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Comment by jamesjyu | Hacker News Reader

Try a sport!

I too hate treadmills and lifting weights -- it's just dreadfully boring. However, if you pick up a sport, you can hone your coordination skills and progress to become a better player. I find that it's much more motivating when you're competing with people. And, I feel much better knowing that I am acquiring a useful skill that can be measured against in competition.

Personally, I play competitive table tennis (very unlike garage ping pong). What's good is that you can actually do this inside, and, it's cheap to play at clubs. It's also a sport that keeps your mind sharp. I even wrote a whole article about why I think it's a great hacker sport: http://jamesyu.org/2009/01/11/why-table-tennis-is-a-great-ha...

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I want to echo your advice. I recently started playing a combat sport after a few years of not really exercising. I have no illusions about its likely effectiveness in a real fight (not much), but since I don't plan on getting in a real fight that doesn't matter.

It is fun and interesting compared to other forms of exercise I've tried, and it definitely helps me get my cardio up. There are a couple other benefits too: when you are paying $150 a month for the class sessions, you show up. And it's easier to keep going with an instructor there pushing you than by yourself. There's also no team depending on you to be good, so there's not the same kind of pressure to perform. For someone like me whose self-control and discipline are perhaps below average, these benefits are no small issue.

I didn't start doing this to be a better worker; my primary motivation was vanity. But anecdotally, I have noticed that my productivity level has been somewhat elevated in the month since I started doing it. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I have to leave work at exactly six PM every day, giving me a solid deadline for whatever I want to accomplish in a day, or if it's the exercise itself. Heck, it could be a mix. But as far as I've seen so far I would definitely recommend it.

Martial arts have an extra motivation bonus as well. You're much less likely to give up and stop moving when your opponent is still trying to hit you.

The best part when you pick up a sport is that it'll often make treadmills and lifting weights less boring. Once you realize "this hunk of iron I'm moving will let me throw further" or "this moving platform lets me play longer", then you'll have a much better time doing that stuff.

If your looking for sports, many cities have adult social/recreational sports clubs. I know Toronto has several. And if you don't know any sports, dodgeball is always fun! Just keep moving the whole time. Apologies to anyone to whom dodge ball is linked to poor physed memories.

Treadmills suck of course, if you are on treadmill, you could more easily and cheaply just go outside to walk/jog/run and get some fresh air while you're at it.

But I disagree on "lifting weights". I suppose that most people don't see it as a sport, which "lifting weights" isn't, granted. But things like powerlifting, olympic weightlifting, strongman competitions are sports, which require coordination, skills and progress to become better at them. And they can be very satisfying since they are so easily measurable. I still remember the first time I dead-lifted twice my body-weight. Feels good man.

I strongly disagree. While I prefer cycling or running to a stationary bike or threadmill, I can use the latter without worrying about the hazards of traffic or terrain when I'm exhausted after a long day of work. I've hurt my ankle too often while running in nature absent-mindedly.

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