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Comment by stonemetal | Hacker News Reader

1. unrealistic goals, they are never going to look like brad pit so why bother.

2. Not enough pay out. Sure they are in better shape, but they weren't an active person before so their new fitness is going to go unused anyway.

3. The reward cycle isn't fast enough. I know some people claim working out makes them feel great(endorphins and all that), but the rest of us just get tired.

4. Most workouts are just absolutely boring, lift this heavy thing 20 times, run in a circle till you drop.

So the ideal workout would be mentally engaging and provide feedback quickly. Off the top of my head blacksmith or rock climbing come to mind. Some of this is already being serviced by adventure runs(mud runs, zombie runs) etc.

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Another for your list, and the biggest hindrance for me:

5. never made a habit out of exercise/did make a habit out of eating shit food

As I get older, the habits become harder to change. Most healthy people don't seem to understand the huge impact this has.

1. If you had a body fat % of under 25 (for men, 35 for women) then you'd be more productive purely because by getting there and staying there you'd be eating better and so on. The energy this gives is immense. Think about children who eat less and less sugar as they grow up. 2. Same thing. General life satisfaction goes up, everything about moving around is easier. Healthier food tastes better, and healthy people have better taste senses. 3. A long road gives you longer to look back at, more progress made. 4. Gyms are not for 95+% of people - bikes and calisthenics (exercises without equipment, using your body's weight) are for everyone.

I bike, because I see a lot more than when I walk, I get a massive dose of energy from the extra blood flowing/etc, it's relatively smooth on my joints and its outdoors.

#4: for guys it's easy - I just imagine something that makes me mad,and work through the reps (or work off steam from work, family, whatever). as for running, after I pass the 4 mile mark, my runs provide an endorphin high - not boring at all

Most of the reasons you listed are either wrong, or easily addressed.

2. People who get in shape are more likely to want to participate in sports and activities that require being in good shape.

3. Reward cycle is not fast enough because most people measure their progress wrong. They jump on the scale, look at the number, and get demotivated by the short-term fluctuations. Whereas if they measured other things, such as how far they were able to run, how heavy they were able to lift, or how many inches were subtracted from their belly/chest/shoulder, they would be more likely to see positive results.

4. Compared to playing video games or watching TV, exercise sure is boring. But there are many ways to make it fun - listening to action-packed music, using apps like Fitocracy to track progress and earn points, etc. Having some variety in exercises also helps. If all you do is run on the treadmill for 60 minutes, you'll hate it.

3. We have to change the conversation for that. Look at what the original post was about, he went out side and saw fat people, not people who couldn't run a mile or do 100 pushups just fat people. This creates the impetus to not be fat. Thin and unhealthy is OK from this viewpoint, but fat-ish and healthy isn't.

4. A spoon full of sugar may help the medicine go down, but two spoon fulls of sugar and no medicine tastes better. That is to say gamification and music are fun in their own right, mixing in exercise doesn't make exercise fun it just masks the distaste.

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