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Comment by thomascgalvin | Hacker News Reader

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 routine: people who were already serious, and already had a home gym; and people who are doing something that doesn't take a whole lot of equipment, like yoga.

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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 than going all-out, all the time.

Even _walking_ a couple miles with a stroller is significant!

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.

Caveat: jogging strollers aren't recommended for babies before at least six months, because they don't really have any neck muscles to handle changes in direction or stopping. Wait until they can hold their own head up and look around. BUT you can use that time to try running with an empty stroller at least once, it feels pretty different and also you might notice some unexpected obstacles along your normal route!

I mean, the average person doesn't really need much equipment if the goal is to lose weight (in contrast with the niche hobbyist market of building muscle). There's a ton of bodyweight exercises[1] you can use that require no gym or even weights.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise

A decent body weight program is going to require a pull-up bar and if you rent that's a tough ask

Maybe I'm just bad at physical fitness but I've never been able to do a pull-up. Seems like the kind of thing that requires both upper body strength and a lean body, which is kind of where I want to finish, not where I get to start from.

Certain equipment has had a run, but you can get resistance bands all over the place. I bought 150lbs of resistance for $40, and I just looked and there are still plenty in stock.

I think people have to get more creative with their physical fitness. You don't need freeweights to achieve great results.

Here is an excellent guide:

https://yoga-horizons.com/pdfs/Fatmans-Guide-to-Cable-Traini...

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.

Dumb question - how do you use these in a home? I looked up their TRX kit but they all seem suited for gyms?

https://store.trxtraining.com/trx-full-body-workout-bundle/

There are a lot you can buy with door anchors. Basically little discs or like a fabric 'bump' which goes the top of the door, which you close, and then you pull the opposite direction of where the door swings open.

I got these ones before lockdown panic - though I use them with my pull up bar which allows one to do a lot more exercise than if you're stuck with a door block you. The pull up bar doesnt leave any marks though I also have an old house with solid wood frames i've wondered hw secure it would be resting on the lip of a cheap mdf narrow frame

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0787N367J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Seconding all those saying resistance bands. They are the perfect complement to daily walks or jogging since weight is minimal and they easily sling over the shoulder. I see more people using them every month. For ideas on how to use them I suggest looking up Undersun Fitness on YT.

Door pull-ups are a pretty good hack. Your t-shirt and shorts cut the friction enough that your body just slides along the door surface. Place a sock under each palm for a more comfortable grip.

Between that, push-ups, planks, going for a walk, and running up some stairs, you can keep a baseline of fitness which isn’t too shabby.

I grabbed some big landscaping rocks. They're heavy, asymmetrical but smooth, and make for a good workout.

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