5 ms·

You have about 5 seconds before your brain shuts up those ideas like "I'll definitely exercise more...". It's an awesome idea, life changing even. 5 seconds la

by snarfy 9y ago

You have about 5 seconds before your brain shuts up those ideas like "I'll definitely exercise more...". It's an awesome idea, life changing even. 5 seconds later your rational self catches up with the idea and starts to counter with 'but I don't have enough time', 'it's too hard', 'maybe tomorrow', etc. The next time you get the idea to exercise more you need to stop what you are doing right then and there and do something about it. Maybe it's not the best time to start exercising at 3am when you have the idea, but at least put it down in your calendar with an alarm/reminder/something. The point being you need to take action on those ideas as soon as you have them, or they are gone.

gaius 9y ago
you need to stop what you are doing right then and there and do something about it If you're at home, there's no reason not to just do 10 pressups right there and then (and as you get better, 20, 30 and so on). Or dips with your chair if you can't do pressups yet.
- pizza 9y ago
  "desire is to drive what truth is to knowledge" you need it to be a kind of mediating objective to not lose that pledge. otherwise, the inevitable abandonment comes after exercising a handful of times, if that :P my intuition tells me you'd need a goal that has pushups (or exercise at all) only as a subcomponent along the path towards the attainment of that goal. hopefully it would persist longer than if solely working out were the goal. so that it doesn't feel "empty" or easily abandon-able after doing it a few times.
- centimeter 9y ago
  I agree, although I’ve found that there are diminishing returns around 25-30 push-ups. At some point you need to use weights or machines that allow you to exceed what you can get from body weight.
  - gaius 9y ago
    There's always the challenge of one-arm push-ups. A person who could do 10 on each arm would be a beast!
- asddddd 9y ago
  I wouldn't recommend focusing on push-ups, they are counterproductive if you have the typical "computer posture" with hunched/forward shoulders. Chin-ups, rows, and similar are likely to be a better idea.
  - BoiledCabbage 9y ago
    > Chin-ups, rows, and similar are likely to be a better idea. And in my opinion are entirely missing the point because they take more pre-planning and effort. Even if only a little. The problem people are trying to solve is "how do I go from nothing to exercising even a little?" The problem you are helping them solve is "how do I get more/ the most out of my workout?" It's a serious pet-peeve of mine. I know you mention it with good intentions, but people often try to help others by telling them their personal favourite item, vs helping them solve their problem. People do similar with programming languages. For a one off project or getting started sometimes a shitty language is the best way to help someone for their specific problem.
    - asddddd 9y ago
      While some exercise is probably better than none, doing only push-ups can end up being harmful. I was thinking of postural issues[1] like Upper Cross Syndrome[2], very common among people who sit at a computer all day and don't exercise. Focusing on already-strong/tight muscles like the pecs will be unhelpful for correcting these issues, and can certainly exacerbate them. That said, I may have overreacted due to conflating bench presses with push-ups. 1. http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html 2. https://www.theptdc.com/2014/07/upper-crossed-syndrome/ https://www.theptdc.com/2014/07/upper-crossed-syndrome/ As for programming languages, I've sent "pull requests" for AutoHotKey programs via Reddit PM before. If it's the right tool (or a decent one) for the job...
Retr0spectrum 9y ago
Is it really the "rational self"? Personally, I think it's just my lazy instincts kicking in.
- jacobush 9y ago
  Your rational self being brought back to the party line.
- centimeter 9y ago
  During a psychedelic mushroom trip, for the first few hours my rational mind is heavily dampened. I’m not fully aware or conscious in the normal way, and I mostly just remember are intense sensory and emotional impressions. After around 4 or 5 hours, my rational mind comes back with a vengeance and more biological drives are dampened. Pain (temporarily) ceases to be a motivator, as do other low-level emotional sensations like embarrassment, hunger, and whatever weird energy conservation instinct it is that makes many people prefer not to exercise. At this time, when my mind is clearest (there are several other metaphors I could use here, but let’s go with that), I feel like I could totally exercise as hard as I should for as long as I should without getting caught by that nasty energy-saving mechanism we call laziness. As a comparison, many people are willing to grind for hours on an MMO character, but aren’t willing to go to the gym for half an hour a day. Without the normal din of brain activity, it’s easy to apply the video game mentality to your meatspace person. The thing that did finally get me habitually exercising (while sober, of course) was an in-work gym, since sometimes repeatedly lifting heavy things is preferable to another minute dealing with most software products.

by snarfy 9y ago

gaius 9y ago

you need to stop what you are doing right then and there and do something about it If you're at home, there's no reason not to just do 10 pressups right there and then (and as you get better, 20, 30 and so on). Or dips with your chair if you can't do pressups yet.

pizza 9y ago
"desire is to drive what truth is to knowledge" you need it to be a kind of mediating objective to not lose that pledge. otherwise, the inevitable abandonment comes after exercising a handful of times, if that :P my intuition tells me you'd need a goal that has pushups (or exercise at all) only as a subcomponent along the path towards the attainment of that goal. hopefully it would persist longer than if solely working out were the goal. so that it doesn't feel "empty" or easily abandon-able after doing it a few times.
centimeter 9y ago
I agree, although I’ve found that there are diminishing returns around 25-30 push-ups. At some point you need to use weights or machines that allow you to exceed what you can get from body weight.
- gaius 9y ago
  There's always the challenge of one-arm push-ups. A person who could do 10 on each arm would be a beast!
asddddd 9y ago
I wouldn't recommend focusing on push-ups, they are counterproductive if you have the typical "computer posture" with hunched/forward shoulders. Chin-ups, rows, and similar are likely to be a better idea.
- BoiledCabbage 9y ago
  > Chin-ups, rows, and similar are likely to be a better idea. And in my opinion are entirely missing the point because they take more pre-planning and effort. Even if only a little. The problem people are trying to solve is "how do I go from nothing to exercising even a little?" The problem you are helping them solve is "how do I get more/ the most out of my workout?" It's a serious pet-peeve of mine. I know you mention it with good intentions, but people often try to help others by telling them their personal favourite item, vs helping them solve their problem. People do similar with programming languages. For a one off project or getting started sometimes a shitty language is the best way to help someone for their specific problem.
  - asddddd 9y ago
    While some exercise is probably better than none, doing only push-ups can end up being harmful. I was thinking of postural issues[1] like Upper Cross Syndrome[2], very common among people who sit at a computer all day and don't exercise. Focusing on already-strong/tight muscles like the pecs will be unhelpful for correcting these issues, and can certainly exacerbate them. That said, I may have overreacted due to conflating bench presses with push-ups. 1. http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html 2. https://www.theptdc.com/2014/07/upper-crossed-syndrome/ https://www.theptdc.com/2014/07/upper-crossed-syndrome/ As for programming languages, I've sent "pull requests" for AutoHotKey programs via Reddit PM before. If it's the right tool (or a decent one) for the job...

Retr0spectrum 9y ago

Is it really the "rational self"? Personally, I think it's just my lazy instincts kicking in.

jacobush 9y ago
Your rational self being brought back to the party line.
centimeter 9y ago
During a psychedelic mushroom trip, for the first few hours my rational mind is heavily dampened. I’m not fully aware or conscious in the normal way, and I mostly just remember are intense sensory and emotional impressions. After around 4 or 5 hours, my rational mind comes back with a vengeance and more biological drives are dampened. Pain (temporarily) ceases to be a motivator, as do other low-level emotional sensations like embarrassment, hunger, and whatever weird energy conservation instinct it is that makes many people prefer not to exercise. At this time, when my mind is clearest (there are several other metaphors I could use here, but let’s go with that), I feel like I could totally exercise as hard as I should for as long as I should without getting caught by that nasty energy-saving mechanism we call laziness. As a comparison, many people are willing to grind for hours on an MMO character, but aren’t willing to go to the gym for half an hour a day. Without the normal din of brain activity, it’s easy to apply the video game mentality to your meatspace person. The thing that did finally get me habitually exercising (while sober, of course) was an in-work gym, since sometimes repeatedly lifting heavy things is preferable to another minute dealing with most software products.