Ask HN: How do you personally stay fit?

[jamiejquinn]

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?

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[cykros]

3x a week I do a dumbbell workout, which I got from Dr. Mike Israetel on youtube, as a full body workout. It consists of 2 sets each of the following:

Straight Leg Dead Lifts paired with Skull Crushers Upright Rows paired with Split Squats Bench Chest Flyes paired with Lat Pullovers Curls paired with Forward Squats Bent Over Rows paired with Pushups

Paired with meaning as soon as I finish the set of the first exercise, I go into the second, as it is designed so that each exercise uses a completely different set of muscles, so it makes it quite quick to work into a busy day. Beyond this I walk a few miles every day and run a few miles a few days a week.

I switched to this route over my former routine of kettlebell swings and turkish get ups, as I've moved to a more sedentary job, and the goal stopped just being maintain and build strength, but more build on actual muscle bulk. This of course means eating appropriately for the goal, so I shoot for about 160 grams of protein a day, and start off with oatmeal mixed with casein protein, TMG (Betaine), and createine, and make sure to get a vegetable heavy lunch.

All of this I work into workdays in my work from home office, with pretty minimal equipment and minimal time commitment. Gives me something to do when I'm catching up on podcasts.

Oh, and I guess I should also throw in rec department pickleball in spring, summer, and fall. Definitely helps on keeping the weight in check.

[illuminant]

A lot of great comments here, yet none seem to mention that taking micro breaks from working to stretch and do a few reps is a GREAT way to stay in shape and get work done.

That's the thing, I'm not sedentary, though you don't have to go to a gym or run 5 miles to keep from atrophy and decline.

Try standing to work. The restless moving around is actually good for you, and can be channeled into a quick dozen rep. Do a different exercise every day.

The trick with anything is normalizing it as your habit. We are habitual creatures.

Two days, two weeks, two months, two years, and then for your decades. Make your basic care a part of your lifestyle and you will live well. Strength, energy, even a healthier look.

[lxn]

38yo dude, sitting in front of my computer the whole day since I was 14yo. Dad of a 5yo.

My weekly "sport" schedule: - 2× 14km (8.7 miles) run - 2× gym (strength training, full body training, compound exercises) - 1× 1 hour swim (1.5-2km)

My recommendation to someone who wants to start is to find something you like, no matter how trivial it seems, and try to do it consistently until it's no longer a chore. Then, try to build up and add more things to complement that. I started running three years ago and going to the gym two years ago. The first year of the gym was very inconsistent. Started swimming 3 weeks ago.

There are some "nasty" habits that I avoid (based on my own personal experience) to keep myself motivated: - I run no matter the weather. It's more satisfying to finish a run during a shitty day (snow, rain, slush) - I don't expect continuous improvement or any improvement at all. It's all ups and downs (weight at the gym, speed when I run, etc.). Staying consistent is key. Imperfect progress is still progress, and everything you do eventually counts. - Keep trying things and see what sticks. I'm currently trying push-ups and cardio after the gym when I wake up. I do not know how long I will do them, but I'm trying.

[deepfriedchokes]

Every hour I’m awake I do as many pushups, pull-ups, and body weight rows as I can for about 10 minutes, alternating days with body weight squats, reverse lunges, and supermans. Every morning and evening I stretch and do planks. Weekends I hike or bike my ass off.

I also do intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast. Weekdays I keep to a strict diet while weekends I eat whatever. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it works pretty well. I like the hourlies because it helps break up my work day and take short breaks, and I struggle personally with focus so keeping a very strict routine helps me in other areas of my life.

[zvr]

Wow. Taking 10-minute breaks every hour is not something easily achievable when you have a number of meetings with other co-workers.

[beingfit]

I hate exercising most of the time. But I realized that it’s something that helps with health (when done optimally) and must be done. I push myself to exercise every single day, even if it means doing some lighter variations of yoga.

What’s important is figuring out what kind of activities you may like or manage to get into (going to the gym, running, group fitness, video based classes, etc.).

I’ve never been able to follow a routine by myself. What works for me are video based workouts where I don’t feel as if I’m doing it alone and I also get a good variety.

Another thing that helped me a lot is getting an Apple Watch and closing the rings everyday honestly. There are three activity rings to close each day — one for activity, one for exercise minutes and one for standing and moving a bit each hour. You can set each ring to whatever levels you’re comfortable with (increasing or decreasing or keeping it the same). You don’t need to keep going up or competing with others. The longer you keep your “streak”, the more motivating it is to keep it going.

If you like video workouts, check out the free Nike Training Club app. There are various other apps with free workouts.

If you get a new Apple Watch, you would also get a free trial of Apple’s Fitness+ service.

Apart from this, in the past I’ve also very much enjoyed game based workouts like Wii Fit Plus, Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch, etc.

A good starting target is getting moderate to intense exercise for about 30 minutes a day.

[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.

[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.

[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]

happens to all runners at least once, rule of thumb is to increase mileage 10% per week.

[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.

[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.

[whateverevetahw]

I just track my fitness with TrackPro (https://trackpro.applicationfitness.com). It helps if you want a big picture look at how your body changes over time. You start by creating a fitness profile, which includes entering basic information like height and weight, and telling TrackPro how many calories you plan to eat on a daily basis on average and how many calories you plan to burn through exercise on a daily basis.

Over time, this behavior builds a personalized fitness profile that allows you to see your progress towards your fitness goal over time, the fluctuations of your weight over time, your resting metabolic rate, your eating patterns over time, and your exercise patterns over time. You can also set a goal, and the software will create a daily plan that shows you the targets you need to hit each day to reach your goal.

[asaddhamani]

Getting adequate good quality sleep is the first place to start. Track your sleep, maintain low sleep debt.

Intermittent fasting helps with a lot many things, portion control, snacking, insulin sensitivity, mental clarity.

Resistance training is essential. I go to the gym and play around with weights. Having a personal trainer makes a huge difference here. I go first thing in the morning 5 days a week. Either that or I don’t go. Early morning workout also makes me feel like the rest of my day is easier in comparison to the literal heavy lifting I’ve started my day with.

For cardio, you want some kind of explosive high intensity workouts and some sustained medium intensity ones. Resting heart rate is a decent way to measure your improvements here and I’ve noticed that the higher my heart rate goes during workouts, the lower it goes during rest.

[slow_typist]

Any idea how low resting rates can go? And is it always a good thing or can it be too low?

[Jtsummers]

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

In my 20s nothing. Then I joined a soccer team, got in shape by the end of the season, and lost it by the start of the next. So I took up running and other exercises with soccer (and the social aspect of playing with friends) as my primary motivator.

These days:

Afternoon/evening: Rowing and cycling are my main cardio activities, I have access to a pool but have had shoulder issues so haven't done much swimming in years. Running most of the year with the spring to fall weather here (CO), usually 3x5km a week more or less. Once a week right now because I'm training for a century ride so that's taking more time (cardio is almost there, legs are not).

Morning: Formerly, TRX suspension trainer and a yoga mat for bodyweight exercises. Now, weights with an adjustable dumbbell set going to 75lbs trying to push past some limits I was hitting with the bodyweight stuff. In the future (by end of summer) I want to find a routine that combines the two more effectively than I'm doing now but the dumbbells are helping me with some specific weak areas so that's the focus.

> But I rarely decide to exercise.

I don't exercise for its own sake, it's an enabler. And this is key to maintaining the routine for me. When I drop it for more than a couple months, I notice a decline in my ability to do things I want to do or even just get around in my daily life. My back gets worse, stairs get harder, and long hikes (in CO, at high elevation and with many elevation changes) become very difficult. I exercise so I can just go out and do whatever I want whenever I want without having to spend time thinking, "Can I do this?" I was in London and climbed to the top of St. Paul's and barely broke a sweat and never lost my breath. I don't want to be miserable when I do something challenging, or have to say no to something interesting because I can't (out of consequence of my own choices, versus when my back goes out on me and I'm just laid up).

[codingdave]

I spend 30-45 minutes each morning on a rowing machine. During the summer, I also swim every day. And you might be surprised just how much activity you get if you spend an hour a day doing chores around the house and have hobbies that involve moving heavy things (woodworking, sculpture. etc.)

[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...

[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.

[cmptrnerd6]

Last year I discovered I really enjoy group workouts. The local YMCA has several group classes and I find it far easier to exert myself and go when there is a group of people all doing the same thing as me. When I was by myself it was too easy to slack off or just not workout. But when I'm in a class it's hard to slack off or skip, for me at least.

At the age of 34 I've also discovered I love dancing. I do Zumba, sha'bam, and Les Mills Dance every week. Just listen to music and mimic the actions of the instructor.

The YMCA also has childcare that the kids enjoy which helps too. I don't have to find time when I'm not watching the kids.

[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.

[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.

[ohm]

Gym every other day. Upper body one day, lower body next time. I also do lower back and sit up machines each time I’m at the gym. I start with flex and stretch exercises the one construction workers do. I just remember them school. Then 15 mins elliptical. 5 mins forward stride, 5 backwards and 5 forward again. I put on liquid DnB app, bassdrive DnB or bbc dance station for fast upbeat music. Then do machines.

On off gym days I still do flex and stretch then walk or bike.

I used to do martial arts 3x times a week but after I learned the basics I lost my motivation to push so hard so I stopped going.