4 ms·

Just exercise. People are so lazy in that regard it baffles me.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
syntheticnature 10y ago
Well, should such a pill be created, if the time required to generate money for the pills is less than the time required to exercise at an equivalent level... I mean, heck, I don't think it's at all likely I'll exercise beyond a certain level, but take a pill and poof?
marssaxman 10y ago
What's to be baffled about? Exercise is tiring, time-consuming, and sometimes painful. People generally avoid such activities, absent any overriding motivation.
- alistairSH 10y ago
  You're doing it wrong. Exercise can certainly be tiring, if you're training for performance, or rehabilitating an injury. But, a basic yoga class, a few laps of the pool, or walk around the block isn't going to noticeably tire an otherwise healthy adult. Time-consuming? That's likely short-sighted when you account for reduced longevity, time spent ill, etc. A few hours a week isn't that much time in the overall scheme of things. And exercise should almost never be painful. The only exceptions would be rehab or training for a specific event.
  - joshyeager 10y ago
    Hours in a weekday: 24 - Sleep: 7 - Work: 8 - Commute: 1 - Personal maintenance (grooming/eating/etc): 2 - Be a good dad: 2 - Put kids to bed: 1 - Household maintenance (dishes/laundry/etc): 1 What's left: 2 hours. If I spend 30 minutes exercising, that's 25% of my discretionary time every day. That feels pretty time-consuming, even though I do think it's worth it.
    - xyience 10y ago
      Your schedule just needs fixing. Designate one parent as the "put kids to bed" and the "household maintenance" for the day, that gives the other an extra 2 hours. Exercising every other day is practically as good or better as every day depending on the exercise. Though even with 4 hours, depending on the person, every day after work might feel like they need their entire 8 hours of free time between work and sleep just to survive, ideally they'd have more. Technology was supposed to give us more leisure time we can put into things like exercise but here we are still slaving away at desk jobs for 40 hours a week.
  - marssaxman 10y ago
    I'm not doing it at all - it's just too boring! I'm very active, generally, and will happily work myself to the point of physical collapse if there's something interesting to be accomplished, but repetitive mindless physical motion for its own sake is not something I can deal with.
- waterphone 10y ago
  Exercise can take so many different forms, and too many people only think of it as running or going to the gym. Going for a walk or hike with friends on a regular basis is an excellent form of exercise while also using that time as a social activity. The same can apply to many other activities—a good form of exercise and a social opportunity.
- mikestew 10y ago
  Exercise is tiring, time-consuming, and sometimes painful. That's why I have a problem with things like CrossFit, P90X and the like. Time-consuming, that I can't help with. But "tiring" and "sometimes painful"? Unless you're a competitive athlete, you're doing it wrong. The article points this out (and I'm basically echoing the sentiment of the article). A 30 minute walk with the dog? That shouldn't be tiring or painful (or if it is, you really need to do it more often). But I'm guessing that some folks get the impression that "exercise" must be EXTREME!!!!11!! or it doesn't count. Why work on bringing your half-marathon time down (which is a much more appropriate goal for the 20 mile/week runner) when you can slog through the death march of a six hour marathon? A little overweight? A lot overweight? Don't exercise because you don't think you'd survive the CrossFit your cow-orkers are doing? Don't think epic mountain bike rides are really your thing? Meh, fuck all that, put your shoes on, go for a walk for a half hour. Your cow-orkers won't be impressed, but I will be. Yes, a guy with multiple marathons (and a whole list of other shit you don't care about) under his belt whose idea of a good Saturday morning is running up some mountain for a few hours, will be impressed. Because inertia is really good at keeping you on that couch, and if you can overcome that and make that first step out the door, in my book your ahead of this guy who gets out the door out of habit more than anything else.
  - sosborn 10y ago
    > Because inertia is really good at keeping you on that couch So true. It works the other way too. Once you get into the routine of exercising it becomes easier to work it into your schedule.
- soundwave106 10y ago
  Ironically one of my motivations with exercise is to avoid being tired or fatigued. I notice a big increase in energy levels when I'm getting regular exercise. Better to be a little fatigued at the end of an exercise than be fatigued for the rest of the day. I also agree that exercise should never be painful. Unfortunately, we have a "no pain, no gain" mentality about exercise in this country. I don't even think the exercises advertised as "extreme" (ala P90X/Insanity/Crossfit) need to be painful, but some people will push themselves more than they should (Crossfit in particular is notorious for poor trainers overpushing people to injury).
mikestew 10y ago
Ya know, I used to be in your boat, wondering why folks don't just get off their ass. But it occurred to me that if I didn't actually like running, I don't know what would motivate me to do so. It's like telling people to quit smoking. You don't think they don't already know it's bad for them? But for some reason they keep puffing away. So we've established that people are lazy, and that "just exercise" would do them wonders (or at least be a lifestyle improvement). And they still don't take the dog for a 30 minute walk. Given that, rather than chastising and feeling superior about our own fitness (for example, I ran ten miles yesterday; mmm, I'm practically marinating in smugness right now), what can we do to get people out the door? Of course, if I could answer that, I'd be at my book signing and not shouting at the wall on HN.
- davidw 10y ago
  There are lots of fun ways to exercise - I hate running, but love to ride bikes, for instance.
  - jonkiddy 10y ago
    I'm not a fan of running either, but I love to play soccer.
- bad-joke 10y ago
  I have to agree here about motivation being an important factor. When I injured myself running, I tried experimenting with a few other types of cardio (cycling, swimming, rowing, stairmaster, etc.) but they were all miserable experiences compared to running. It was beyond frustrating and the only thing that kept me going was the anticipation of running again. On the opposite end of the spectrum, several of my coworkers lift weights exclusively and can't believe I prefer running. It bores them out of their minds. I have to wonder if many people don't exercise because they find it boring and unsatisfying, not because it's difficult.
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    exercise has always felt like work to me. all types of exercise, too -- you name it, i've tried it, often for months at a time on a rigorous schedule. i simply do not like doing it. i don't like the time it takes, i don't like dealing with the laundry, i don't like the equipment, i don't like the monotony of cardio, i don't like the sound of weights slamming, i don't like dealing with the other people at the gym/courts/whatever, i don't like any of it (i'm not lucky enough to have have my own gym, that would probably help quite a bit). high intensity interval sprinting is the only thing i don't massively despise, but it's still a pain in the ass and can produce injuries, which i also don't like. don't even get me started on swimming... so as you can see, i've done plenty of exercise in my life, and at this point i'm 100% comfortable saying that i just don't like doing it. i admit it is a major personality shortcoming of mine. i'm not a negative person, this kind of stuff doesn't leak into areas of my life -- i just wasn't born with that selection of genetics that drives me to love this stuff. to me it's basically like a second job, a manual labor job, i have to do. yes, i feel good afterwards, but to me sitting my ass down on the couch also feels good. as i understand it, to some people, sitting down for an hour feels disgusting, like a physical revulsion in their body. they're very lucky. i could sit on my couch for days on end and it takes effort to not actually do that. my desire to make money, be presentable, and contribute to society override my natural laziness, but i totally understand how those people get to 800 pounds and are couch-locked. they simply do not have any kind of social drive, which is the built-in mechanism that is supposed to balance your built-in human condition of laziness (in my case). be thankful that you take to running/exercise like we take to computers/technology -- it's definitely an asset in life. it's something i have to constantly overcome, i'm envious of people who get the urge to get up and move around without any kind of outside motivation. i've spent a lot of money on extrinsic motivation and it's clearly the inferior choice!

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Well, should such a pill be created, if the time required to generate money for the pills is less than the time required to exercise at an equivalent level... I mean, heck, I don't think it's at all likely I'll exercise beyond a certain level, but take a pill and poof?

marssaxman 10y ago

What's to be baffled about? Exercise is tiring, time-consuming, and sometimes painful. People generally avoid such activities, absent any overriding motivation.

alistairSH 10y ago
You're doing it wrong. Exercise can certainly be tiring, if you're training for performance, or rehabilitating an injury. But, a basic yoga class, a few laps of the pool, or walk around the block isn't going to noticeably tire an otherwise healthy adult. Time-consuming? That's likely short-sighted when you account for reduced longevity, time spent ill, etc. A few hours a week isn't that much time in the overall scheme of things. And exercise should almost never be painful. The only exceptions would be rehab or training for a specific event.
- joshyeager 10y ago
  Hours in a weekday: 24 - Sleep: 7 - Work: 8 - Commute: 1 - Personal maintenance (grooming/eating/etc): 2 - Be a good dad: 2 - Put kids to bed: 1 - Household maintenance (dishes/laundry/etc): 1 What's left: 2 hours. If I spend 30 minutes exercising, that's 25% of my discretionary time every day. That feels pretty time-consuming, even though I do think it's worth it.
  - xyience 10y ago
    Your schedule just needs fixing. Designate one parent as the "put kids to bed" and the "household maintenance" for the day, that gives the other an extra 2 hours. Exercising every other day is practically as good or better as every day depending on the exercise. Though even with 4 hours, depending on the person, every day after work might feel like they need their entire 8 hours of free time between work and sleep just to survive, ideally they'd have more. Technology was supposed to give us more leisure time we can put into things like exercise but here we are still slaving away at desk jobs for 40 hours a week.
- marssaxman 10y ago
  I'm not doing it at all - it's just too boring! I'm very active, generally, and will happily work myself to the point of physical collapse if there's something interesting to be accomplished, but repetitive mindless physical motion for its own sake is not something I can deal with.
waterphone 10y ago
Exercise can take so many different forms, and too many people only think of it as running or going to the gym. Going for a walk or hike with friends on a regular basis is an excellent form of exercise while also using that time as a social activity. The same can apply to many other activities—a good form of exercise and a social opportunity.
mikestew 10y ago
Exercise is tiring, time-consuming, and sometimes painful. That's why I have a problem with things like CrossFit, P90X and the like. Time-consuming, that I can't help with. But "tiring" and "sometimes painful"? Unless you're a competitive athlete, you're doing it wrong. The article points this out (and I'm basically echoing the sentiment of the article). A 30 minute walk with the dog? That shouldn't be tiring or painful (or if it is, you really need to do it more often). But I'm guessing that some folks get the impression that "exercise" must be EXTREME!!!!11!! or it doesn't count. Why work on bringing your half-marathon time down (which is a much more appropriate goal for the 20 mile/week runner) when you can slog through the death march of a six hour marathon? A little overweight? A lot overweight? Don't exercise because you don't think you'd survive the CrossFit your cow-orkers are doing? Don't think epic mountain bike rides are really your thing? Meh, fuck all that, put your shoes on, go for a walk for a half hour. Your cow-orkers won't be impressed, but I will be. Yes, a guy with multiple marathons (and a whole list of other shit you don't care about) under his belt whose idea of a good Saturday morning is running up some mountain for a few hours, will be impressed. Because inertia is really good at keeping you on that couch, and if you can overcome that and make that first step out the door, in my book your ahead of this guy who gets out the door out of habit more than anything else.
- sosborn 10y ago
  > Because inertia is really good at keeping you on that couch So true. It works the other way too. Once you get into the routine of exercising it becomes easier to work it into your schedule.
soundwave106 10y ago
Ironically one of my motivations with exercise is to avoid being tired or fatigued. I notice a big increase in energy levels when I'm getting regular exercise. Better to be a little fatigued at the end of an exercise than be fatigued for the rest of the day. I also agree that exercise should never be painful. Unfortunately, we have a "no pain, no gain" mentality about exercise in this country. I don't even think the exercises advertised as "extreme" (ala P90X/Insanity/Crossfit) need to be painful, but some people will push themselves more than they should (Crossfit in particular is notorious for poor trainers overpushing people to injury).

mikestew 10y ago

Ya know, I used to be in your boat, wondering why folks don't just get off their ass. But it occurred to me that if I didn't actually like running, I don't know what would motivate me to do so. It's like telling people to quit smoking. You don't think they don't already know it's bad for them? But for some reason they keep puffing away. So we've established that people are lazy, and that "just exercise" would do them wonders (or at least be a lifestyle improvement). And they still don't take the dog for a 30 minute walk. Given that, rather than chastising and feeling superior about our own fitness (for example, I ran ten miles yesterday; mmm, I'm practically marinating in smugness right now), what can we do to get people out the door? Of course, if I could answer that, I'd be at my book signing and not shouting at the wall on HN.

davidw 10y ago
There are lots of fun ways to exercise - I hate running, but love to ride bikes, for instance.
- jonkiddy 10y ago
  I'm not a fan of running either, but I love to play soccer.
bad-joke 10y ago
I have to agree here about motivation being an important factor. When I injured myself running, I tried experimenting with a few other types of cardio (cycling, swimming, rowing, stairmaster, etc.) but they were all miserable experiences compared to running. It was beyond frustrating and the only thing that kept me going was the anticipation of running again. On the opposite end of the spectrum, several of my coworkers lift weights exclusively and can't believe I prefer running. It bores them out of their minds. I have to wonder if many people don't exercise because they find it boring and unsatisfying, not because it's difficult.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  exercise has always felt like work to me. all types of exercise, too -- you name it, i've tried it, often for months at a time on a rigorous schedule. i simply do not like doing it. i don't like the time it takes, i don't like dealing with the laundry, i don't like the equipment, i don't like the monotony of cardio, i don't like the sound of weights slamming, i don't like dealing with the other people at the gym/courts/whatever, i don't like any of it (i'm not lucky enough to have have my own gym, that would probably help quite a bit). high intensity interval sprinting is the only thing i don't massively despise, but it's still a pain in the ass and can produce injuries, which i also don't like. don't even get me started on swimming... so as you can see, i've done plenty of exercise in my life, and at this point i'm 100% comfortable saying that i just don't like doing it. i admit it is a major personality shortcoming of mine. i'm not a negative person, this kind of stuff doesn't leak into areas of my life -- i just wasn't born with that selection of genetics that drives me to love this stuff. to me it's basically like a second job, a manual labor job, i have to do. yes, i feel good afterwards, but to me sitting my ass down on the couch also feels good. as i understand it, to some people, sitting down for an hour feels disgusting, like a physical revulsion in their body. they're very lucky. i could sit on my couch for days on end and it takes effort to not actually do that. my desire to make money, be presentable, and contribute to society override my natural laziness, but i totally understand how those people get to 800 pounds and are couch-locked. they simply do not have any kind of social drive, which is the built-in mechanism that is supposed to balance your built-in human condition of laziness (in my case). be thankful that you take to running/exercise like we take to computers/technology -- it's definitely an asset in life. it's something i have to constantly overcome, i'm envious of people who get the urge to get up and move around without any kind of outside motivation. i've spent a lot of money on extrinsic motivation and it's clearly the inferior choice!