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It would be nice if the government came up with a basic calisthenics program for the average person to follow. A lot of people cant afford a gym - or sometimes

It would be nice if the government came up with a basic calisthenics program for the average person to follow. A lot of people cant afford a gym - or sometimes it's too cold. There is so much info about exercise and health that it ends up being "non-information". People give up. If the public health system gave a consistent message about exercise when you can't afford a gym or if it's too cold out - people would be better off.

andai 9y ago
I love to be out and about, but it's been really cold and dark lately and I've been struggling. At the very least I make myself run up and down the apartment stairwell a couple times to wake myself up. I realized that unless I wake up my body, it stays half asleep, and my mind suffers too.
Jach 9y ago
I really doubt this information overload is the limiting factor. Everyone knows what a pushup is. Everyone had to take PE in public schooling (government already solved your problem) and knows many exercises that can be done indoors without needing the whole gym. But exercise sucks.
- 0xcde4c3db 9y ago
  > I really doubt this information overload is the limiting factor. It's definitely a factor. Even if you filter out the utter bullshit (which is a task in itself), there's a huge amount of stuff out there around the theme of "exercising wrong", most of which doesn't agree about anything outside a handful of basics (e.g. sit-ups aren't very good at engaging abs) and much of which warns of injury if you fail to heed the advice. Are crunches a good exercise, or will they wreck my spine? How deep should I squat? What are the tradeoffs between high weight/low reps versus low weight/high reps? Are resistance bands or dumbbells worthwhile, or is barbell training so superior that anything else is a waste of time? The answers all seem to depend on which "school" of exercise you subscribe to. > Everyone knows what a pushup is. I know what a pushup is, but I can't actually do one, and it's not obvious how to progress it in a practical way ("wall pushups" aren't challenging, but going down to chair level is too much). There are a lot of practical issues like this that are glossed over by mainstream exercise advice (most of which seems to be written for relatively young, fit people with no chronic health issues that might interfere). > But exercise sucks. There's a huge amount of disagreement on this as well. Statements like "your body wants to move" are a common refrain from fitness gurus, for example. The chemical and neurological responses to exercise seem to vary quite a bit throughout the population, all the way from exercise triggering euphoria to exercise triggering depression (but it's only socially accepted to advertise the former). It's also pretty common in exercise studies for a given outcome measure to get no better or even get worse in ~10% of subjects, even when the average response is a statistically significant improvement. Conversely, there's often a ~10% with a markedly above-average improvement; this has been spun by the popular press as some people being "superexercisers" and others being "non-responders", but it seems to be much more complicated than that (i.e. one can be a "superexerciser" on one axis but a "non-responder" on another).
  - Jach 9y ago
    I pretty much entirely agree with that, there is a lot of complexity and it can play a role in deciding to just avoid everything. Though in practice I think the complexity effect is overblown, and the role in deciding to do nothing is small (I'd bet the role is larger in deciding to do lots of different things unsuccessfully because one quits the current thing after it becomes difficult). Though if the complexity mattered all that much, this just sounds like the OP's desire for a government-approved 'average' outside of what exists in required PE is even more ludicrous.
claudiulodro 9y ago
I found People's Republic of China 4-minute Exercise Plan[1] at a thrift store a little while back and have been trying to do the routine a few times a day. This is an exercise plan that was developed by the Chinese government and every morning everyone in China would do this exercise plan before getting their day started (back in Mao times). The exercises are a little different than western exercises (there is some punching and kicking), but it's a great full-body workout and super-easy to fit in during a commercial break or while your npm packages install. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Republic-China-4-Minute-Exercise/dp/0448116359/ https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Republic-China-4-Minute-Exerc...
DoreenMichele 9y ago
https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guid... https://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/avoid-gym-by-using-calisthenics https://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/avoid-gym... I don't go to a gym. I have serious physical limitations. Walking everywhere is my primary form of exercise. It has helped with myriad issues, including getting back lost cognitive function. Though, TBF, I have gone through periods where my daily routine involved 4 or more hours a day of walking.
blfr 9y ago
The government already tried to come up with a diet for average person. They vilified fat and pumped everyone full of carbs. While it's more convenient and effective to hit the gym, you can do a lot with just a little space on the floor and a pull up bar in the door frame. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938045768 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938045768
gaius 9y ago
It would be nice if the government came up with a basic calisthenics program for the average person to follow Something like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX
- DrPhish 9y ago
  As an anecdote, I knew one old guy who swore by this program. He was in his 80s and could keep up with adults in their prime when filling sandbags all day. He said it was the only exercise he got most days, but he did it every morning.
  - drharby 9y ago
    Hard to believe how sedentary people can get that such a program can makr a diff. I moved to the NE US after living in the midwest most my life, and the amount of walking ube had over the last 6 years has done wonders for my daily health.
always_good 9y ago
The problem with exercise isn't that people don't have a clue, it's that most people don't want to do it. Just like everyone knows some turnip greens are healthier than a bowl of icecream but still prefer the latter.

andai 9y ago

I love to be out and about, but it's been really cold and dark lately and I've been struggling. At the very least I make myself run up and down the apartment stairwell a couple times to wake myself up. I realized that unless I wake up my body, it stays half asleep, and my mind suffers too.

Jach 9y ago

I really doubt this information overload is the limiting factor. Everyone knows what a pushup is. Everyone had to take PE in public schooling (government already solved your problem) and knows many exercises that can be done indoors without needing the whole gym. But exercise sucks.

0xcde4c3db 9y ago
> I really doubt this information overload is the limiting factor. It's definitely a factor. Even if you filter out the utter bullshit (which is a task in itself), there's a huge amount of stuff out there around the theme of "exercising wrong", most of which doesn't agree about anything outside a handful of basics (e.g. sit-ups aren't very good at engaging abs) and much of which warns of injury if you fail to heed the advice. Are crunches a good exercise, or will they wreck my spine? How deep should I squat? What are the tradeoffs between high weight/low reps versus low weight/high reps? Are resistance bands or dumbbells worthwhile, or is barbell training so superior that anything else is a waste of time? The answers all seem to depend on which "school" of exercise you subscribe to. > Everyone knows what a pushup is. I know what a pushup is, but I can't actually do one, and it's not obvious how to progress it in a practical way ("wall pushups" aren't challenging, but going down to chair level is too much). There are a lot of practical issues like this that are glossed over by mainstream exercise advice (most of which seems to be written for relatively young, fit people with no chronic health issues that might interfere). > But exercise sucks. There's a huge amount of disagreement on this as well. Statements like "your body wants to move" are a common refrain from fitness gurus, for example. The chemical and neurological responses to exercise seem to vary quite a bit throughout the population, all the way from exercise triggering euphoria to exercise triggering depression (but it's only socially accepted to advertise the former). It's also pretty common in exercise studies for a given outcome measure to get no better or even get worse in ~10% of subjects, even when the average response is a statistically significant improvement. Conversely, there's often a ~10% with a markedly above-average improvement; this has been spun by the popular press as some people being "superexercisers" and others being "non-responders", but it seems to be much more complicated than that (i.e. one can be a "superexerciser" on one axis but a "non-responder" on another).
- Jach 9y ago
  I pretty much entirely agree with that, there is a lot of complexity and it can play a role in deciding to just avoid everything. Though in practice I think the complexity effect is overblown, and the role in deciding to do nothing is small (I'd bet the role is larger in deciding to do lots of different things unsuccessfully because one quits the current thing after it becomes difficult). Though if the complexity mattered all that much, this just sounds like the OP's desire for a government-approved 'average' outside of what exists in required PE is even more ludicrous.

claudiulodro 9y ago

I found People's Republic of China 4-minute Exercise Plan[1] at a thrift store a little while back and have been trying to do the routine a few times a day. This is an exercise plan that was developed by the Chinese government and every morning everyone in China would do this exercise plan before getting their day started (back in Mao times). The exercises are a little different than western exercises (there is some punching and kicking), but it's a great full-body workout and super-easy to fit in during a commercial break or while your npm packages install. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Republic-China-4-Minute-Exercise/dp/0448116359/ https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Republic-China-4-Minute-Exerc...

DoreenMichele 9y ago

https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guid... https://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/avoid-gym-by-using-calisthenics https://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/avoid-gym... I don't go to a gym. I have serious physical limitations. Walking everywhere is my primary form of exercise. It has helped with myriad issues, including getting back lost cognitive function. Though, TBF, I have gone through periods where my daily routine involved 4 or more hours a day of walking.

blfr 9y ago

The government already tried to come up with a diet for average person. They vilified fat and pumped everyone full of carbs. While it's more convenient and effective to hit the gym, you can do a lot with just a little space on the floor and a pull up bar in the door frame. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938045768 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938045768

gaius 9y ago

It would be nice if the government came up with a basic calisthenics program for the average person to follow Something like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5BX

DrPhish 9y ago
As an anecdote, I knew one old guy who swore by this program. He was in his 80s and could keep up with adults in their prime when filling sandbags all day. He said it was the only exercise he got most days, but he did it every morning.
- drharby 9y ago
  Hard to believe how sedentary people can get that such a program can makr a diff. I moved to the NE US after living in the midwest most my life, and the amount of walking ube had over the last 6 years has done wonders for my daily health.

always_good 9y ago

The problem with exercise isn't that people don't have a clue, it's that most people don't want to do it. Just like everyone knows some turnip greens are healthier than a bowl of icecream but still prefer the latter.