I find it helps to run somewhere interesting. Such as parks, or beaches. And it actually makes it cool to run when on a trip somewhere. Of course, without driving there.
No pay wall version:
How I tricked myself into actually liking running against all odds
cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/how-i-tricked-myself-into-liking-running-14678064
Here's a more straightforward hack that worked wonders for me:
you simply run every single day - no excuses* - but only for 10 minutes. You may absolutely run longer if you wish, but the minimum quota is 10 minutes. It's simple: everyone can do 10 minutes, regardless of your current shape. Everyone _has_ 10 minutes, even Jeff Bezos. No excuses: 10 min every day.
After 2 years of doing this, I am the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. :)
No real source on this, but I assume that this is some sort of 80/20 thing, where a 10-15 min run will yield about 80% of the health benefits of a 1h run.
*except when you suffer from any type of viral infection - don't run with a viral infection.
Good post, this is exactly where i'm starting. After many years of being lazy, plus having to move because of divorce, i'm simply unfit so last week I decided to just go for a walk at 6am.
When I was a teenager I used to walk/run marathon distances every other day with the same proviso, and the rule that i'd always go further tomorrow (round the next corner, wherever) but didn't need to run or beat a time - I could simply walk it if I wasn't feeling too good.
It was wonderful - I remember going past a shop that sold old jukeboxes (this is in the UK) and stopping to look at them for a bit. No stress, just always go a bit further, even if only a metre.
> You may absolutely run longer if you wish, but the minimum quota is 10 minutes.
I've found it helps to actually not overdo it.
When I started running again and was fairly out of shape, I did this 10 minute thing. The second or third day I felt great, figured I'd run longer. Next day I was so beat that I didn't go out at all. And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.
I think that in the beginning regularity is paramount. This helps build the habit, which is the kind of "discipline" that actually helps you get out there, as opposed to "will power to force yourself to move", which may fail for random reasons (feeling under the weather, being randomly tired, wanting to finish just this one thing, etc).
> And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.
Why? I run every other day for longer distances (10k or so) and imagine that the benefits of running for 10k are greater than 5k twice. I notice that my heart rate tends to be higher toward the end of a longer run - presumably because my muscles are more fatigued. Pushing to fatigue (but not so much as to lose running form) seems to be the best way to get muscles to adapt.
I personally view cardio as just a means to improve my cardiovascular system, not muscles. So I just do boring steady-state (where I can easily rap out a song or sing Bob Dylan's lyrics).
If I want increased mitochondria and the size of the muscle cells, then nothing beats an even more efficient method of strength training. Just 5 minutes of work (1 minute per set) of lifting a heavy weight for 5 times. But even here there's concept of RPE where you don't accumulate as much fatigue as you might think.
I first did strength training and my resting heart beat dropped from 75 to 60 after about 8 months. After that I started doing steady-state cardio of 30 minutes on rest days and it's now at 55 after 3 years.
You could run say, a short warm up jog if 800m, a couple of warm up sprints of 200m, and then a few sprints at MAX effort. 60s break after each run. About 2km total. Your legs and lungs will be severely taxed. If they aren’t, you ran too slow.
You can easily take a 5km run and increase the effectiveness: go faster.
Fitness runners always fixate on distance. No speed, power or agility training.
I think there is a difference between running short bouts of Max speed sprinting versus running long periods at a lower effort. It is the difference between zone 2 and zone 4/5 running, taxing different systems (aerobic vs anaerobic).
I am not saying there is a need for speed, power, agility training as well, but I think it is achieving different things than long, slower runs.
I think parent meant "not doing it again" with "nothing at all".
It’s the same way I managed to start exercising, with extremely low-effort, easy and short exercises. I now do app-selected exercises that challenge me, but I never before was able to stick to those, doing "too easy" exercises was what helped me manage to actually get into a routine.
That's an advice to help people that's not into running. Consistency is much better to help people stick with a habit than trying to push themselves to the limit.
As others have said, this is in the context of someone who is just starting out and looking to establish a habit, not a debate about which running program is better for health – I don't know anything about that.
So I stand by what I've said: I think that in the beginning it's very important to establish a habit, and for that, running every day a little is better that running once a lot, and then never running again for a long time (because the "habit" didn't stick). I've also found that running every day works better for establishing the habit than "once a week" or whatever, since it's easier to be tempted to shuffle the day around and in the end not do anything.
I think that if you're considering whether you should run 5k every day or 10k every other day, you probably don't have an issue with actually getting out there, in which case this is a whole other debate, and I have nothing to add to it seeing how I'd have a hard time running a 10k.
Also, if you've got some other motivation source (say you absolutely want to run a marathon, or whatever) and you don't need a "hack" or to "trick yourself into liking running", this debate doesn't really concern you since it's about a problem you don't have.
My “hack” that I wish someone had told me when I started running: focus on Zone 2 training. Super slow and easy with zero pain afterward. Ever since I started doing that, my distances have gone up significantly, I feel better afterward, and consequently don’t dread the run or procrastinate.
My heart rate goes up as I get warmer more than from fatigue.
Much of the health benefit from running is also available from briskly walking a couple of miles on a regular basis. Higher intensity training builds cardiovascular capacity, but the health benefits happen at intensity levels that don't really do that.
Longer runs are great, but you do hit a point of diminishing returns. I tell anyone looking to get into running long distance that after a half marathon you are no longer really doing it for fitness, it is about the personal challenge, which is great, but it is important not to trick yourself into thinking more will always be better for you with running.
There are also pros and cons of shorter and longer distances. Ideally you are running faster on shorter runs and a bit slower on longer runs. Getting in HITs occasionally will improve your long speed and help prevent injury. It is also a great thing to do on days you only have 10 minutes.
You should see the anorexic-looking treadmill runners at my gym who have no muscle type IIB. I bet they already have cardiomyopathies / hypertrophies and will regret their extremist, extremely-unwise lifestyles when their joints need to be replaced in 20 years.
As someone who got injury and sickness and could not recover from them for long, dont do "no excuses" nor "every day" things.
It is very easy to increasy workload and overdo it and crack something if you create systems that dont take recovery seriously. And sometimes you really really should stay in bed whole day.
Cause otherwise you may end up with months (well over year in my case with no or only interminnent activity).
Good point. I find it very relaxing to go outside when nauseous from an infection. But not for running. For walking. The fresh air and body movement is great.
Instead of going every day 10 min you can use a scheme. Some apps help with that, but you can make your own as well (e.g. spreadsheet). You slowly build up with that via intervals, you do it every other day with one day extra rest in a week. In 12 weeks you can run 5 km straight. I do get the complexity might put one off tho.
But it takes more than 10 minutes to run 10 minutes. You might want to change clothes, get to a suitable place for running, run, get back, take a shower, change clothes again, get back up to speed with whatever you left in the middle of, etc…
C'mon. I run in mostly the same crappy clothes every day - either I get out of bed, drink an espresso shot and go for a quick run then, or I take my lil one to her daycare and do my run on the way back.
Do I shower afterwards? Yes, and I would even without running.
If you feel that you don't have 10-15 min for that, you could always get up 10-15 min earlier, and voila, you just found the time! :)
EDIT: I agree that some folks may live in places where you just can't go for a run outside of your house. Different situation for sure.
It’s like those recipes that are supposed to take less than 15 minutes, but then the first step is to put finely chopped onions in a pan. That on its own normally takes at least 5-10 minutes to prepare for me.
Not sure if this is helpful or not - but it was intended to be so.
Finley chopping an onion shouldn’t take long. You just need a very sharp chefs knife and the right technique.
Cut the top off, then peel, then cut in half, then cut in fine slices, keeping the bottom intact to hold the onion together, then do one cut across the middle horizontally keeping the bottom intact. Then cut back towards the bottom making fine dice. The real trick is holding the base of the blade rather than just the handle to make the knife more rigid and your cut more precise and using the knuckle on your non dominant hand as a guide, after a while you should be able to cut sequentially without looking because your off hand should all be behind your knuckle of your index finger. Shouldn’t take more than a minute with sufficient practice.
Yes, with enough practice you can get an onion chopped in less than a minute, and for what it’s worth I do it more or less the way you describe.
But we have the same problem again: chopping an onion for one minute takes more than one minute. I probably need to spend a few minutes clearing some space, because my kitchen is small and tends to be in less than perfect order. Do I have a clean chopping board to use? No, then I need to clean one. Is my preferred knife for chopping onions clean? Same thing. What about the onions, what type of onion was I supposed to use, and how many? Better check the recipe again. Then I need to check the onions I have, pick which ones to use, do they look ok or did they start to spoil? And sometimes they’re just terribly hard to peel. Then after I’m done I need to collect all the little peels and other leftover bits and put them in the composter - which is getting full so I should probably change it.
Add this up, consider that I needed to chop more than one onion and that my technique is less than perfect, and it easily takes 5–10 minutes.
> you simply run every single day - no excuses* - but only for 10 minutes.
Same kind of thing but for me it was "at least 1km (preferably running but walking counted if required)". After a few months of that, I was definitely fitter and running better than for a long time.
Running becomes a habit and the more you do it the easier it gets. The 10 minute rule is a great way to approach it, because on the journey to getting into running shape you will have days where your body just doesn’t really want to do it, but the important thing is that you lace up your sneakers and try to do it. Eventually the days where it feels good and you are running longer distances will come.
Also maintenance is easier than letting yourself getting out of shape, so try to do that 10 minutes a day. With that said, sometimes life gets in way and you do get out of shape. Just no you can always work your way back, no matter how tough it is in the interim.
the first half mile of any run always sucks. Why do the worst part over and over without rest days and never enjoy the glory of being warmed up and just humming along for miles?
I absolutely can not do 10 minutes. I can barely run for 2 minutes without gasping for breath. I’d wager a majority of Americans are in the same boat as me. The obesity epidemic here is real. This solution is not as universal as you may think.
If you otherwise are reasonably healthy, I promise you that if you get out every day, in your running shoes, for ten minutes and run a bit and walk briskly when you can’t run, you’ll run those ten minutes within a few weeks.
You are running too fast. If you are running so hard you can't have a light conversation, slow down. If your speed approaches walking speed, that's fine.
1) It takes me 15 minutes just go get warmed up. The first 15 minutes are a nightmare.
2) It's never 10 minutes. The nearest place I can run which isn't on the sidewalk is a 10 minute bike ride away. Add to that the time it takes to get prepped and shower... It's a no go.
3) What worked for me is not doing any running but HIIT at home with kettlebells. Takes 15 minutes, with a 5-7 minute warmup.
this is excellent advice and one of the ways i have gotten back on the horse after falling off is to restrain myself from feeling guilty for easing back into it by only running 10 minutes or so on a mostly level route. running a little every day is much much better than not running at all
I did it opposite. I only ran on Saturdays and increased distance every week. I ran slow and walked when needed. After 8 months I finished my first marathon. After a year I ran 50k in the mountains. During the week I only did weightlifting. Different routines work for different people.
What works for me is to not have any performance pressure: it's just a detriment.
Just go out and run. Don't time or track your run. You don't even need to know how far. Maybe I'll look at the time when I come back and think, oh I was outside for 60 mins, that's good, that's enough.
Exactly, which is why running clubs never worked for me. It could be you're simply less fit than the other person, or you're carrying more fluid, I never understood the idea of running as a group.
This is great advice. Something that somewhat helps me is thinking "you're out on a run, you've already won". Though I'm still insanely competitive and I still end up pushing myself, at least I don't care that much about Strava times anymore.
Though I'm pretty sure this is one of the oldest tricks in the book, I only get to watch my favorite TV show while on treadmill (I've put the treadmill right in front of it).
It has helped me mantain a pretty long streak and I also don't mind watching tv first thing in the morning as it's exercise now!
I simply stopped trying to like it. Trying to „like“ exercising proofed to be more of a burdon than exercising itself. So now im doing it despite of hating it - and that feels a lot better: Now I‘m honest to myself and every time i finish a workout i get „double points“: Doing something for my body and overcoming my reluctance!
I view it as a necessary evil. My metabolism is slow enough that unless I pretty much avoid anything good, I will gain weight without exercise. So for me, going to the gym and running on the treadmill for an hour with a TV show or two to watch on my phone is the best option. I get the hard work done and am able to divert some of my attention to whatever I'm watching - otherwise that attention would be focused on how much I hate running. Forcing myself to run outside is significantly harder - I simply can't manage to keep up the same schedule.
I sincerely wish I could run. I do like running, but my knee does this "snapping" thing and is overly loose. Very quickly it turns into pain. I've tried stretching, strengthening and visiting doctors and physios but no one really seems to have a good idea what to do.
Check out TheReadyState.com. All kinds of approaches to self-treat pain and movement dysfunction. One of the best bang-for-the-buck services I pay for.
I have loose ligaments from ACL/MCL reconstructions and lasting cartilege damage along with poor flexiblity. After about 15 years of bouncing around surgeons and physios I finally got referred to a physio that knew what they were doing to the point where we corrected the popping issues I had over the course of about 6 months via flexibility -> mobility -> strength work. It turned out most of my issues were from low hip flexibility putting strain on the knees.
All of this is I guess to say...it can take a really long time to find a physio who really knows their stuff. Most of the previous ones tended to just put me on generic leg strengthening routines.
The article sub-heading "It’s good for your mental and physical health [...]", should probably be caveated with *though this is less clear in places with high air pollution [1], where many people around the world dwell.
I've been running about 3-4 km every day for approx. the last month and i do have a few thoughts:
- the first 2 or 3 times when i started out were the hardest, especially because everything hurt afterwards
- i haven't started liking it and probably won't in the near future, however it has gotten more and more tolerable as time has passed
- keeping track of myself with something like a smart armband and Mi Fit app with GPS has been useful, as far as discipline is concerned (with obvious privacy pitfalls)
- progress in regards to increasing the distance of my runs without feeling worn out has been very gradual, yet still there
- it feels like pace matters a bit more than distance when it comes to how exhausting it is
- i probably really should get better running shoes, though running on a gravel road and in private has made it more tolerable
- the health benefits are probably worth it in the long run, which is also why i walk at least 8000 steps every day in total (including the running, which makes up close to half of that)
Well, it's a sign that i've gone a bit further than my body is comfortable with, which is fair. That approach works as long as there are no long term effects or injuries, of which there were none, given the otherwise simple activity.
I wouldn't say that pain necessarily implies punishing or self-hate, just pushing one's limits a bit further. In some types of martial arts that's not viewed as a bad thing either, for example, constant and somewhat strenuous exercise may lead to hypertrophy, which can be desireable for making one's body more resilient.
That said, there's nothing wrong with just doing sports more casually, for your own enjoyment as well. Consistency and technique are probably the most important aspects anyways.
> -i probably really should get better running shoes, though running on a gravel road and in private has made it more tolerable
Good running shoes are very under-rated. When I started out a year ago, I didn't bother with shoes as much as I did on beating my previous run time. I noticed I couldn't sustain the routine (I had to take a rest day after 3 or 4 days of running), and very nearly gave up on the habit. Then I bought a pair of comfortable running shoes and it made all the difference in the world. I increased my mileage significantly, and I manage to run 6kms every day of the week without feeling too tired or longing for a rest day.
I'm approaching ~100 days of running.
after ~2 weeks it quickly became a habit, so much so that during the two days I could not run (vaccine), I felt a constant itch to do so.
started with 4k everyday at a 7min pace, now it's down to 5:30 and I do 8k everyday and 10-15k on weekends.
Usually I do this in between coding sessions and use my run to listen to some podcast and/or think about a current issue. never been more productive while also feeling much more healthy.
I got uncomfortably fat when my (now late-teens) kids were born. I decided to start running. I remember the first time out, failing to complete 2k across a bridge near where I lived.
I don't like being presented with evidence that I am incapable of something. It makes me angry. I can channel this into motivation.
I decided I was going to be a technical expert. I've read and taken advice wherever I can. I've now done marathons, stair running, cross country events. My "fast" pace is now 3m10s km.
My observations are two:
1. I have never "liked" the bit when you're getting ready to go out. The voice in my head keeps telling me to skip a day. I just zone out and ignore it. I've usually cheered up after about 5km.
2. Pain and injury are part of the deal. You will get used to this and come to accept it. Learning how to recover from setbacks will make you stronger.
I’ve had on/off periods of running, but when I’ve done it I’ve never enjoyed it. What I have enjoyed is the amazing feeling of stopping running, and the longer you run, the better the feeling of stopping gets.
I never understood why people force themselves to do exercise that they don't want to do.
Running seems to be the default option because it doesn't require any equipment beyond shoes and you can do it almost anywhere. I've heard so many people sigh as they say 'I should really start running' or 'I need to sign up for the gym'. Why? You hated it last time you tried. What makes this time different?
There are tons of options. I often tell people to try a bunch of different sports and find something fun or interesting. It might take a while to find it, and a few tries to get into the habit of particpating. But it's worth it. Team and club sports are great ways to build some accountability with others too.
Live near water? Try joining the rowing team.
Like football (soccer)? Join a local 5-a-side team.
Basketball, mountain biking, strength sports, throwing, tennis... Watch the Olympics this year and watch some of the less-popular sports.
The benefit of choosing and participating in a sport is that you can then use other forms of exercise (like running, or lifting weights) as a means to improve your performance in that primary sport - which makes it more fun. You're working on a specific goal / metric. Rather than a loose goal of 'getting fit' or 'losing weight'.
In some cases sure, but it depends on your goals. If your goal is to run a marathon, then you need to run. If your goal is to become an author, you need to write.
It's insane to force yourself to suffer when there are more fun and more sustainable options available to you. In my experience people making themselves run are attempting it for general fitness because 'that's how it's done', rather than as a sporting goal.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein
Einstein never said that. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/ . And sometimes the sane thing is to do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. See British Airways Flight 9, where the pilots tried restarting the engines many times before it finally worked.
I think that tendency to turn something that can he highly enjoyable (sport) into chore and moral failure if you dont effectively keeps people away from it.
Sport is good for you. But there is no reason to force yourself into one you dont like or do what you find uncomfortable. You can combine sport with social, make it into familly activity or something that requires knowledge.
You can combine sports with listening to music or a podcast. That way, you arguably only lose time while changing your clothes (you need more than just shoes for running...) or going for a shower (you will sweat). I also found I sleep better when I do regular workouts. All of which helps with persistence. I tend to listen to certain uplifting music which I normally don't listen to much, such as old metal (example: Bolt Thrower) or minimal techno (example: Extrawelt).
Right now, I'm waiting for my 2nd vaccine shot. 2 weeks after I got that, I'll get more into shape.
In the past I used an app to help with interval training. Worked well. I quit with it but remained reasonably in shape. Then COVID-19 happened...
I had only one day off running after my shot plus the day of. Obviously individual reactions may differ but 2 weeks is not necessary absent serious side effects
Running completely barefoot has changed everything for me. It started several years ago with just intending to walk barefoot across park fields and down short trails. However, I soon had the urge to start running barefoot whenever I could.
This became a lengthy venture of mainly relearning how to run properly, losing extra fat weight, and improving foot strength and reflexes, which seemed to all come without much laborious determination.
Several years later, I'm out running barefoot across all kinds of terrain, except for trails surfaced with sharp gravel, and it feels great! On the rest days, I start out with a few miles in mind, but often end up running twice as far or more, because I just want to keep the fun going.
I realize that most people have trouble relating to this. It's something I would have never really understood until I had gotten rid of my shoes and tried it.
In the evenings, usually every day. However starting out, it was more like every second or third day, until the feet became stronger and I had learned gradually to run with more finesse, exact landing, and less peak impact with each stride.
When I go out to run, there's no set goal or any pressure. I have a route in mind, but the idea is to just take it easy and bounce along at whatever speed I feel like going. It's like when I used to cross-country ski just for fun.
The ultimate solution is just to live with it. The little shards are occasionally sticking up at just the right angle to force a minor puncture. It's about the same as stepping on rose or blackberry thorns or on the thin point of a broken mussel shell on the beach. The pain is not severe, more of a sharp twinge. Sometimes it gets stuck and you have to pull it out. It bleeds somewhat, which is a good thing.
Once the foot soles are thickened from use, it really takes a lot to force a puncture and your reflexes evolve toward letting off pressure from the ground as soon as something sharp is felt. A resulting wound is usually thin and tiny, and seals/heals pretty quickly.
I had a glass puncture wound while running just a few weeks ago, but the one before that was sometime last year. This is on asphalt city walkways/bikeways that are very heavily frequented by the public throughout the week. So, I feel like it's pretty rare, even there. Maybe once every 200 to 300 miles of running on city sidewalks or trails.
Been running since I was 12 and have done all distances up to marathon and can run a sub-90 min half. And still the first couple miles can suck. Accepting that and that it will get better will do a lot. On long runs where I warm
up on the run, I ignore pace until well into mile 3. Legs are warming up and digestion is turning off —- it’s an uncomfortable experience. But it’s mostly psychological. You can run and run and run just below max heart rate* but you’ll be fighting yourself the entire time. Caffeine increases pain threshold so that can help too.
* should train using heart rate not pace since it accounts for humidity, elevation, and temperature and is what actually improves when training. For example, target running at 165-170bpm instead of 8min/mile because 8min is much easier in 50F than 80F with 90% humidity and your body may be doing the same amount of work at 9min on warm days that it does at 8min on cold days.
Depends on age/health condition, 165-170 could be much higher for an older, less healthy person. But the strategy is right I think, with an adjusted bpm
I have an extremely hard time motivating myself to go to the gym , but i will play soccer for 2 hours given the chance by kids + SO. The latter effect of complete body exhaustions/soreness is glorious validation you play hard.
Theres also tennis which i dont even tolerate watching. But give me a loving friend of similar skill level, and a racket, and I'll play as long as she/he wants to.
I dont do basketball, but i suspect a good chunk of HN would have a ball doing a 1:1 eith a friend.
Competitive sports are the salvation of the extrovert.
I don't know what the introvert should do, but generally should be the same. You should feel like you are recharging your soul, even though you are putting energy into the endeavor. For this reason i suspect meditation is a better fit for mental health to the introvert. However that does not solve the issue of exercise requirements for the body.
Its a chance to shut down your adult brain and go back to cavemen bliss. Simple problems (hit the ball, etc) are relaxing - they silence the monkey on your head.
Note: I'm not sure if sports are a good solution for exercise to competitive folk. It may not end up being as relaxing to you... or your sport friends.
This is great. It's not exactly how I feel, but the fact that it works for you and others is genuinely great.
Being more of a so-called introvert myself, I'm more of a fan of individual activities. I rotate through combinations of running, weight lifting, cycling, skiing, and walking no matter what. I find the aerobic exercises particularly meditative, similar to shutting off the "adult brain" like you said. I let my mind to wander off and process. Weight lifting I find to be a good challenge and confidence boosting. It's easy enough to track of and measure progress on too, which is satisfying for some others.
I was the opposite of sport 11 years ago. Now on track to prepare to my 9th full marathon (plus registered, trained, but did not start on 4 due to injuries and sickness related to overtraining, covid lockdown, etc).
I would invert the search for motivation upside down. Sport is essential for mental + physical health (beauty, good mood, productivity for less abstract terms). Start with sport as the base line. Set your weekly load according to your current shape. And then ask every time: is there a reason NOT to run now? A real reason, not an excuse "I do not feel like...". Not sick, not injured, not overtrained (objectively from heart rate or body battery indicators, not own subjective feelings), the weather is below 30C and above -10C without heavy rain (or a treadmill available). That's it for me now. I just know I will feel great after 1km no matter how I feel before.
For novices, I would strongly recommend to run slower and have fun. Avoid overtraining as much as possible. For some, even 2km twice per week is too much. I've seen many friends hated running just because they tried to run too fast for too long and felt overwhelmed.
Register for a 5K in a couple of months. Races are the funniest part of the running story. But races are not just a distance on a day X, they are all the time of training that makes them joy, not an exercise in masochism. They discipline and motivate.
"If it feels like work then you are doing it wrong" - a qoute I read long time ago and it helped me a lot.
The secret to liking running isn't hard. You have to get good enough at it to where it isn't so painful. Just worked your way up to running 5k? That's great, but you probably still want to die at the end of the run.
When you can run 6+ miles EASILY (not necessarily fast), you can go on a 3 mile run and actually enjoy it. When you can run 10, 6 mile runs become casual and fun. 10 mild find still suck though, probably until you can easily run 15.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 119 ms ] threadHere's a more straightforward hack that worked wonders for me:
you simply run every single day - no excuses* - but only for 10 minutes. You may absolutely run longer if you wish, but the minimum quota is 10 minutes. It's simple: everyone can do 10 minutes, regardless of your current shape. Everyone _has_ 10 minutes, even Jeff Bezos. No excuses: 10 min every day.
After 2 years of doing this, I am the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. :)
No real source on this, but I assume that this is some sort of 80/20 thing, where a 10-15 min run will yield about 80% of the health benefits of a 1h run.
*except when you suffer from any type of viral infection - don't run with a viral infection.
When I was a teenager I used to walk/run marathon distances every other day with the same proviso, and the rule that i'd always go further tomorrow (round the next corner, wherever) but didn't need to run or beat a time - I could simply walk it if I wasn't feeling too good.
It was wonderful - I remember going past a shop that sold old jukeboxes (this is in the UK) and stopping to look at them for a bit. No stress, just always go a bit further, even if only a metre.
Thank you.
I've found it helps to actually not overdo it.
When I started running again and was fairly out of shape, I did this 10 minute thing. The second or third day I felt great, figured I'd run longer. Next day I was so beat that I didn't go out at all. And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.
I think that in the beginning regularity is paramount. This helps build the habit, which is the kind of "discipline" that actually helps you get out there, as opposed to "will power to force yourself to move", which may fail for random reasons (feeling under the weather, being randomly tired, wanting to finish just this one thing, etc).
Why? I run every other day for longer distances (10k or so) and imagine that the benefits of running for 10k are greater than 5k twice. I notice that my heart rate tends to be higher toward the end of a longer run - presumably because my muscles are more fatigued. Pushing to fatigue (but not so much as to lose running form) seems to be the best way to get muscles to adapt.
You can also ask “Why?” about this assumption.
I personally view cardio as just a means to improve my cardiovascular system, not muscles. So I just do boring steady-state (where I can easily rap out a song or sing Bob Dylan's lyrics).
If I want increased mitochondria and the size of the muscle cells, then nothing beats an even more efficient method of strength training. Just 5 minutes of work (1 minute per set) of lifting a heavy weight for 5 times. But even here there's concept of RPE where you don't accumulate as much fatigue as you might think.
I first did strength training and my resting heart beat dropped from 75 to 60 after about 8 months. After that I started doing steady-state cardio of 30 minutes on rest days and it's now at 55 after 3 years.
You can easily take a 5km run and increase the effectiveness: go faster.
Fitness runners always fixate on distance. No speed, power or agility training.
I am not saying there is a need for speed, power, agility training as well, but I think it is achieving different things than long, slower runs.
It’s the same way I managed to start exercising, with extremely low-effort, easy and short exercises. I now do app-selected exercises that challenge me, but I never before was able to stick to those, doing "too easy" exercises was what helped me manage to actually get into a routine.
So I stand by what I've said: I think that in the beginning it's very important to establish a habit, and for that, running every day a little is better that running once a lot, and then never running again for a long time (because the "habit" didn't stick). I've also found that running every day works better for establishing the habit than "once a week" or whatever, since it's easier to be tempted to shuffle the day around and in the end not do anything.
I think that if you're considering whether you should run 5k every day or 10k every other day, you probably don't have an issue with actually getting out there, in which case this is a whole other debate, and I have nothing to add to it seeing how I'd have a hard time running a 10k.
Also, if you've got some other motivation source (say you absolutely want to run a marathon, or whatever) and you don't need a "hack" or to "trick yourself into liking running", this debate doesn't really concern you since it's about a problem you don't have.
Much of the health benefit from running is also available from briskly walking a couple of miles on a regular basis. Higher intensity training builds cardiovascular capacity, but the health benefits happen at intensity levels that don't really do that.
There are also pros and cons of shorter and longer distances. Ideally you are running faster on shorter runs and a bit slower on longer runs. Getting in HITs occasionally will improve your long speed and help prevent injury. It is also a great thing to do on days you only have 10 minutes.
https://www.active.com/health/articles/why-too-much-running-...
You should see the anorexic-looking treadmill runners at my gym who have no muscle type IIB. I bet they already have cardiomyopathies / hypertrophies and will regret their extremist, extremely-unwise lifestyles when their joints need to be replaced in 20 years.
It is very easy to increasy workload and overdo it and crack something if you create systems that dont take recovery seriously. And sometimes you really really should stay in bed whole day.
Cause otherwise you may end up with months (well over year in my case with no or only interminnent activity).
Instead of going every day 10 min you can use a scheme. Some apps help with that, but you can make your own as well (e.g. spreadsheet). You slowly build up with that via intervals, you do it every other day with one day extra rest in a week. In 12 weeks you can run 5 km straight. I do get the complexity might put one off tho.
But it takes more than 10 minutes to run 10 minutes. You might want to change clothes, get to a suitable place for running, run, get back, take a shower, change clothes again, get back up to speed with whatever you left in the middle of, etc…
EDIT: I agree that some folks may live in places where you just can't go for a run outside of your house. Different situation for sure.
Finley chopping an onion shouldn’t take long. You just need a very sharp chefs knife and the right technique.
Cut the top off, then peel, then cut in half, then cut in fine slices, keeping the bottom intact to hold the onion together, then do one cut across the middle horizontally keeping the bottom intact. Then cut back towards the bottom making fine dice. The real trick is holding the base of the blade rather than just the handle to make the knife more rigid and your cut more precise and using the knuckle on your non dominant hand as a guide, after a while you should be able to cut sequentially without looking because your off hand should all be behind your knuckle of your index finger. Shouldn’t take more than a minute with sufficient practice.
But we have the same problem again: chopping an onion for one minute takes more than one minute. I probably need to spend a few minutes clearing some space, because my kitchen is small and tends to be in less than perfect order. Do I have a clean chopping board to use? No, then I need to clean one. Is my preferred knife for chopping onions clean? Same thing. What about the onions, what type of onion was I supposed to use, and how many? Better check the recipe again. Then I need to check the onions I have, pick which ones to use, do they look ok or did they start to spoil? And sometimes they’re just terribly hard to peel. Then after I’m done I need to collect all the little peels and other leftover bits and put them in the composter - which is getting full so I should probably change it.
Add this up, consider that I needed to chop more than one onion and that my technique is less than perfect, and it easily takes 5–10 minutes.
Same kind of thing but for me it was "at least 1km (preferably running but walking counted if required)". After a few months of that, I was definitely fitter and running better than for a long time.
Also maintenance is easier than letting yourself getting out of shape, so try to do that 10 minutes a day. With that said, sometimes life gets in way and you do get out of shape. Just no you can always work your way back, no matter how tough it is in the interim.
the first half mile of any run always sucks. Why do the worst part over and over without rest days and never enjoy the glory of being warmed up and just humming along for miles?
2) It's never 10 minutes. The nearest place I can run which isn't on the sidewalk is a 10 minute bike ride away. Add to that the time it takes to get prepped and shower... It's a no go.
3) What worked for me is not doing any running but HIIT at home with kettlebells. Takes 15 minutes, with a 5-7 minute warmup.
Just go out and run. Don't time or track your run. You don't even need to know how far. Maybe I'll look at the time when I come back and think, oh I was outside for 60 mins, that's good, that's enough.
It has helped me mantain a pretty long streak and I also don't mind watching tv first thing in the morning as it's exercise now!
1) desire to improve at sport motivates you to get fitter (perhaps by running on your own time)
2) playing the sport is good exercise
All of this is I guess to say...it can take a really long time to find a physio who really knows their stuff. Most of the previous ones tended to just put me on generic leg strengthening routines.
[1] https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a33367315/exercise-health-...
Why is sports so bound with punishing yourself / self hate instead of enjoyment?
I wouldn't say that pain necessarily implies punishing or self-hate, just pushing one's limits a bit further. In some types of martial arts that's not viewed as a bad thing either, for example, constant and somewhat strenuous exercise may lead to hypertrophy, which can be desireable for making one's body more resilient.
That said, there's nothing wrong with just doing sports more casually, for your own enjoyment as well. Consistency and technique are probably the most important aspects anyways.
Good running shoes are very under-rated. When I started out a year ago, I didn't bother with shoes as much as I did on beating my previous run time. I noticed I couldn't sustain the routine (I had to take a rest day after 3 or 4 days of running), and very nearly gave up on the habit. Then I bought a pair of comfortable running shoes and it made all the difference in the world. I increased my mileage significantly, and I manage to run 6kms every day of the week without feeling too tired or longing for a rest day.
started with 4k everyday at a 7min pace, now it's down to 5:30 and I do 8k everyday and 10-15k on weekends. Usually I do this in between coding sessions and use my run to listen to some podcast and/or think about a current issue. never been more productive while also feeling much more healthy.
How NYT-writer/reader aspiring/upper-middle-class of you.
Running seems to be the default option because it doesn't require any equipment beyond shoes and you can do it almost anywhere. I've heard so many people sigh as they say 'I should really start running' or 'I need to sign up for the gym'. Why? You hated it last time you tried. What makes this time different?
There are tons of options. I often tell people to try a bunch of different sports and find something fun or interesting. It might take a while to find it, and a few tries to get into the habit of particpating. But it's worth it. Team and club sports are great ways to build some accountability with others too.
Live near water? Try joining the rowing team.
Like football (soccer)? Join a local 5-a-side team.
Basketball, mountain biking, strength sports, throwing, tennis... Watch the Olympics this year and watch some of the less-popular sports.
The benefit of choosing and participating in a sport is that you can then use other forms of exercise (like running, or lifting weights) as a means to improve your performance in that primary sport - which makes it more fun. You're working on a specific goal / metric. Rather than a loose goal of 'getting fit' or 'losing weight'.
Because persisting makes a difference.
"It gets easier… Every day it gets a little easier… But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier." - Pink Babboon
It's insane to force yourself to suffer when there are more fun and more sustainable options available to you. In my experience people making themselves run are attempting it for general fitness because 'that's how it's done', rather than as a sporting goal.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein
Sport is good for you. But there is no reason to force yourself into one you dont like or do what you find uncomfortable. You can combine sport with social, make it into familly activity or something that requires knowledge.
Right now, I'm waiting for my 2nd vaccine shot. 2 weeks after I got that, I'll get more into shape.
In the past I used an app to help with interval training. Worked well. I quit with it but remained reasonably in shape. Then COVID-19 happened...
This became a lengthy venture of mainly relearning how to run properly, losing extra fat weight, and improving foot strength and reflexes, which seemed to all come without much laborious determination.
Several years later, I'm out running barefoot across all kinds of terrain, except for trails surfaced with sharp gravel, and it feels great! On the rest days, I start out with a few miles in mind, but often end up running twice as far or more, because I just want to keep the fun going.
I realize that most people have trouble relating to this. It's something I would have never really understood until I had gotten rid of my shoes and tried it.
When I go out to run, there's no set goal or any pressure. I have a route in mind, but the idea is to just take it easy and bounce along at whatever speed I feel like going. It's like when I used to cross-country ski just for fun.
Once the foot soles are thickened from use, it really takes a lot to force a puncture and your reflexes evolve toward letting off pressure from the ground as soon as something sharp is felt. A resulting wound is usually thin and tiny, and seals/heals pretty quickly.
I had a glass puncture wound while running just a few weeks ago, but the one before that was sometime last year. This is on asphalt city walkways/bikeways that are very heavily frequented by the public throughout the week. So, I feel like it's pretty rare, even there. Maybe once every 200 to 300 miles of running on city sidewalks or trails.
* should train using heart rate not pace since it accounts for humidity, elevation, and temperature and is what actually improves when training. For example, target running at 165-170bpm instead of 8min/mile because 8min is much easier in 50F than 80F with 90% humidity and your body may be doing the same amount of work at 9min on warm days that it does at 8min on cold days.
Depends on age/health condition, 165-170 could be much higher for an older, less healthy person. But the strategy is right I think, with an adjusted bpm
I have an extremely hard time motivating myself to go to the gym , but i will play soccer for 2 hours given the chance by kids + SO. The latter effect of complete body exhaustions/soreness is glorious validation you play hard.
Theres also tennis which i dont even tolerate watching. But give me a loving friend of similar skill level, and a racket, and I'll play as long as she/he wants to. I dont do basketball, but i suspect a good chunk of HN would have a ball doing a 1:1 eith a friend.
Competitive sports are the salvation of the extrovert.
I don't know what the introvert should do, but generally should be the same. You should feel like you are recharging your soul, even though you are putting energy into the endeavor. For this reason i suspect meditation is a better fit for mental health to the introvert. However that does not solve the issue of exercise requirements for the body.
Its a chance to shut down your adult brain and go back to cavemen bliss. Simple problems (hit the ball, etc) are relaxing - they silence the monkey on your head.
Note: I'm not sure if sports are a good solution for exercise to competitive folk. It may not end up being as relaxing to you... or your sport friends.
Being more of a so-called introvert myself, I'm more of a fan of individual activities. I rotate through combinations of running, weight lifting, cycling, skiing, and walking no matter what. I find the aerobic exercises particularly meditative, similar to shutting off the "adult brain" like you said. I let my mind to wander off and process. Weight lifting I find to be a good challenge and confidence boosting. It's easy enough to track of and measure progress on too, which is satisfying for some others.
Elliptical (HIIT - don't overdo it) balanced with weightlifting, music, and nutrition for oxidative stress.
Make it a habit.
I would invert the search for motivation upside down. Sport is essential for mental + physical health (beauty, good mood, productivity for less abstract terms). Start with sport as the base line. Set your weekly load according to your current shape. And then ask every time: is there a reason NOT to run now? A real reason, not an excuse "I do not feel like...". Not sick, not injured, not overtrained (objectively from heart rate or body battery indicators, not own subjective feelings), the weather is below 30C and above -10C without heavy rain (or a treadmill available). That's it for me now. I just know I will feel great after 1km no matter how I feel before.
For novices, I would strongly recommend to run slower and have fun. Avoid overtraining as much as possible. For some, even 2km twice per week is too much. I've seen many friends hated running just because they tried to run too fast for too long and felt overwhelmed.
Register for a 5K in a couple of months. Races are the funniest part of the running story. But races are not just a distance on a day X, they are all the time of training that makes them joy, not an exercise in masochism. They discipline and motivate.
"If it feels like work then you are doing it wrong" - a qoute I read long time ago and it helped me a lot.
Same for: cardio, gym, cooking, waking up early
When you can run 6+ miles EASILY (not necessarily fast), you can go on a 3 mile run and actually enjoy it. When you can run 10, 6 mile runs become casual and fun. 10 mild find still suck though, probably until you can easily run 15.