knees go past your toes, so gradually building the capacity for your knees and ankles to allow your knees to support you when they are past the toes makes sense to me. Everyone is so focused on building hip power to be able to explosively accelerate but this program is all about building the muscles that decelerate the body. Most non contact knee injuries in basketball come when a player plants and tries to come to an abrupt stop. This program builds your VMOs and tibialis and many other muscles that help bulletproof your knees against the extreme forces involved in coming to a sudden stop. The extreme moves that Ben demonstrates are very advanced and the program would never ever have someone do them without following the proper progression. If your knees are fucked up you just begin with backwards walking until your knee pain is reduced enough to progress further. Backwards walking is the safest way to begin building stability with the knees past the toes and this alone can help reduce knee pain.
Fantastic. Appreciate the personal feedback. I do have mild hip and knee issues so I wanna address them before they get worse. How long does his program take, in other words how long do you spend a week on this?
I'm doing the knee ability zero program. Currently I spend about 40-45 mins 3 times a week doing the program. It's 15 mins warm-up with backwards walking and then about 25-30 mins of exercises. I'm sure if I was more efficient and didn't take as long of rests between things I could shave significant time off of that. Depending on where you are at in the progression it's shorter or longer. I'm not yet at the stage where I can do the patrick step-up to full ankle bend so I'm not yet doing the ATG split squat. So as you progress the time commitment gets a little longer as you meet the requirements to begin certain exercises. This time is including various stretches that are included as part of the workout and which I view as a key element of the program.
There are also additional upper-body and off-day stretching routines that you can do on off-days, but I am personally just doing yoga on off-days so I can't give you a review of those aspects of the program.
Riding my bike to work kind of filled in items 2 and 3 for me, since work requires me to show up, and I usually have nothing else going on in the morning that can interfere. In the evening, well, now I can only get home if I ride.
Eventually it got to be a habit and then something that is hard to live without. I've substituted taking long walks while working from home.
When I worked from home for a few years and now again with COVID, I have to think about working out. When I ride to work it's just natural. I always thought of it as free workout because it only takes a little more time on bike than driving. Plus you save a bunch of money on gas and wear on your car.
This is really the key. I workout out every morning and have for years. The exact time has bounced between first thing and mid-morning, but I do it every day. Eventually you stop thinking about it and it’s just what you do, just like brushing your teeth.
Yep, same here. I am bad about other sugars though.
> 2. Find an exericse regimen that requires you to show up, on time, and be accountable to others.
I just focus on regular workouts (bike rides in my case) with friends. We have a Wednesday night ride and a weekend ride every week. As you say, it's a habit. If I don't text location by Monday night, someone is asking me where the ride is. Likewise for the weekend. I keep fit on other days too so I don't hold up the pack.
> 3. DO NOT treat exercise as a priority.
I break from you here. But much of this is because I have a different attitude about exercise in general and that is:
4. Make exercise fun. If you find some activity you love doing, you look forward to getting your workout in as opposed to dreading it. For me, riding is not just physical well being, it's mental and sociological. For me, riding is a priority because having fun and hanging out with friends is a priority.
While all the above is mostly about cycling, I've been taking up kayaking now too and seeing a similar effect.
Having to follow some sort of rule can give you just enough time to reconsider a bad decision. It also acts as a forcing function to make you read nutrition labels, which is a good habit.
I never had problems with exercise motivation so I don’t need someone to keep me accountable but I absolutely dread pushing myself and lifting more weight. Fitness apps with pretty graphs help a bit but what helps me the most is to have some goals like “squat X lbs by the end of year”. It seems to help so far!
Your suggestion about making exercise a habit is spot on. Just do it as a routine without even thinking and enjoy the rewards to do important things.
> 1. Absolutely no soft drinks at all...
Same here! For the past 10 years I have only had a Coke maybe 3 times and each time was immediately following a long run (say after a 2.5 hour+ effort).
> 3. DO NOT treat exercise as a priority...
I really like this philosophy. It's more or less how I've come to treat exercise, but phrasing in this way helps to justify and find reason for the habitual act. ("You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.") Cheers to continued health!
Point 2 reminds me how much of our minds are linked to social relationships. I'm jobless and went to help a charity.. the simple fact of being part of the group changes how I wake up, my schedule, my sleep and more.
That said, I'm still seeking the curiousity driven exercise where you're not in passive mode but playful and trying stuff for the sake of trying, it's an internal pleasure and a hygiene you know.
I am trying to get my father to start exercising. He is 60 years old, and he has been sedentary for the past five years. Do you have any tips on how to motivate him and where to start?
Get your father a step counter and start by taking a short walk every day. Once he gets used to moving, he will ideally be in the right frame of mind for adding something more.
My father is 77 and two years ago started exercising after a life of enjoying food a lot, being relatively inactive, and years with a troublesome achilles tendon.
He started with gentle walks, aiming for 5k steps a day. After several months, he added weekly circuit training with a group (he now does that three mornings a week). Then during Covid lockdown, gym with a boxing bag in his garage and long walks in the hills. And more recently fast rounds of golf, carrying his clubs, at 6am when the greens are empty.
He's now in the best shape he's ever been. Stronger and with more endurance than when he was in his 20s.
Just before Christmas, his step counter said in the previous 4 months, he had walked 1.4m steps, 1000 km.
Just go to a gym and start working with a trainer, either one-on-one or in small classes. It is important to find a trainer who recognizes where your father is, and scale exercises accordingly. You have to talk to the trainer himself, not just the guy on duty that day. Probably best at a small. Independent gym, not a chain.
Were you in poor shape in your twenties or are you also taking HGH/test through your doc? The amount of testosterone your body produces at 20 vs 64 is massive.
Testosterone and no exercise produces more lean muscle, than exercising without it.
Please will you quote the section backing that claim, I've just spent a few minutes looking at it and can't find it - just the expected stuff about testosterone increasing muscle generally.
Edit: the mean cross-sectional bit muscle size? Basically, they make some muscles bigger but not stronger? It sounds like bloat, a mostly cosmetic thing (which has its uses) tbh.
The summary results could be clearer in their highlights perhaps; you would think your observation would be a headline and its not mentioned, though perhaps I've missed it.
So there are clinics everywhere for "testosterone therapy." Is this safe for an older male? What are the long-term effects? I assume it's expensive, like most cosmetic/vanity medicine. How is it different from "roids" that powerlifters and other pro athletes are known to use? Or is it different?
“As long as you don’t” is doing a lot of work there. Humans regulate their eating using hunger and satiety. If you eat a diet that calibrates those well, staying at a good weight is massively easier.
There was a famous story of a man who lost weight eating a calorie deficit of twinkies. And it worked! But it’s also hard.
So the real question is whether diet soft drinks make it harder to feel sated eating an appropriate amount of calories.
I'm open to be persuaded, but initial impression is a lot of bullshit there.
The main finding from an admittedly quick look is that drinking artificially sweet soda may encourage people to eat more calories and gain weight. If you're controlling your calorie intake then that's irrelevant.
Outside of that other claims seem highly questionable.
I push back a little on this, because most of the time I've heard people say diet soda is as bad or worse than regular it's because of unsubstantiated woo. Is drinking only water better for you? I'd guess almost certainly.
Is diet soda particularly harmful? I doubt it - and it's almost certainly better than regular soda (or all of those high sugar fancy juices). It can also be really helpful when losing a lot of weight as a zero calorie snack.
> The main finding from an admittedly quick look is that drinking artificially sweet soda may encourage people to eat more calories and gain weight. If you're controlling your calorie intake then that's irrelevant.
It's relevant because controlling caloric intake without relying on the bodies natural hunger signals seems to be close to impossible for most people. The alternative is to ignore your gnawing stomach all day and carry a food scale to every meal. Only the most dedicated athletes can sustain a routine like that. Everyone else eats until they are satiated and will gain weight.
There's an obesity epidemic in the US and discounting mounting evidence of a substance modifying our eating habits in a potentially unhealthy way as "unsubstantiated woo" strikes me as counterproductive. We should be taking a very critical look at the American diet as something is wrong.
On a level of societal risk I understand and agree with you.
On an individual level where diet soda is replacing regular soda, or where diet soda is used as a treat when controlling caloric intake otherwise I find the generic “diet soda is bad for you” to be misleading enough to be wrong.
The “woo” is that usually it’s not some commentary about artificial sweeteners increasing caloric intake, but some nonsense about artificial sweeteners being unnatural or causing cancer, etc. it’s not too dissimilar from 5G warnings or anti-vaxx.
I don’t get this - what do you drink then? You can’t literally mean you only drink alcoholic drinks? Is water not a soft drink? Surely you drink water?
Actually, so is juice - the amount of sugar is pretty much the same in both, and the amount of vitamins in juice is not that big, certainly does not outweight the damage done by sugar.
The secret is to eat fruits whole - this gives you a lot of vitamins that are contained in the solid parts (those which are thrown away when squeezing juice), and a lot of fiber which makes you feels satiated much faster, before you take in too much sugar.
A problem I had was letting perfect be the enemy of good. I wanted the perfect workout program and wait for my fridge to be stocked with the right foods, the day to be correct so my arms won't be tired when driving and my leg won't be too sore to push in the clutch. Eventually I just did it and sorted out those other details later.
If you're in the same position I recommend immediate action. Like just go do 50 squats or 10 pushups or something. It feels good and in a month you won't have excuses for why you didn't start - you'll have progress.
> and wait for my fridge to be stocked with the right food
This also relates to another human brain screwup I was talking to a friend about recently. They wanted to learn to do something but were waiting to take a class when there were all sorts of good free learning resources available for that skill. Sometimes your mind doesn't want to do something and you rationalize "okay I'll do it when I have X Y and Z" but really you're trying to ignore the fact that the only thing holding you back is that you really don't feel like putting that work in, and having the perfect workout or starting a class won't necessarily change that. Sometimes we need to tell our brains to shut up and just do the thing.
This is pretty strongly related to a desire for consumerism. Most of us constantly make the mistake of thinking "I'm going to buy X which will make me start doing Y" when we already have the tools to do Y even if they are somewhat limited. Really we should only be considering buying something when we are using what we have to the fullest extent but feel an upgrade would be an improvement.
“A problem I had was letting perfect be the enemy of good”
That seems to be a big problem in the West as far as healthy living goes. People often either do nothing or they get obsessed with finding ever better methods until they get exhausted and get back to doing nothing . A little of bit very pedestrian exercises and eating reasonably ok food goes a long way. No need for being perfect.
I think it's the west's obsession with exceptionalism in media. It can make people feel like nothing but perfect or better is good enough, and they can feel like others will think they are silly for trying yet not being perfect.
Similar self sabotage happens when someone with good taste in a topic tries to get started in the topic themselves. They have the eye for what is good, and what they produce isn't good yet, so they give up.
The best advice I can give for fitness is to hold a stubborn conviction that the gym is for getting fit, not being fit. You are exactly where you should be if getting fit is your goal, and almost everyone there was or is in the same boat.
Great advice. The goal I set myself is consistency of doing any exercise, this builds, eventually, habits and over time you can gradually increase the quality/amount/whatever.
There is a huge variation in people's physical capacity as well as 'motivation' - find out what works for your body by trying different things and finding out what you can do consistently. Consistency as a focus helps avoid a big limiter which is injury, which often comes from doing too much too soon. Be prepared that this process might take a long time.
Once Covid forced my startup to WFH, I started doing body weight exercise and using some cheap resistance bands I bought when I would have otherwise been commuting. Previously, I’d been a runner doing 3ish runs a week. I can’t tell you how much more energy and mental focus I have now that I’ve put on more muscle and am stronger.
The biggest change I made to get into the habit as a founder was giving myself the mental permission to work out instead of feeling like I should be working. And I’ve found that even with the time dedicated to exercise, I tend to get more done because I’m more focused. Lowering the barrier to entry with home equipment really helped me.
The host is informative without being too bro-y. He also talks about the physiology behind muscle movements which I liked.
The start to my routine was just alternating between a push day, pull day, and legs/cardio day with all body weight. I also worked in core exercise each day because I knew my abs were very weak.
For the first two months I really couldn’t do much beyond body weight. Once my own weight wasn’t making me sore anymore, I layered on the bands.
Pull day - tough to do without bands or a bar:
3 x 12 Chin-ups (fingers facing you)
3 x 12 pull ups (fingers away from you)
Then I used a 5 gallon water jug for one arm dumbbell rows
Happy to answer more questions. I’m admittedly not a pro, but I’ve definitely got stronger without getting hurt using the above. My main recommendation would be to just start with your own body weight and get into the habit.
Some people seem to motivate themselves to continue exercising by having a formal, day-by-day routine, and many online sources try to meet that need by offering programs with specific sequences and numbers of exercises. In my case, I found that I prefer trying out various exercises and then using what works for me. Fortunately, there are a lot of good ideas available online to choose from.
not a book, video or article per se but https://old.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ is a really great resource in case readers here aren't already aware of it. Their RR is a good routine to start with, but the subreddit in general contains lots of resources that are pretty useful including books, video, articles
Disagree. I'd recommend the opposite, do mostly weights and some cardio. You don't need to buy equipment, barbells etc., bodyweight exercises is weight/strength training.
However, both should be done! Cardio is good for your heart. But it's easy and healthy enough to maintain a good aerobic fitness just once a week. Weight training keeps you burning calories and I think strength is more practical/useful in our day to day lives, thus having a greater impact on your psyche.
Bottomline, something is better than nothing. And if you love running... go for it.
I second this. Something as basic as the simple and sinister program is all you need. Or HIIT-ish calisthenics if you don't have kettlebells.
I know that weights are better than cardio, but cardio has major benefits for me that I can't ignore. Stress melts off, and I feel much more clear minded + focused with regular cardio. It also seems to keep my metabolism really high. I'm in my late 30s and eat like a teenager (in quantity of food) while staying lean with decent muscle mass.
Agree with you both. I have 3 kettlebells (1, 1.5 and 2 poods) and a yoga mat right outside my back door and it eliminates all my excuses. Even on low motivation mornings I can still bang out 40 swings and some snatches. And it's the perfect thing before coffee/work.
You still should not confuse your own anecdotal experience with actual evidence. Of course some strength training is beneficial, but the majority of the studies that I've seen rather promote the claim that sufficient cardio exercise is the cornerstone of a long and healthy life.
Some recent papers that immediately come to my mind:
Cardio gains diminish faster than resistance training gains, so the recommendation of "mostly cardio, some weights" is likely correct for general health, and I say this as someone who lifts weights more than I do cardio.
> I'd recommend the opposite, do mostly weights and some cardio. You don't need to buy equipment, barbells etc., bodyweight exercises is weight/strength training.
Is this, along with diet, sufficient to put on weight? I really need to gain 50 or so pounds at least and have never been able to do so. Even my brother, who routinely works out now is still pretty thin for his height. I've had a lot of people tell me you have to go to a gym for the equipment programs, but I'm not sure as it seems everyone tries to sell you something.
You definitely need proper diet to put on weight, and lift heavy weights. I was always skinny pretty much all my life, and I was able to gain 5-10 pounds of lean mass during last year (mostly summer).
Because of Covid, I had to move outdoors, and discovered calisthenics. That changed everything. I feel so much more motivated to work out now. During the summer I used to go to Stanley Park (Vancouver) and stayed there working out for hours listening music/podcast. And here is the thing: you need to find some sort of exercise that you like to do, or you will stop doing it. Regarding gaining lean muscle, the general advice is to reach muscle exhaustion when doing the reps. I found that to be the key, not so much rep count (even though I follow the traditional 6-12 rep count). Anyway, you should find a lot of advice on the web.
And of course, the diet, which has been the most challenging for me. I have a hard time eating a lot of healthy calories. It's just too much food :P! I read some recommendations on drinking a lot of milk, but I guess we all have have a limit of lactose we can handle [citation needed], and it did not go well.
Anyway, I am trying to make it into a habit/hobby, studying my body and my mind, trying to find what works for me. Hope it helps.
One of the things that changed my training in the gym(after many years of off-and-on) was doing college judo classes for two semesters, because it indicated what things were missing in my training program(mobility, shoulder strength, stamina) and I think the same is relatively true of body composition - there are a lot of ways to benchmark your physique and weight is one of the least reliable, a kind of "you get there when you get there" type of deal.
You can't expect physique to deviate hugely from your starting point without pharmecutical assistance(which is, defacto, how all the celebs are getting their transformations, on top of extensive training and nutritional oversight), but there are a lot of easily overlooked details that do compound towards a goal over time: how often and when you eat, as well as type and quantity. How well you sleep. Stress levels.
Sometimes it really can come down to just adding another meal or finding something to graze on.
I don’t think anybody ever _needs_ to gain weight. It’s only an indirect indicator of things that matter (strength, endurance), and even those are only indicators what really matters: health.
And yes, I think that applies to anorexics, too, although there, of course, the only way to gain strength or endurance and thus get healthier is to eat more and gain weight.
I also am aware that some people train in order to look strong rather than be strong, but I think that should be discouraged. I don’t know you, but given what you say about your brother, it probably is genetics, so accept you won’t ever look as strong as some others.
Certainly, if you’re as strong as somebody who weighs more, you’ll likely beat them in exercises where you need to move your body (swimming, running, cycling, mountain climbing, cross country skiing, rowing, etc)
Building muscle will take resistance training of some kind. The most effective way is with weight training at a gym, but it isn't the only way. Bodyweight training can definitely help you put on muscle, it will just be a bit slower. There are some natural limits to how far you can take it, but by the time you hit them you will be way more comfortable and aware of where to go next.
As a fellow hardgainer, as the industry calls it, I would recommend weight training if you want to get it done within the year, but if that isn't an option yet, get started with bodyweight stuff.
No one is trying to sell you anything with general weight training, it's tried and true. Just forget the paid programs. Forget supplements, just eat well and regularly, and be mindful that you can only grow as fast as you can recover so sleep and food are just as important. If you aren't able to eat enough, you can train a bit less. It's all a balance.
I've done calisthenics for a lot of my life, I'm lean and strong (6'1" 160lbs). 50lbs is a lot and would be a serious gain even with weights unless you're really thin. I would focus more on ability, can you do 10 pull ups? Can you do 10 sets of 10 pull ups in a day? Can you do 50 body weight squats? Can you do 20 sets of 50 body weight squats in a day? Get those numbers up rather than having a weight goal.
Maybe. I used to be a lot more active than I was before and my primarily sedentary life doesn’t help. I’m the same height as you, but 30-40 pounds less. I’m not sure how worried I should be at this weight.
Too add, while many people in are rather thin (I mentioned my brother). My father is pretty well built nowadays. Although he was also thin in his younger days, he managed to get into the Marine Corp later, so I imagine that helped.
I agree that weight is not a good a metric of fitness. Since the pandemic started I have had to stop my 1-on-1 kickboxing sessions. My weight hasn't changed much, but I have definitely lost muscle and gained fat. This became very clear when I tried on my swimming wetsuit. It went from tight around the shoulders and arms to tight around the waist!
If this is something that really concerns you, I would look to finding a good certified dietician if you can.
In my humble opinion, weight is not a good indicator of anything unless it's at the very extremes. I am hesitant to post my height and weight right now because that can be taken wrongly.
I think you are being proactive in YOUR health which is good! No one knows your body more than you. I hope this helps.
The way to gain weight is just to eat like crazy. You eat dinner and before you feel full you drink you gainer. Repeat for all meals and you should be able to gain weight fast. The hardest exercises are best: squat, chest press, deadlift, rowing etc.
If you're intention is to gain weight (not just muscle) you need to eat more than your BMR, no two ways around that. A decent surplus (say 200-300 calories above BMR) and a good program is key.
Yeah I need to figure this out. My appetite is pretty small and I’m very convinced I have some undiagnosed IBD (due to some rather specific symptoms). It doesn’t take much to make me feel close to vomiting if I eat too much.
Does feeling sick after consuming a lot apply to shakes as well? Only thing to keep an eye on with shakes is your appetite would be satisfied but you’d need to still take in your meals
Marijuana was pivotal to me being able to live a life of daily exercise. I dropped 140lbs and run a daily 8k on trails from being extremely obese in the span of 2 years. If it is legal for you to try it I highly recommend it for its ability to help you push through mental blocks and it's appreciable aid in recovery.
Alcohol is my kryptonite. Even as little as one or two beers the night before and I find my performance suffers horribly. Marijuana not so much. A few puffs before dinner and I wake up feeling great.
This is hardly something you recommend to anybody. If it works for you great, but for most people it could even be dangerous:
1. Marijuana promotes appetite (munchees is the name). Canabinoid receptor antagonist promotes anorexy. This might depend greatly on the marijuana strain (CBD vs THC vs ...)
2. Your state of the mind is different, you might even got hit by the car.
If you talk about doing it after exercise, then its a different thing.
You have no clue how many professional athletes use marijuana! It is not dangerous in the slightest. I would go as far as saying it is performance enhancing even.
I am injured at the moment, but I can go run a sub 11s 100m for you right now, right after smoking.
He didn’t recommend it, just talked about his own experience. i’d rather hear openly from personal experiences and make up my own mind rather than policing speech because it could be “dangerous”
This is a fairly unpopular opinion but I've experienced some benefit from smoking weed before a run, too. I find running to be extremely tedious, but if I'm stoned, it's fine. Kinda helped that my running partner had a low alcohol tolerance and would slug a beer before our runs.
A couple of points to consider. First, CBD and alcohol are painkillers -- I don't like using anti-inflammatories during exercise for fear of overdoing it -- that's an issue here. Second, drugs make you stupid -- don't be a stupid in traffic, y'all.
I’ve dabbled pre-workout, and while it does help empty out my brain while I’m there, it also zaps my motivation and I end up quitting early or missing a few of the harder reps. And if I wasn’t already laced up and out the door for the gym, no way I’d still follow through after I vaped.
Recovery makes a lot of sense and that was part of the routine for later workouts, but didn’t exactly do wonders for my nutritional choices ;)
Btw, anyone who is considering dabbling, I’d, uh, highly recommend looking into the Pax Era cartridge system. No mess, gross paraphernalia, smell, safe high quality product, etc.
To clarify preworkout I use .15-.2 of a gram of extract smoked out of a quartz nail and water pipe. I use a similar amount in the evening. I no longer combust any flower and breath much easier because of it. I did use RSO an edible concentrate on the begining to get through the pain in the evening I was eating 150mg-200mg thc in a gelcap in the evening. Vape cartridges are an option but I've never found one I liked. It's fair to not I have a very high tolerance and most people would not know I was under the influence, most people could use far less.
Okay that's actually a pretty large quantity compared to what I consume and I don't want to imply any form of judgment.
I found that a vape pen with oil is okay but my favorite form is 10 mg edible before a workout. I particularly love it for trail runs and for weight lifting.
When I try the concentrate I found that it tended to irritate my lungs. Plus the additional potency of the edibles due to how THC breaks down in the digestive system is nice.
I went from pretty much never exercising in my life until I was 37 years old to working out 3 times/week missing only about 10 workouts in 3 years. I was completely sedentary, never played a competitive sport, was last place in my high schools "presidential fitness test".
I still do not actually "enjoy" it, but I made it a habit and kept motivation to go because of two things: progress and goals. As a beginning lifter, you make ridiculous progress that seems absurd (adding weight and becoming stronger every other day) which to me was really an amazing sort of "hack". I plan to write more on how motivating this kind of linear progress is and how to form a habit around it.
Now, even though I do not actually enjoy exercise, it has become a habit similar to brushing/flossing my teeth. Not particularly enjoyable, but something I just know I have to do.
I'm similar - really don't enjoy lifting (but still do it), but absolutely look forward to and enjoy running.
I've noticed a trend / correlation between people who are naturally thick / muscular tend to have that opposite disposition- they love lifting, and hate running.
That will possibly be demotivating, yes. However now that the habit has stuck with me and progress is more like weekly, I have integrated it into my identity. As in, I am the guy who always goes to the gym on these days and does these exercises. I am now someone who "goes to the gym".
Once something is part of your identity, the ability to maintain it is surprisingly easy. For example some people have ingrained preferences that are identity-based, eg vegetarian, non-drinkers, non-smokers, non-soda drinkers, etc. It's easy for those people to avoid those things as it is part of their identity. Or habits that are part of someone's identity like "the person who always makes the coffee" or "the person who always takes the stairs". For you, it might just be "I'm a runner, so I run."
I will also say that while it was never an initial goal of mine, the vanity/esteem aspect of feeling stronger/in better shape than others my age still is motivating.
Pretty much the same for me. I'm mid-50s. Never played sports, never exercised. Wasn't terribly overweight but very "soft." Started lifting weights about 18 months ago. Only exercise I've ever been able to stick with longer than a week or two.
This is incredibly effective. I've walked my dog several thousand times in the last 10 years, and that is several thousand times I absolutely would not have been out for a walk otherwise
Pre-COVID I was running 4-5x per week, was training up to a half marathon distance. I thought having a dog would help pass the time, motivate me to keep the habit, maybe keep me safe. The dog we adopted loves running, but play sprinting is not the same as endurance running. I want to complete this mile sub-10, she wants to mark every rock and pole on the block. She’d be much happier if she could run trails with me off-leash, though she can be wonderful on walks and does make walking a daily habit.
On this topic, I recommend reading (or listening to) Mark Rippetoe, a strength and conditioning coach from Wichita Falls, Texas, and author of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training. He's got quite a few videos on YT where he explains his views on strength training, exercise and its effects on human physiology. While he can be bit controversial sometimes, he's also clearly very knowledgeable about the subject and very well articulated.
imo Starting Strength is overrated, especially if you're just looking to improve health. Not everyone needs to powerlift.
My go-to for science-based, reasonable exercise and diet advice is Renaissance Periodization. Nearly everyone on their team holds a PhD, does active research, and trains or competes at an elite level: https://renaissanceperiodization.com/team
I also think Starting Strength is overrated, and I always push friends who are new to barbell training towards Greyskull LP (it's like SS but incorporates AMRAP sets, endurance, and conditioning).
Having said that: Starting Strength the book is invaluable to people who need instruction on the major compound movements and don't have access to a trainer / friend.
Their argument is that, at first, the best thing you can do to improve your health is train for strength, because getting stronger will improve your general fitness and health more than anything else. The idea is to build a base of strength before you start training for a particular sport or activity.
A secondary argument is it's time efficient, results come fast and you get the most health and strength benefits with the least amount of time investment compared to say low impact aerobic regiment such as biking. I've done both and have to say I agree that starting strength method is optimal for busy professionals. Also lifting heavy weights is strength training and cardio training. You can't lift heavy weights without getting a cardio workout at the same time.
> The idea is to build a base of strength before you start training for a particular sport or activity.
If the "activity" a person is training for is "general health", Starting Strength type programs are unnecessary as starting points and - in my experience and observation - are more likely to result in injury.
Also, "The Lifts" are not the only true path to building strength.
I personally think the problem most people run into is starting exercise and dieting at the same time. You should exercise to get healthier, and you should diet to lose weight. I'd start with one long before the other.
For myself, I never got into exercising (for more than a month), but I DID lose 80 pounds in one go strictly by dieting.
For those that hate running, I recommend trying rollerblading. Its much less strenuous so you can go further, and faster and if you go at speed, it can be a little like solving a puzzle avoiding obstacles or people. Just buy good rollerblades. IF you get good, you can do stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjvgsHBfvc
Kayaking is also a great workout to try in the summer. You get to discover new worlds, from a new perspective. Kind of like a video game. So it doesn't even feel like exercise. Sunsets on the water are absolutely beautiful. Bring a friend or a camera and you can get some awesome shots of birds too.
I personally buy the brand K2, which is probably midrange price. But are very good quality. About $300-$400. I would stick to 4 wheel kind, 110 mm wheel size. The blades with the small wheels don't go as fast. They are more for street or hockey playing. The 3 wheel rollerblades can have larger wheels but are less stable, and harder to learn on and to stop.
Best place to learn is on flat bike trails. You will get some pain in your feet the first time you go out. This is normal. It will totally go away.
If you use them a lot like I do, eventually your wheels will wear out. The harder rated wheels last longer. Better bearings will let you glide longer and its more enjoyable.
Occasionally oiling the bearings and flipping the wheels will help them last.
Since the lockdowns, inline skates are hard to get locally and even online. Possibly more demand, and manufacturing issues.
As a runner I wouldn't say knees are particularly fragile, my knees can take a lot of beating, more than my shins, ankles or feet. Additionally the body operates on use it or lose it so to maintain healthy knees you need to either walk long distances (e.g. hiking) or run.
If you have a standing desk but find it difficult to stand for hours, I highly recommend an under desk treadmill.
I picked up a Treadly treadmill a few years ago and have logged hundreds of miles of walking while programming. It's thin and can easily slide under my bed, or be propped up against a wall when not in use.
That is a pretty cool idea. I would never consider standing still at a standing desk (uncomfortable for me), but walking would make it bearable at least for a while. Probably couldn't do it all day though.
What I DON'T walk while doing is - really cognitively challenging tasks OR learning something difficult/new, because that is markedly more difficult while walking.
If I really need to focus because a task is well outside of my comfort zone then I will almost always be sitting. Luckily, software development isn't always that kind of work (though it often is!)
I've started exercising around the time the lockdown started. I had been doing some occasional bouldering for a couple months before that, but starting lifting, then starting more seriously (3 times a week at least, plus miscellaneous training on off days) has really been life changing. I am so much more energised, feel so much healthier (whatever that means) overall. I'm pretty happy I started early, but can't stop wishing I had started even earlier.
I recommend the HN crowd especially to give bouldering a try. It's climbing with a higher emphasis on power and puzzle-solving. Incredibly addicting, has a great feedback and gratification loop!
Climber here, can confirm. I have never had to dig deep or play little tricks with myself to find the motivation to climb once the habit is established. I'm always looking forward to my next session, it's an intrinsically motivating activity. I've never been able to keep up a regular running or weightlifting routine for more than a couple months.
Climbing is an awesome sport. I used to occasionally climb w/ a guy in his 70's. I'm 56 now and hope I can climb for another 20 years. The big problem is lack of access. With the pandemic gyms are closed. The few climbing spots around here are hours away. I don't have the space now, but the house I'm designing now will have space for a climbing wall or Kilter board.
For success with exercising try making it a habit first before you chase any exercise related goals (reps, weight lifted, calories burnt, distance etc.). Get a tracking app to keep track of the days you are showing up (Google calendar app has one built in called Goals). Show up daily.
Did only 3 pushups? Bench pressed only 40 pounds? Walked only half a mile? All good. The only thing matters is that you showed up. If you need a metric to keep motivated, track streaks.
Once the habit takes hold you will magically improve the type of exercises that you do and enjoy. You will see improvement in health and mood. The positive feedback cycle will push you further. Good luck.
If exercise hurts, and I mean the bad kind of hurt, go see a doctor. I thought I was lazy and if I just did it more I would push through, that isn't necessarily the case. A doctor can help you find exercise that works for you.
> Hadza individuals are about 12 times more active than the average American or European.
I find it hard to believe that these people make 60k steps daily, on average. Even if they make 2 steps a second, thats solid 8+ hours of rather brisk walking. If they walk more leisurely (not to mention gather something), it can easily be 10-12 hours of walking, unless I'm missing something.
Yup. Twice I have done 12 hours of pretty much solid walking, although some of it was pretty slow (fairly steep + around 11,500' and of course I had my pack) and my Fitbit says I haven't broken 50k. I gathered nothing, stopped only to eat or because I had to catch my breath (5000' of climb).
I was curious about the math for this so I found one of my high step count days. It was 40k steps with 34.6km ran/walked, so 60k steps would be around 47-48km, let's round up to 50km. A 5km/hour pace is actually more of a stroll (for me) so 10 hours would be the high end for me for walking 60k steps. I wouldn't be able to bring it down to 5 hours without getting into a jogging or slow run pace (10km/hour), though at the time I probably could've done that (I was running long distances regularly. So for me a 60k day suggests 7.5-10 hours of walking. I looked at some other high step count days (25-35k) days and they show similar numbers to that one.
I tried to do the math as well and I can't see how 60k steps on average works. From what I can see online your 2 steps per second is somewhat on the slow end but even at an ideal speed (apparently 180 steps per minute / 3 per second) you are still looking at 5.5 hours of running.
This seems achievable for someone very fit who wants to burn the weekend on an ultra long distance run but there is no way they are doing this daily.
One hard lesson that quarantine taught me is how important eating protein rich meals and committing to any amount of exercise in the morning and mid-day is.
Even 10-20 pushups and a few leg lifts drastically improves my energy and focus - certainly helps deal with frustrated anxious energy that sometimes comes with having difficulty focusing or being locked inside for a while.
I might notice this more than others since I'm very ADHD but I hope to keep up with this routine one stay at home orders start to relax a bit.
The pitch is: muscle mass is very important to quality of life and longevity. No, you don't have to be a gym rat, working out 5 days a week to get a toned body. My friend argues (with much research) that you basically need to work out once, maybe twice a week - VERY HARD - to cover your weight lifting needs. Cardio is separate but need not be excessive (e.g. run twice a week for 20 mins + get up and go for a walk everyday). If you're serious about this just once a week, you'll by and large get the results you're after.
Lots of great discussion in these comments about the topic at hand (exercising), which is great, but the article is actually about a book titled "Exercised" and I don't see any comments at all about the book.
Has anyone read and have a review of the book? I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on if its worth picking up.
I started doing resistance training (amateur powerlifting) about 7 years ago and have found a number of things that keeps it going for me.
* Routine is what makes it stick, if my goal is to do three days a week and miss the first day I often times end up skipping the week. But once I've gone that first day it's easier to maintain the rest of the week and to keep that going in subsequent weeks.
* Exercising for exercises sake is a bad motivator (for me at least). I like powerlifting because I can see programmable gains; I can easily gamify it for myself.
* Rest is important you need energy to exercise and if you don't rest properly it can become too much of a drain.
I'm a big fan of powerlifting, it's something you can easily do alone but also share ideas on forms and programs with people if you wish.
The health benefits are good as well both mentally and physically.
I left my job a few months ago due to getting depressed from working from home so much.
Since then, I’ve been searching for ways to “fill up the day”, as I’m not working for 8 hours anymore. I’ve been searching for some other “anchor” activity to base peripheral activities around.
I’ve tried a bunch of things, but what seems sustainable so far is mostly doing physical activities. Between basketball, swimming, yoga, lifting, stretching, and skating, it’s a nice platter of (solo) things to do. This is the stuff I did all the time in my teens. I basically did none of it in my twenties. But after a decade, I’m getting back into it.
It helps that’s I’m currently based in Florida where gyms are open.
I view this time for me as a UBI pre-trial. What would I be doing in a world where I don’t have to work anymore? It’s a good question to ponder.
A thing I realized recently is that the first 10-15 minutes of exercise per day are not for fitness, but for health. If you don't even do that, you're just getting less and less healthy.
This also explains the different advice we see here on cardio vs weights. For those first 10 minutes or so you're probably better off with cardio - you want a systemic exercise. After that, resistance training all the way.
Also if you do enough resistance training (say 20-30 minutes per day or more), you can skip cardio altogether.
> 3. DO NOT treat exercise as a priority. Because then it is subject to your other priorities. Instead, make it a habit.
This is the key to making it work. It's not about commitment, it's about making a part of your daily routine, like brushing your teeth. Commitments are easy to break, habits are easy to keep.
The problem is having to commit in the 1st place. In many VR games, it’s near impossible not to do any physical activity. I find my males more consistent in working out with VR video games vs a traditional workout. The only downside is that VR workouts are cardio only
An article that talks to much about the need of exercise but so little about diet and food. Watch "fed up", the most part of it is your diet, exercise is required, but not as much as a good diet thats refined sugar/processed free.
If there was more research into anabolics / safer steroids it would go a long way into getting people motivated withvisible short term results. Maintenance is easier when there's gains to maintain.
Outside medical complications caused by actually getting COVID-19, nobody.
It is perfectly possible to get tons of exercise in your own home or apartment with no specific equipment. With an internet connection and free YouTube videos (dance, body weight training tutorials, et al) it is even pleasant.
People often make a big song and dance about how they "need" that $400 bike or $1500 running machine, or "need" gym access to do anything. This is all a self-induced fiction (although marketers likely deserve blame here too).
There might be limited truth for the top-1% of athletes who require highly regimented training routines; but for the general public nah. COVID didn't make you sedentary, you made you sedentary.
PS - I too don't get enough exercise. I'm not throwing stones here. My point is that I don't blame COVID-19 for my own [bad] choices. I could freely exceed all recommendations if I choose to without stepping foot outside but I don't, and I have to live with that.
I hear this opinion on Reddit as well. Yes, it is possible to get "tons of exercise" on your own using body weight, but it is not the same as barbell strength training. You are much more limited because actual strength training is a somewhat scientific process of progressive overload--adding 2-5 pounds per workout to an exercise. You cannot do this easily/precisely with body weight exercises, and additionally there is a reason the barbell is shaped as it is--to maximize the ability to support and balance the weight.
The argument that nobody "needs" gym access is akin to arguing nobody "needs" restaurants--they can all just cook their own food. Or nobody "needs" grocery stores--they can just grow/raise all their own food.
That's not what this comment thread is discussing though. Nobody claims you can swim just as well at home as you can in a swimming pool. What is being discussed was this:
> I wonder how many people have been forced into a "sedentary" life style by COVID-19...
So to go from "you're forced to be sedentary" to "but you cannot badminton, so this is wrong" is a strange non sequitur.
It is what the comment I was responding to was discussing. It acknowledges in it's second sentence that it's possible to get some kind of exercise but states that it's different enough that it makes perfect sense to say that COVID caused some people to become sedentary.
it's absurd to say that you're limited by body weight exercises. there are so many "scientific process" body weight regimes to choose from. barbell training has such a high barrier for entry for so many people when really most people just need to do something.
You can definitely still get a workout, and I get probably about as much exercise now as I did before. But I don't have anything like the same strength training equipment so I think I've definitely lost a lot of strength as I can't do any heavy lifting.
Well, forced is maybe too strong of a word. If people have the kind of exercise they enjoy and do consistently
but are now prevented from doing it - it's fair to say that they are sedentary due to COVID.
I was not talking about exercise. I was talking about your normal life being altered from more than 5k steps taken to less.
For instance, I need about 1k steps to the subway and I bring kids to the kindergarten or pick them up for, say, 2k steps. So on a normal workday, I get 4k steps just by getting to and from work. That's missing now. Consequently I have to start exercising just to keep the status quo ante.
I'm certainly not a top 1% athlete. I might be top 1% in athleticism, but if you're restricting to athletes... Definitely not. There is no way I could make the same progress at home as I've been getting with my trainer for the past couple of years. Not a chance. Luckily he has a private gym where only one client is there at a time since covid times started, so I haven't had to test this.
But... Having your program tweaked constantly, form improved constantly, diet examined regularly, etc... Youtube isn't a substitute. And without equipment? With my trainer helping, maybe... With youtube? My fitness would definitely be worse.
> Outside medical complications caused by actually getting COVID-19, nobody.
Sort of. I’m a working parent with a baby — his other parent is also working full time and we don’t have child care. Between full time engineering and full time stay at home parenting and doing minimum necessary chores to survive, I haven’t had a full night sleep in months (see: baby). Thanks to COVID I don’t have the time to work out as much as I’d want to.
Bodyweight HIT are pretty ideal in that situation. They are short, "interruptible" if baby needs something sooner then anticipated, can be done next to baby in same or adjacent room and require no setup.
For workouts I tried several apps from playstore till I found some that suited me.
What about older people who couldn't even have their daily walks for several months? Should they be squatting in their tiny apartments holding water bottles instead? I'm sure there are plenty of people who can work out at home, but I believe there are plenty of people who can't, or at least is a lot harder, for a variety of reasons.
> What about older people who couldn't even have their daily walks for several months?
Why can't they? Health officials have said that outside walking (with a mask if near others) is reasonably safe, or you can pace walk in much smaller spaces if one wished.
Plus walking isn't the only exercise available to older people. They don't have to remain sedentary simply because their normal walking route closed.
I think this post is just ignoring some of the realities that a lot of people have gone through. In many places you weren't allowed to leave your home at all. In spain, only one adult member of your household was allowed to go outside for basic necessities, without leaving your neighborhood, for 3 months. For about another 3 months you were limited to certain times and areas, which made having social distancing for walking/running practically impossible. Couple that with the fact that in some cities people live crammed in small rooms in shared apartments, the access for healthy movement for a lot of people was greatly impacted.
I was already fairly active before COVID (distance running 4-5 times/week) but actually became even more active after picking skateboarding back up a few months into quarantine. Several of my friends also started exercising more, though the ones that lifted lost some gains but broke through plateaus once they were able to get back in.
Echoing other sentiments here, if exercise is important enough you'll carve out the time for it no matter the circumstance.
I tried to replace going to the gym by working out at home, invested in some weights etc. But at the end of the day, my motivation to work out at home is much lower.
Same here. I kinda liked swimming but now that pools are closed, apart from a short walk at lunch time (we have curfew in the evening) I don't do anything. Tried yoga but always scared to hurt myself, also I have very little room in my apartment to move... I can't run also because of body pain.
I'm surprised I only gained 4kg. But my whole body is itching and aching and I'm really feeling the effects of less physical activity.
Quite a few - a big part of working out and sticking with it is social aspect for some - if you can get that - fun workout group - you are golden and chance of sticking with plan goes way up.
Plenty of studies back this up [1]
Comments that downplay this may not be from folks with fun and healthy workout patterns
People who do exercise regularly even if fun friends group is not available do have healthy workout patterns. And if they do it long term likely do have fun for them pattern.
Yes, friends group help with motivation. But if you are completely dependent on them, your exercise pattern will break with any larger lifestyle changes - like when you travel or when you have kids or when friends don't have time anymore.
I got into better shape during lockdown by buying secondhand kettlebells and working with them with my laptop mic muted during conference calls where I'm expected to listen without saying anything.
1. Absolutely no soft drinks at all. Not with sugar, not with artificial sweeteners. Nothing. Just seltzer. I used to drink a LOT of Dr. Pepper, and was told that they were contributing to my frequent kidney stones. So I stopped cold turkey, 30 years ago. I've had, I think, two Dr. Peppers since then. (I try to avoid processed foods in general, but I'm not a fanatic.)
2. Find an exericse regimen that requires you to show up, on time, and be accountable to others. I want a trainer to tell me what to do, turn off my brain, and just do it. That external accountability is crucial. I could find crossfit routines online, but then I don't do them. (I tried that, early in the pandemic.)
3. DO NOT treat exercise as a priority. Because then it is subject to your other priorities. Instead, make it a habit. You don't schedule brushing your teeth, and it is never traded off for other activities. You just do it when you're supposed to.
When circumstances pull me away from my routine (pandemic, extended family emergency), I feel like shit. My joints get creaky. Certain muscles start hurting. I have no energy. This all goes away once I return to my exercise routine. I hate it, but I love having done it -- I feel so much better in general. The high point of my day is when I am walking OUT of the gym.