5 ms·

What's the best exercise just to stay healthy? And what frequency? I would hate to exercise for years just to find out it actually harmed my health.

R_haterade 10y ago
>Squatz and Oatz. Most of the evidence I'ev seen points toward cardio for longevity. My goal isn't longevity, though. Doing anything s better than doing nothing, so you should pursue the fitness routine that suits your goals, so that's cardio if you want to live forever, but I don't, so I squat.
- rednerrus 10y ago
  Big boys move big weight.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
mtw 10y ago
Moderate exercise 150mn weekly. Can be distributed into 3 to 5 weekly sessions. If you are male, you can also do intense instead of moderate exercise. For types of exercise, endurance exercise like running or cross country skiing have been found to extend most lifespan, followed by team sports and last strength training If all that sounds complicated, my advice is to find a job or a hobby that involves moderate exercise. Gardening as a hobby is a good example. Or commit to commute by bike every day
- NumberCruncher 10y ago
  People who know that I commute at good weather by bike and at bad weather walking (2*70 minutes a day) say I am crazy. People who see my code (I am writing PL/SQL for my living) say that my solutions are crazy simple and efficient. They don't know that all my good ideas came after 45-60 minutes of walking and because of this I always have a pen and paper in my pocket.
  - pafje 10y ago
    Same thing for me here (and for most people who commute by bike every day). The increased blood flow must help or something like that. Physical activity is about so much more than losing weight.
    - bbarn 10y ago
      I think it's also the removal of the constant stimuli competing for your attention with other forms of transportation. If you take a train, you're probably looking at your phone, or trying to catch up on something on your laptop en route. If you drive, you're likely listening to music, ads on the radio, an npr piece talking about something you like, etc. Being on a bike, your priorities shift to keeping yourself alive occasionally, but mostly just thinking while moving forward. It's generally a good place to solve problems for me too.
    - gukov 10y ago
      Amazing what happens when you stop bombarding your brain with social media and other screen time. The brain is probably getting less blood when exercising as muscles need it more.
  - glormph 10y ago
    I wish that worked for me, I don't solve much while on a bike, possibly because my attention goes to traffic. Walking works much better, I can zone out and think about stuff. Biking does make me feel good afterwards though so I would say the net effect on cognition is still positive.
overcast 10y ago
Pushups. They are the single best full body exercise, that can be done ANYWHERE, and rather quickly. When you've reached a sufficient rep, add a dip bar. Pull-ups should also be part of your routine as well. Every hour or so while working at the computer, I'll get down and knock out twenty pushups or so. You'll be surprised at how fast you build up muscle endurance, and your lower back pain will be gone.
- sopooneo 10y ago
  I'm 37. Developer. I had suffered lower back pain for five years, sometimes severely. I started doing just 20 pushups a day and it is completely gone. Just one data point, I know. But since that data point is 100% of me, I'm sticking with it.
  - overcast 10y ago
    36, same thing. It works, it's not anecdotal. Number one reason for lower back pain, is weak back muscles.
    - zild3d 10y ago
      Makes sense, but why pushups then? They target mostly the chest, shoulders, and triceps. http://www.md-health.com/What-Muscles-Do-Push-Ups-Work.html http://www.md-health.com/What-Muscles-Do-Push-Ups-Work.html
      - overcast 10y ago
        They key is the core(abdominal) strengthening. A strong core is essential to everything being in shape.
      - sn9 10y ago
        Pushups are basically planks where you vary the intensity (with the angle of your body to the ground). Planks build core strength and the lower back is part of your core.
      - 10y ago
bbarn 10y ago
Ride a bicycle to work, or the equivalent 45 minutes a day, 4 out of 5 days a week. Lower impact cardio than most other forms, fun, effective transportation, and if you want to turn it into an anaerobic intensity workout, you can.
rendaw 10y ago
Youth.
sn9 10y ago
Barbell training (e.g., presses, squats, deadlifts, etc.) 2+ days per week to the point that you can deadlift twice your bodyweight or more. Get to the point of being able to do 30 pullups in a row. Running 30 minutes or more 3+ days per week until you can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes. (Any form of cardio is acceptable and has an equivalent distance and pace.) The above are goals that are achievable for most people given time and not overly complicated training (probably a year or two with competent programming, adequate nutrition, and recovery) and easily maintained once reached until you're quite close to death. They are, to some degree, arbitrary, but represent a good area to target to reap the most benefits without risking injury from training volume. Our bodies were meant to be used. (This, of course, doesn't address diet, which is probably more important.)
- usaphp 10y ago
  Running 5k under 20 minutes is not an achievable goal for most people over 30...I play soccer twice a week and so weight lifting, am in pretty good shape and tried to run 5k in under 20 minutes and just could not, spent like half a year running almost every other evening and the best I could get was 21:20. And it's definitely not easily maintained... Also 30 pull ups is not an easily achievable number...my friend who is was a gymnast for like 15 years can barely do 25-30... Don't give people unrealistic goals, they will just feel much worse and stop trying when they realize that they could not achieve those "easy target"...
  - naraga 10y ago
    Those numbers are not achievable in 1 year maybe but are definitely achievable without being pro or anything like that. It might take you few years but if you set those as a goal you'll get there with recreational kind of exercise levels. Talking from my and my friends experience. I am 36.
  - sn9 10y ago
    It's funny you make that claim but are only 1:20 away from it. Same with your friend who can do 30 . . . . You probably only have to increase the number of slow miles you run per week to get to sub-20. That's the usual advice in r/running. For 30+ pullups, I never said it was easy. A program I like is the Strongfirst Fighter Pullup program. Another is the Armstrong program. Most people don't train for those goals explicitly and they aren't aware of the programming and other lifestyle choices that will take them there. There's a difference between easy and achievable.
debt 10y ago
Skateboarding when you're up on a hard problem is the shit
debt 10y ago
Skateboarding when you're up on a hard problem is the shit
lennelpennel 10y ago
My advice would be to incorporate it as part of your everyday life. Cycle to work, if you live far, get a battery assisted bike. I am a massive fan of yoga as well, the general and core strength you need for that is incredible along with keeping your body limber (which helps fighting injuries and just generally helps with people sitting a lot). Get in a pool and just go as fast as you can, for as long as you can. Take a short break, repeat. Do this for 15 minutes a day and you will experience a massive difference in your life. High intensity training is very good and a pool exercises a lot of muscles, great cardio and very little strain on your body. Aim for 20 minutes each day, 5 days a week.
- eicossa 10y ago
  I'm surprised you mention swimming has changed your life. I was always suspicious of the way I had begun thinking of my life in terms of "Before Swimming" and "After Swimming" phases. Has this been your experience too ? I used to bike an hour a day earlier, but swimming has done something else to my well-being and productivity.
  - lennelpennel 10y ago
    Swimming with its deeply regulated breathing opened a door in my mind as far meditative exercise is concerned. It definitely altered the way I experienced exercise, friends who run long distances say similar things about that. The transformative aspect that I was referring too however was not that, more that swimming as an exercise form is strengthening, incredible cardio and learning to breathe properly is a result of getting better at it.
z3t4 10y ago
Every time you close a ticket reward yourself with 10 push-ups or crunches. I know a guy that got a six-pack doing this. After doing it for a while hormones will start to kick in and you will crave it, meaning you will be more productive!

R_haterade 10y ago

>Squatz and Oatz. Most of the evidence I'ev seen points toward cardio for longevity. My goal isn't longevity, though. Doing anything s better than doing nothing, so you should pursue the fitness routine that suits your goals, so that's cardio if you want to live forever, but I don't, so I squat.

rednerrus 10y ago
Big boys move big weight.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

mtw 10y ago

Moderate exercise 150mn weekly. Can be distributed into 3 to 5 weekly sessions. If you are male, you can also do intense instead of moderate exercise. For types of exercise, endurance exercise like running or cross country skiing have been found to extend most lifespan, followed by team sports and last strength training If all that sounds complicated, my advice is to find a job or a hobby that involves moderate exercise. Gardening as a hobby is a good example. Or commit to commute by bike every day

NumberCruncher 10y ago
People who know that I commute at good weather by bike and at bad weather walking (2*70 minutes a day) say I am crazy. People who see my code (I am writing PL/SQL for my living) say that my solutions are crazy simple and efficient. They don't know that all my good ideas came after 45-60 minutes of walking and because of this I always have a pen and paper in my pocket.
- pafje 10y ago
  Same thing for me here (and for most people who commute by bike every day). The increased blood flow must help or something like that. Physical activity is about so much more than losing weight.
  - bbarn 10y ago
    I think it's also the removal of the constant stimuli competing for your attention with other forms of transportation. If you take a train, you're probably looking at your phone, or trying to catch up on something on your laptop en route. If you drive, you're likely listening to music, ads on the radio, an npr piece talking about something you like, etc. Being on a bike, your priorities shift to keeping yourself alive occasionally, but mostly just thinking while moving forward. It's generally a good place to solve problems for me too.
  - gukov 10y ago
    Amazing what happens when you stop bombarding your brain with social media and other screen time. The brain is probably getting less blood when exercising as muscles need it more.
- glormph 10y ago
  I wish that worked for me, I don't solve much while on a bike, possibly because my attention goes to traffic. Walking works much better, I can zone out and think about stuff. Biking does make me feel good afterwards though so I would say the net effect on cognition is still positive.

overcast 10y ago

Pushups. They are the single best full body exercise, that can be done ANYWHERE, and rather quickly. When you've reached a sufficient rep, add a dip bar. Pull-ups should also be part of your routine as well. Every hour or so while working at the computer, I'll get down and knock out twenty pushups or so. You'll be surprised at how fast you build up muscle endurance, and your lower back pain will be gone.

sopooneo 10y ago
I'm 37. Developer. I had suffered lower back pain for five years, sometimes severely. I started doing just 20 pushups a day and it is completely gone. Just one data point, I know. But since that data point is 100% of me, I'm sticking with it.
- overcast 10y ago
  36, same thing. It works, it's not anecdotal. Number one reason for lower back pain, is weak back muscles.
  - zild3d 10y ago
    Makes sense, but why pushups then? They target mostly the chest, shoulders, and triceps. http://www.md-health.com/What-Muscles-Do-Push-Ups-Work.html http://www.md-health.com/What-Muscles-Do-Push-Ups-Work.html
    - overcast 10y ago
      They key is the core(abdominal) strengthening. A strong core is essential to everything being in shape.
    - sn9 10y ago
      Pushups are basically planks where you vary the intensity (with the angle of your body to the ground). Planks build core strength and the lower back is part of your core.
    - 10y ago

bbarn 10y ago

Ride a bicycle to work, or the equivalent 45 minutes a day, 4 out of 5 days a week. Lower impact cardio than most other forms, fun, effective transportation, and if you want to turn it into an anaerobic intensity workout, you can.

rendaw 10y ago

Youth.

sn9 10y ago

Barbell training (e.g., presses, squats, deadlifts, etc.) 2+ days per week to the point that you can deadlift twice your bodyweight or more. Get to the point of being able to do 30 pullups in a row. Running 30 minutes or more 3+ days per week until you can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes. (Any form of cardio is acceptable and has an equivalent distance and pace.) The above are goals that are achievable for most people given time and not overly complicated training (probably a year or two with competent programming, adequate nutrition, and recovery) and easily maintained once reached until you're quite close to death. They are, to some degree, arbitrary, but represent a good area to target to reap the most benefits without risking injury from training volume. Our bodies were meant to be used. (This, of course, doesn't address diet, which is probably more important.)

usaphp 10y ago
Running 5k under 20 minutes is not an achievable goal for most people over 30...I play soccer twice a week and so weight lifting, am in pretty good shape and tried to run 5k in under 20 minutes and just could not, spent like half a year running almost every other evening and the best I could get was 21:20. And it's definitely not easily maintained... Also 30 pull ups is not an easily achievable number...my friend who is was a gymnast for like 15 years can barely do 25-30... Don't give people unrealistic goals, they will just feel much worse and stop trying when they realize that they could not achieve those "easy target"...
- naraga 10y ago
  Those numbers are not achievable in 1 year maybe but are definitely achievable without being pro or anything like that. It might take you few years but if you set those as a goal you'll get there with recreational kind of exercise levels. Talking from my and my friends experience. I am 36.
- sn9 10y ago
  It's funny you make that claim but are only 1:20 away from it. Same with your friend who can do 30 . . . . You probably only have to increase the number of slow miles you run per week to get to sub-20. That's the usual advice in r/running. For 30+ pullups, I never said it was easy. A program I like is the Strongfirst Fighter Pullup program. Another is the Armstrong program. Most people don't train for those goals explicitly and they aren't aware of the programming and other lifestyle choices that will take them there. There's a difference between easy and achievable.

debt 10y ago

Skateboarding when you're up on a hard problem is the shit

debt 10y ago

Skateboarding when you're up on a hard problem is the shit

lennelpennel 10y ago

My advice would be to incorporate it as part of your everyday life. Cycle to work, if you live far, get a battery assisted bike. I am a massive fan of yoga as well, the general and core strength you need for that is incredible along with keeping your body limber (which helps fighting injuries and just generally helps with people sitting a lot). Get in a pool and just go as fast as you can, for as long as you can. Take a short break, repeat. Do this for 15 minutes a day and you will experience a massive difference in your life. High intensity training is very good and a pool exercises a lot of muscles, great cardio and very little strain on your body. Aim for 20 minutes each day, 5 days a week.

eicossa 10y ago
I'm surprised you mention swimming has changed your life. I was always suspicious of the way I had begun thinking of my life in terms of "Before Swimming" and "After Swimming" phases. Has this been your experience too ? I used to bike an hour a day earlier, but swimming has done something else to my well-being and productivity.
- lennelpennel 10y ago
  Swimming with its deeply regulated breathing opened a door in my mind as far meditative exercise is concerned. It definitely altered the way I experienced exercise, friends who run long distances say similar things about that. The transformative aspect that I was referring too however was not that, more that swimming as an exercise form is strengthening, incredible cardio and learning to breathe properly is a result of getting better at it.

z3t4 10y ago

Every time you close a ticket reward yourself with 10 push-ups or crunches. I know a guy that got a six-pack doing this. After doing it for a while hormones will start to kick in and you will crave it, meaning you will be more productive!