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Comment by ksimukka | Hacker News Reader

Sigh. I let myself go weeks without exercising and feel terrible, both mentally and physically.

And if I would just exercise I would remember that exercise would solve the problem... but I don't have the mental foresight to do so, so I let it go for another day, and another...

You have to make it an automatic habit rather than something you remember to do.

Yes, this helps a lot! For me, it also helps to have a training plan, or simply calendar events that remind me what exercise I should do at a given day. Usually this allows me to trick my mind and avoids the decision whether or not I should exercise and I will "stupidly" do what the calendar says. This made it much easier to develop a habit.

I agree with this. I hate exercise so I go into the office a few days a week and I cycle to get there and back which is roughly 10 miles in total. Without that commute I'd be too tempted to do nothing by way of exercise.

Currently working through an 18month training plan - every day has some work out.

This everyday-ness has been huge for installing it as an automatic habit.

Is it a plan that requires going to the gym or more like running & home exercises? Mind sharing if it is the latter?

All running.

Chapter 10 in Hal Higdon's 'How to Train'.

The entire book is filled with training plans I hadn't even considered before - this particular one has worked really well for me in a way other plans have not.

Just set multiple reminders on your phone throughout the day to get up and do a little bit of exercise. A five minute walk, two minutes of jumping jacks, and three push-ups are better than nothing.

I think you just have to make yourself do it for a prolonged period of time, all the while making sure that you do not overexert yourself. Make it pleasant on every occasion, and lower the intensity once it starts feeling like a struggle. There are theories on how long it takes to establish a new habit. The numbers may vary, but I'd say if you can keep at it for around three months, it should be possible, for anyone really, to establish regular exercise as a habit that you both enjoy and look forward to, rather than something that you dread or put off.

Get a cheap magnetic exercise bike (Sunny has a good one) and start with 10 (or even 5) minutes a day at the same time (or event, waking up, finishing work, something like that) every day.

10 minutes is nothing, especially if you read or watch TV while doing it.

It'll get easy eventually, and the habit will be established. Then you up it to 15, and keep doing that until you hit at least 30 mins every day.

Then you have a nice habitual time period that you can add, swap, or integrate other exercises into.

You probably answered why people don't maintain a healthy routine for decades.

A gerbil-wheel exercise in extreme environments, perhaps (due to pollution, crime, extreme hot/cold weather, etc), but after an extended period, is that really how natural detergents in the body are made?

It's not about sticking with gerbil-wheel exercises, it's about developing the habit of scheduling exercise into one's day. Once one establishes the habit of scheduling exercise it makes sense this lowers the barrier to enriching exercise.

Although for me it's been the other way around: find an enriching exercise first and then schedule around performing it. For me, my only limit to participating in my exercise of choice is body recovery. If I had no recovery time I'd be in the gym for hours daily. As it is now I'm limited to 1.5-2.5 hrs every other day.

The lifestyle divide is obvious. If its not an enriching activity (or something you genuinely enjoy), its just a fad exercise to go with a fad diet.

I've been enjoying golf for 3 decades now and skipped the gym and other sports. I still embrace it like the 1st day.

Golf is unique though. It takes a genius to break their own body with such a beautiful sport :)

Golf can be a fun activity, but it doesn't really build much functional muscle strength or cardiovascular fitness. Most golf pros who stay on the tour for a while find it necessary to additional training to keep their bodies working well.

Recreational golfing is much more relaxing. I can chase personal goals while enjoying every minute of it.

We're all aware of Tiger blowing out a knee, but some stories coming out of the LPGA with pros living with excruciating pain from a relatively early age is just absurd:

Michelle Wie's interview this year with the statement of not being able to pickup her own child at times did not make sense.

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/05/26/lpga-michelle-wie-w...

There are a few more golfers in the LPGA with back injuries in their 20's, knowing they only have one back (J. Korda this week for example).

I saw a Seve Ballesteros documentary about his severe back pains on VHS and have fortunately avoided pushing past the breaking point for a few extra yards.

As a technology native, golf has always felt amazing with both hands. Even my glutes grew up my back without trying as well... Provided you know your own body :)

Effortless energy is a breath of fresh air. Not many sports have that.

I apologize but I think I'm missing what you're saying.

I'll just elaborate and say the key to what I said is making it habitual by adding into something you'd be doing anyway. The exercise bike is great because you can watch TV, read, or even play some types of games or other sedentary activities you may be doing anyway.

You probably answered the cognitive benefit aspects of exercise as well :/

I find the best part of exercise being not feeling like exercise at all and being well outside of my normal operating parameters.

I'm not following what you mean by "answered"

Sedentary multitasking :)

Habits are everything. If you make it something you can to make yourself do, it'll always be hard. Make it a daily or weekly activity. Start slow, and just make it routine. Then, after you're used to it you can increase the intensity.

Having a schedule really helps. For years I’ve just promised myself that I’d work on my physical practices at least 4x per week — if I’ve gotten to Wednesday and I haven’t done anything, that means Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday I need to do something. And because you need rest days, you end up just planning to spread things out. Stick to it for a few months and all of a sudden it’s been years and you can’t imagine not doing it.

Just make sure it’s a thing you really enjoy, and think of it more as practicing getting really good at something rather than a chore.

I am in better shape than I've been in a few years. My exercise is more enjoyable now, and doesn't feel like a chore to do it. This year I signed up for a half dozen mountain bike races, so they were a motivator to go out and ride.

Every week my friends and I meet up and run 3.5 miles. After the run, we all hangout and have a beer at a nearby bar. The meetup spot is 6 miles away and I ride my bike hard there, and at a leisurely pace on the way back. It's nice having this activity to look forward to every week.

I haven't signed up for any races since the summer, but I have it in the back of my mind that I will start again in the spring, so that helps me make time for bike rides (which I enjoy).

My friends don't like to run in the dark, so I will probably join a volleyball league this winter for some weekly socialization and activity.

So, I think waaaay eaiser to find stuff you will like doing or at least an activity with people you like being around. Check Facebook for group rides/runs in your area.

Consider skipping the beer and dropping all alcohol entirely (but definitely still be social), you'd be surprised at how much it is holding you back fitness wise and how little you actually need it, beyond the thought that it is nice.

Zero-calorie vices really are better for aging gracefully.

A 30-minute brisk walk may burn 200 calories, but calorie math is easier said than done.

You don't have to lose the weight/calories if you do not gain the weight/calories :)

One way out of this is to not join a gym but learn exercises that you can do anywhere (e.g https://blog.paleohacks.com/how-to-work-out-with-no-equipmen... ). And be forgiving towards yourself too - forgot to exercise for a day or a week, fine - some days are just shitty in our life - just do one exercise today (motivation follows actions). You don't have to do the full sets of exercise, if you don't feel like it. Just focus on doing one exercise (action is the fuel required to power your motivation). Enjoy the feeling. And continue again everyday.

I started lifting a few years ago. Everything was good until this summer when I developed knee pain while squatting that was excruciating at its worst. Got that mostly fixed with some specific exercises and focus on coorect form, and then developed low back pain that I have not resolved yet. Most recently tore a muscle in my shoulder, which I am working on rehabbing. So now pretty much all daily activities are accompanied by some amount of pain. I wake up at least twice a night from shoulder or back pain.

Assuming you're not exercising, do you feel terrible mentally like this thread predicts?

I am still exercising, the main thing I cannot do at all right now is bench press or other pressing movements due to the shoulder. Squats and deadlifts I am doing at lower weights than what I was up to before the injuries, and I can do focused accessories such as tricep/bicep work, leg work, etc.

I am also an older lifter and probably should have backed down at the earlier indications that a problem was developing. However it honestly was never more than some soreness that went away with warmups, so I wasn't really concerned about it.

On the mental effects, I can say that for me that exercise doesn't change much. I am generally in a better mood after a good workout, but with the recent injuries I have been feeling more frustrated and dejected. But these feeling are pretty much the same ones I have when I succeed or struggle with a programming task or other mental work.

Shoulder girdle stabilization is super important in your lifts, the muscles even help with form on deadlifts. If you look to start a routine to work out your stabilizers on a regular basis it can help prevent future injuries and help you feel even better when lifting.

Turkish getups are fantasic

Thanks, I will check that out.

That’s almost a whole other problem for folks who suddenly have to stop exercising due to injury.

Ask any serious runner how hard a taper can be before a big race and you’ll get some good insight.

Exercise and age/experience has taught my that the body is a dynamic, connected system. I stopped working out after an injury for a couple years, and when I got back into it I was amazed to see how strength imbalances (and the accompanying pain) migrated through my legs and back. That’s still in progress, but getting better for me. Most important thing is to take it slowly.

Sorry to hear. It sucks being injured and taking out of the routine. Can you at least take walks?

This is basically expected if you got into exercise later on in life. I had a lot of i juries as I got into running in my early 30’s.

Just need to work through physio and be patient with it. Pushing through the pain will just lead to more pain that takes longer to heal.

Injuries are not normal or expected regardless of when you start. The important point is to use good technique and progress slowly. Hire a qualified personal trainer or coach to show you how to do it right. And don't try to do too much too fast. Your muscles will get stronger faster than your tendons and bones, so just because you can lift a heavier weight or run at a faster pace doesn't mean you should. Take a few months at your current level before trying to move up.

It’s both expected and normal, however, yes, as you point out, going slowly will give your soft tissues time to adapt to the new stresses you’re putting them through.

It really isn't normal or expected. I don't know why you keep repeating that. Talk to an experienced coach who actually knows what they're doing.

If you’re doing heavy barbell squats there is a lot to consider. For example my pelvic proportions required a slightly wider stance that cured me of all back pain. Also always warning up with McGill big 3 helps- look them up if you plan to lift into middle age. I also had to do some supplementary glute work (bridges etc) too to correct an imbalance.

Thanks, I'll check that out.

Exercise gets boring. Just like anything else. Detect this and switch up.

Also some exercise may, for you, turn out to not be boring. Try different things until you find an exercise (or set of exercises) that works for you. I really enjoy running, especially outdoors, and rowing, which makes it easy for me to stick with them. But for other people those things are either dull or painful and so they stall out if they only try those exercises. I also found team sports (soccer, in particular) and martial arts (BJJ) to be stimulating in a way that they never become boring. A couple I know use dance as their primary exercise (actually how they met too). There are many ways to exercise, finding the right exercise for you is critical to longterm success.

This. Between running, tennis, climbing, hiking, biking, martial arts, swimming, weightlifting, volleyball, mountain biking, soccer, etc. . . I think there is likely a “right” exercise for everyone, in the sense that it gets to flow state and doesn’t feel boring, or like work.

And if you find a sport (like I did with soccer and BJJ), other exercises become more desirable and easier to stick with because they're complementary or supportive to the actual thing you want to do. Distance running and sprinting improved my endurance for both sports and also my recovery time after a literal sprint in soccer or the BJJ equivalent of a fast moving exchange, giving me an edge against otherwise more skilled opponents but lacking my conditioning.

Very few of those on the list can be enjoyed by octogenarians.

I have enjoyed decades of golf so far with firm glutes and firm abs as an unitended benefit :)

I'm always tickled when I read these stories. I'm chasing an albatross personally to complete my scorecard (got a hole-in-one the 1st decade of playing).

https://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/news/in_todays_daily_sun...

All of those can be enjoyed by octogenarians. There are octogenarians who finish Ironman triathlons.

https://www.tri247.com/triathlon-news/age-group/ironman-kona...

The key is to start early and build up enough strength and fitness to sustain you for awhile after the inevitable, irreversible decline sets in around age 70.

https://peterattiamd.com/ama39/

Agreed that healthy routines are very cool.

I know golf has a seniors tour, but always laughed at the thought of the NFL doing that (oh the humanity!) :p

BJJ sparring is like a chess match that requires complete mental focus for strategy, and the engagement and focus of every muscle in my body.

I feel like that analogy is lacking. Nevertheless, it's unlike any other sport I've played, like ice hockey, for example, which is more like driving in NYC.

Do you think BJJ is one of those hobbies that you can enjoy late in life? I’ve given it a try but always seem to get hurt, which disrupts other parts of my life (work, sleep, etc.) I also know a lot of people who’ve gathered a lot of lasting injuries from it. Any tips on staying healthy?

Find a good gym. There are some gyms where the instructors (and consequently the students) are a bit too hardcore. But at the good gyms (which I'd say are actually the average in the community, not outliers by any stretch), no one wants to injure their training partner. I've got a bad shoulder and a bad back. When someone gets my left arm in certain positions, I tap quickly and no one gets upset. I tell my partners about it, and tell them they can grab it just go extra slow.

So far my only BJJ-caused back or shoulder injuries were from early on when I was either too inflexible (and so it was easy to push it too far), or too stupid to tap (hadn't realized what "too far" was). Take it slow, find good training partners, listen to your body, and take up complementary activities (some strength training, flexibility things like yoga, core training especially for the back).

Yes. I agree about finding a good gym. Also be especially careful when sparring with other beginners who usually rely more on strength than technique. I have been injured twice while sparring with beginners(myself being a beginner as well). A knee fracture and a broken rib. Nowadays I take it easier since I’m in my mid 40s and recovery is slower. But I’m definitely not the oldest guy in the gym.

I also do judo once a week, and that’s lots of fun but a bit scary compared to bjj. I probably won’t continue doing that when I get old, not sparring at least.

I never played soccer with colleagues, at first being too tall and sucking at it and also seeing that as a sports for another "kind" of person. But nowadays I totally feel that its a great mix of play and sport, more fun and team bonding than gym, probably less taxing than cross-fit, etc. And now that I work remotely its even harder to find people to play... (And I'm in Brazil..)

Or find a functional exercise like cycling

This is what I do.

Anything <= 20 minutes away, I ride my bicycle. And yeah, I live in a suburb. The grocery store is about a 15 minute ride away, a bit uphill.

Taken from this point of view, cycling is actually multi-tasking: you're getting somewhere and getting your daily exercise. Cars don't actually save you time when it comes to these sorts of trips because they're forcing you to spend extra time explicitly exercising.

or just start doing labor. I know people that go to the gym religiously but refuse to carry their own groceries because their time is too valuable

Tracking what you do can go a long way towards making the boring thing not boring.

A long walk on its own versus... a long walk where you've clicked the record button on Stava is for some reason a completely different experience. One is idle, meandering, and boring the other is (somehow psychologically) building something and fun.

Agreed, and I'll add that you don't have to be overly interested in metrics/fitness/quantified self to derive benefit from this.

For instance, I care little about the measurements of any given run or walk, I rarely even look at them when I'm done, but just the recording itself on my Apple Watch subtly motivates me to work harder and go longer. It becomes more of a 'workout' than a passive activity.

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