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Ask HN: How do you personally stay fit?

30 points by jamiejquinn ↗ HN
As I get older, I realise I should probably start earnestly looking after a body that I too often leave just sitting in my desk chair for hours. I'm not unhealthy or unfit; I eat well, I see doctors when I should and I walk everywhere. But I rarely decide to exercise.

So what do others in this tech-focused, often sedentary community do to stay fit?

78 comments

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joegibbs
Hit the gym up to 5 times a week, usually about 3 or 4 times. I try to fit it in as soon as I get back from work, or at least after an hour's rest so that I don't get too comfortable at home. When I'm there I do a combination of weight training (split of chest/back/shoulders/legs + abs/arms) and warm up with running for cardio. I take weekends off.
slow_typist
What you do is not that important. It is important to do something at least once a week. Any endurance sport is fine. Cycling, swimming, running, rowing or canoeing are good options. But depending on where you live, you need a plan for wintertimes / rainy seasons.

Some things to consider:

* doing things in a group / with a partner helps to train consistently

* your body gets older. Look for something that you can do for the rest of your life.

* find something that you like and stick to it

* do something that does not stress your joints too much

For me, cycling (on my own) and rowing (in a club) work very well. Gyms - not so much.

We have active rowers that are older than 80 years. Not sure if there are many cyclists in that age.

bhaney
I decided to start running daily about a month ago, after spending years not even jogging a single time and hardly walking much at all. Didn't think much of it, just figured I'd get tired quickly since I was out of shape and I would improve over time. Managed to fuck up my knee within a week, and now I need to stay off it as it very slowly gets better. Whatever you start doing, remember to ease into it and warm up. Apparently tendons don't stay as hardy as they were when you were a kid.
dustingetz
happens to all runners at least once, rule of thumb is to increase mileage 10% per week.
belval
As the unhappy owner of two bad knees myself, it's important to do a lot more reinforcement of all the auxiliary muscles in the leg daily as a complement to running (usually 3-4 times a week is plenty). This will stabilize your knee and reduce strain on tendons.
topicseed
what exercises do you recommend for these auxiliary muscles?
salad-tycoon
Squats. Squats. Squats.

Social influencer starting point: knees over toes guy.

Also, recommend Percussive massage guns (theragun is the brand name).

vrisha
Started reading the first line and my thought immediately went to - this guy is going to have knee issues.

Rest and recover and slowly get into it.

dustingetz
personal trainer weekly at 6am is a great way to start a habit and live a long time
kriops
Don't get hung up in the 6am meme. Most people are stronger in the afternoon (due to the nervous system being fully online), besides you can be both healthy and productive with a routine that involves sleeping a little longer.
safety1st
To add to that, people tend to forget that rest is just as important as the exercise itself, otherwise you don't fully recover, muscles don't grow etc.

If you're meeting your personal trainer at 6am that means you need to be falling asleep by 9pm or something otherwise you're sabotaging yourself.

rnicholus
Sounds like you’re projecting a bit. Lots of reasons one might be up at 6, other than hype or a “meme”. For me, it’s the only time I have to work out (with a job and smaller kids).
dustingetz
Meme? Exercising first thing in the morning reduces to zero the probability of skipping, you do it, you're done, nothing can go wrong in your day that gives you an excuse to skip. The personal trainer is the motivation pill you need to establish a routine, and forced weekly reset point when you inevitably fall off track now and then. From this anchor we can slowly grow into a healthy routine of exercising 4x per week that we need to stay mobile and healthy as we age. If you want to live a long healthy life, eliminating the possibility of not exercising over long time horizons is literally the #1 most important thing you must do.
kriops
Somewhat recent social media trend of "how I start my day as a 19 year old millionaire tech-entrepreneur homeowner" (replace after 'as' with arbitrary garbage) where people pretend to social media that they wake up every day at 3 am to lift, run, meditate and prepare gourmet breakfasts in order to get an optimal start to the day. Most definitely a meme.

People in general thinking it is productive to to wake up early for no other reason than waking up early to be productive is also a meme.

dustingetz
6am is not early it is when literally all working class adults wake up before they deal with kids and job
zvr
You should have phrased your initial comment "personal trainer weekly first thing in the morning" and let people decide the exact hour it means for them. For me, for example, that would vary between 8am and 9am. Seeing the "6am" definitely triggers the "wake up in the middle of the night" meme.
halotrope
Quick morning jog every other day, some weightlifting and Jiu-Jitsu. Fixed all back pains and is good for baseline fitness
llmblockchain
I run 5K every morning and I fast until noon. I only eat one main meal and a smaller meal within a four-five hour window.
JoeAltmaier
Ten miles on a bike. Often stop at a diner for breakfast. It's important to have a destination, then it's trivial to stay motivated.
nicbou
I bike everywhere. If I leave the house I'll bike anywhere between 30 and 50 kilometres in a day. Cycling is a fun, practical way to get around, at least in Europe.

I have weights next to my computer. I found that the mere effort of picking them off the ground discourages me from using them, so I'm moving them to waist level.

I'm also part of a small WhatsApp group of people who suck at sports. We play random sports together whenever the weather is nice.

There's another WhatsApp group for casual cycling.

In general, I find it easier to exercise if it's convenient ans casual.

abraxas
Cycling is usually taking your life into your own hands in most of North America.
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tomohawk
Carnivore diet It's taken 10 years off my age.

EDIT: love the HN downvote culture downvoting me for simply saying what works for me.

cykros
Keto helped me lose weight, but it's definitely worth watching your saturated fat intake. My cholesterol ended up through the roof and BP ended up high despite losing 40 lbs.
tomohawk
A family member is also on carnivore. After 6 months on the diet, they had their yearly checkup with their doctor, who had put them on blood pressure meds previously. The doc took the BP and announced that the meds were working really well, but then had to be told that the meds had been discontinued for 3 months because they weren't needed anymore. The doc had never had a patient get off of BP meds.

Note that carnivore is different than keto. Carnivore means no plants. It's an elimination diet. No plants means no alcohol, no sugar, no sweeteners, no grain, ....

Each person's needs and responses are different.

CheeksTheGeek
Try to keep increasing the number by 12 every 5 days - 108 sit ups(my recommendation for the first thing if youre having a hard time doing the other) - 108 jumping jacks - 108 standing chest fly - 108 crunches - 18 angled push ups - 8 hanuman dand - 8 normal dand - Adho padmasana - Poorna padmasana

no sugar except fruits only carbs when the meal is mostly comprised of heavy proteins

mholubowski
just get the fuck off of your computers
jumperabg
people can't do that until AI is more advanced and self-serving
nvarsj
Best thing that works for me is to try and fit a bicycle in my commute to the office.

I also try to find fun things that require exercise/stamina. Like DDR.

Exercise for exercise sake is something I just can't do. My brain won't allow it as I get too bored.

bhoops
Get a jog/weights in whenever you can. Doenst matter how less - even a short 200 m light run will help. Dont over do it - if any body part is sore, let it rest. Jogging even a very short distance, kills any craving i have for junk food. Also helps clear up the mind and helps make important decisions. Also imo, nothing beats a regular Yoga practise if you are able to find time/coach.
tuzemec
What worked for me? I've turned the gym in the morning into a habit. And careful with the food. You can't eat shit after 40, no matter how much do you exercise.
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wslh
I think we should start saying that people are different, there is also "average" people and people who are far from the average. This means that your (body + mind) health, your inherited conditions, your current state, and environment, could be very different.

My two cents to people who are not used to moving their body often is to start being comfortable with your practice and not think on optimizing in the beginning. It is good to set up a clear baseline. I also recommend to have a personal trainer, someone you trust and care for you, and have real knowledge and experience training people of different ages. The personal trainer is not someone who just say what you could find on Internet but someone who observe you and make the required training changes for you.

Personally, I do something like a thriatlon training, thinking more on the mind than staying fit but fit is included naturally. My training is 3 times a week (very early in the morning) swimming training (with a trainer and a group), twice a week gym linked on "optimizing" for the thriatlon training, spinning a few times in the week and running almost all days (late). Job-wise the only think that intersect in the calendar is the gym training, the other stuff is done outside normal working hours. I used to practice Yoga and related activities and want to return to them at least once a week. My running distance timewise is ~> 5km. On the weekends I use to do ~> 10km but currently I don't care about trying with much longer distances.

BTW, I don't use earphones while running, more following a meditative running way of practice.

jagermo
40+ here: I need a goal, otherwise it will just fizzle out. So, last year, i signed up for a sprint triathlon (500m swim, 20km bike, 5km run). It gave me something to train towards and a date to focus on. Took me about 1:35 hours last year. This year, I finished the first one in 1:32h and I'm training with my garmin watch for the second one (hopefully cracking the 1:30h).

It's daunting and fun, at least for me, and it gives me tons of rabbit holes to dive into - with equipment for biking, swimming, running as well as nutrition and, of course, gels and stuff. But it would not work if I couldn't see the progress, so i track everything via my garmin.

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imranq
I watch all my lectures and practice language learning apps like Duolingo on the treadmill. It works!
thn-gap
I discovered bouldering recently, which is the latest sport i found that feels more fun than a chore, so I find myself wanting to go more often than not.

Use your peers, friends and meetups to take any chance to try a new sport. I found that most sports I tried they are actually fun, and I had just ignored them.

abraxas
I hated exercising nearly my entire life but I discovered that for me the secret of staying fit is finding activities that I enjoy enough that the sweat and effort are worth the fun. Here is my list of things I do to HAVE FUN and stay in shape in no particular order:

- VR with games that make me move (Beat Saber, Thrill of the Fight - especially this one)

- Swimming. I really enjoy being in the water and swim any chance I get

- Pickleball. I always wanted to learn tennis but with my clumsiness I never could master it enough to be enjoyable. Pickleball is a great inbetween sport that is played in the open air or on a gym court similar to tennis

- e-bike. I know that many consider power assisted bikes to be lame but when I'm at my summer place in Europe it is a great way to do some excursions to nearby towns and sweat much less than with a regular bicycle

rowanajmarshall
A few ways:

* I run a 5K over lunch or after work 2-3 days a week. Very good for clearing my head when working on something tricky. Also fantastic for getting through audiobooks!

* If it's a nice, quiet weekend and friends are free, we often go on a hike somewhere outside the city.

* If it's a nice, quiet weekend and friends aren't free, I'll go on a bike ride somewhere in the city.

* Every now and again I'll go bouldering with friends, or maybe swimming.

* Finally, I walk a lot, because I live in London. You rack up a lot of steps just getting places here.

garciasn
Going through a divorce. Lost 160lbs since Thanksgiving. As part of that, I have been walking a ton. I’m averaging around 10K steps a day. I started running during my walk sessions—roughly 1/3 of the walk.

I was a D1 college athlete, in swimming; I got back into swimming. I have been swimming 3-5 miles a day a few times a week. I have an open water event (1.5K) tomorrow.

I haven’t changed my eating habits too much, but I have definitely been paying attention to what I eat, primarily because I’m hemorrhaging money to my ex and attorneys. Whole grain breads; dropped alcohol; don’t drink much soda; way reduced portions sizes because I’ve lost so much weight and I’m just not all that hungry most of the time anyway.

—-

I’ve walked almost 700 miles since the end of January. It’s all necessary but I hope to continue it into the future.

xnx
This is an amazing transformation during what sounds like a very tough time.
slindsey
I HATE working out. One thing I found that worked for me was to simply do 5 pushups and 10 squats first thing stepping out of bed. No matter what. Takes a few seconds and it's done before you can complain about it. After a while I bumped the numbers up. Then again and again. I still wasn't doing a long workout, but it was something and it made a big difference in eliminating wrist and back pain from sitting all day.

After a few months something would happen and I'd stop. Then after a few more months, the pain would start again and I'd get back into it the same way.

gnulinux996
Fridge is always empty. Want snacks? Too bad, only water available, nothing you can do at 2AM

24/7 gym open so I have no excuses No alcohol, only espressos. No snacks, only lunch + maybe dinner, sometimes meat, if there are sugar cravings only honey on rice cakes.

Lost 22 kilos since October with 7 more to go, everything is so sweet to me at this stage and I have no need for sugar.

Most significant life improvement I have ever had, even better than using vim + tmux

2OEH8eoCRo0
> everything is so sweet to me at this stage and I have no need for sugar.

That's me. Without needing to compete with manufactured junk food fruit practically becomes candy.

disqard
These stood out for me:

> No snacks, only lunch + maybe dinner.

As someone in their 40s who writes code for a living, I've discovered that eating three reasonable-sized meals is actually way too many calories for me. These days, I often only drink water till lunch.

> even better than using vim + tmux

Indeed, I'm confident that exercise provides long-term returns that exceed even this dynamic duo.

nick__m
I started with that program https://hundredpushups.com/ .

I use handles because it was too hard on my wrists. The handles make the push-ups significantly harder but the pain of my wrists is gone and my hands feels a lot's stronger.

Recently I bought a 20kg kettlebell that I use in the stairs. I go downstairs then upstairs, swtich hand then repeat. I do that to have a minimal cardiovascular component in my training and I use the weight so i need less reps to get my heart pumping.

Running or biking would probably be better than running in the stairs with a kettlebell but I am lazy and I don't like to leave my house...