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It amazes me how rare it is for people to exercise. Entering my 30s, a somewhat regular exercise routine is something I expect in the people I date. Yet some

It amazes me how rare it is for people to exercise. Entering my 30s, a somewhat regular exercise routine is something I expect in the people I date. Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at all. They just don't like it the same way a kid doesn't like vegetables, as if that's an option. It blew my mind the first dozen times I'd heard someone say that they just aren't interested in it.

a_t48 9y ago
If you didn't start doing it younger, it's a tough habit to get into. I just started exercising twice a week (started in December). It's very hard starting off.
- MadSudaca 9y ago
  The upside is that once you turn it into a habit and unconsciously, as well as consciously, link it to your health and general well being, you'll be wanting to do it regularly, feeling bad when you don't for some period of time.
- toyg 9y ago
  Define “younger”. I was super-active until I had ankle problems at 19: football three to four times a week over winter, basketball all summer almost every day, running, and so on. I kept up in my 20s by walking a lot and the semi-periodic footie or basketball game with colleagues, until about 28. Then I bought a car and had kids, and my body exploded. A lot of athletes end up pretty big once they retire. “Starting young” for regular exercise is fundamentally meaningless, imho. It’s much more important to find ways to fit regular exercise in everyday routines that adults with commitments can stick to without having to spend mental energy on it. Whoever can come up with a simple way for a 30-40-yo to keep fit without having to think about it is going to be a bazillionaire. Walking is a good start, but the combination of car-friendly cities, the need to care for minors, and a society constantly running at breakneck speed, makes it an unrealistic choice for most.
bagacrap 9y ago
Having active hobbies is key. Many places and climates aren't suited to that though. Dragging yourself to a gym ~every day for years quickly becomes tiresome. People turn to group ex and personal trainers to get through the mental boredom but that's too expensive for many to afford.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  You don't have to go every day. Twice or even once a week has a lot of benefit.
  - trophycase 9y ago
    Sure, but gyms have extremely low stimulus and lifting weights really has no short term goal outside of the activity itself (compared to winning a basketball game, for example)
    - bradford 9y ago
      This seems like a rather defeatist attitude; the kind that keeps people away from the gym. I can assure you that once you commit to a regular exercise schedule, it is both highly stimulating and an end in itself.
      - maxxxxx 9y ago
        It's certainly important to pick something you like. For example, I hate running on treadmills
        Analemma_ 9y ago
        If you hate it, then you hate it, although there are things you can try to make it better. I used to hate running on treadmills, until I found that I don't mind it if I listen to techno music with a tempo matching my gait. The funny thing about this is, I can't stand techno at any other time. I think one of the keys to exercising regularly is finding "lifehacks" like this that reduce the misery.
maxxxxx 9y ago
Totally agree. One thing I am noticing that a lot of people don't respect light exercise. Either you have to do something extreme like Crossfit or you may as well do nothing. It's like most photos of yoga people are super fit, skinny people in their twenties so a lot of people are scared to even start.
- d1zzy 9y ago
  And unfortunately that results in people pushing themselves too much, too suddenly, injuring themselves (many times permanently) which means now they cannot even do light exercise. I would ban all marketing around hard exercising, it's damaging and unhealthy but I know that won't necessarily fix the issue as it seems to be some kind of group pressure problem, where people already engaged in doing a lot of physical exercise push newcomers to do the same, completely irresponsible.
- lifeformed 9y ago
  I find just going on a walk makes such a huge difference compared to nothing at all. Every little bit helps.
  - xeromal 9y ago
    I was my most fit when I was in Chicago walking from train stop to train stop. Like you said, walking goes a long way.
- sametmax 9y ago
  Indeed. I felt into this trap as well. I had to run 2 marathons before I realized it was too much for me, and stepped down to only running for the exercice. If you always overdo it, it will not stick. And continuity is the most important part.
- evo_9 9y ago
  This is very true. My light day workouts consist of fun stuff that are mostly sports related (hockey) like stick-handling, passing the puck around and shooting on a net with real pucks (sets of 10-15 shots rapid-fire really burn your arms and it's super fun). I have a pretty elaborate off-ice workout area setup in my basement that doubles as a great VR space. After that I play a few VR games that are full body/active type stuff (room-scale). For example, Space Pirate Trainer is my current jam; I currently hold the #3 spot on the world leader board and my games of late tend to take around 45m from level 1 to 70+. My heart-rate btw routinely hits around 130-140 toward the end of one of those game. Extreme stuff is awesome too if you are trying to maintain a high level of fitness for specific needs but most people can get by with way less and have pretty excellent results in day-to-day wellness. Tabata, burpees, pull-ups all have their place but even those you can do much less frequently than most think and benefit hugely.
sametmax 9y ago
Our brain is designed to prioritized comfort, there is nothing crazy about it. In a society decreasing material constraints and increasing opportunities to be in ones comfort zone, you will see it more and more. The problem is that most of the fulfilling things in life exist outside of our comfort zone. Hence we have a society full of comfortable unhappy people. It's ironic, given that the previous generations were unhappy because of the lack of comfort.
colordrops 9y ago
In American culture, it's considered basic practice for most people to keep their body clean and teeth in good repair. A subset of people keep their bodies exercised and fit. An much smaller subset have a mental hygiene practice such as mindfulness or introspection of some sort. We are an unhealthy people in general, which leads to many mental and physical health issues, a war like stance, and school shootings.
- numbers 9y ago
  Your thinking of the hierarchy of basic hygiene -> exercise -> mindfulness is exactly how I started thinking about my daily life about 3-4 months ago. I am not 100% there yet but I started by making sure by never skipping brushing even if I'm running late to work, then moved to flossing more often. Around the winter holidays I started walking more often (30+ mins), now I do it every day and then just last week I started practicing mindfulness by meditating and I saw it as the last step toward understanding my body more. Of course, I could be doing these with more rigor and more time but I think soon I'll see them as non-negotiables for everyday living. To me, it's a surprise that I went for a long time without thinking exercise is what my body needs just as much as I need calories and sleep.
  - anonytrary 9y ago
    Flossing is the kale of dental hygiene. It's the best habit I've taken up for my health other than running.
  - bernardino 9y ago
    > To me, it's a surprise that I went for a long time without thinking Boy, me too! I think most of my days fall into several categories: 1. hygiene: exercising, flossing, shaving, making my bed, eating, etc 2. spirituality: something like mindfulness, not meditation though, but rather just looking at the evening sky more often or being acutely aware of this moment and the next, of the very food I am eating, or not interpreting every experience I experience and just allowing this moment to be, etc 3. simplifying: decluttering, eliminating ideas or things that I become aware of and come across that I find aren't capital-t true or that I don't need, internally or externally 4. play: interests, going to class, studying, learning, working, hanging out with friends, sitting in traffic, paying the bills, swimming in the ocean, etc
mevile 9y ago
Exercise is important, but your comment is so full of smug "look why can't everyone be as awesome as me" that it really turned me off to any point you were trying to make. Not everyone is rich enough to have the time to exercise. Some people have to work two jobs just to pay rent. Some people have children that take up all of their time, we're not all brought up in nurturing wealthy homes with supportive parents making sure we learn all the things we should. People can't find a moment to have a minute of rest in their lives, can't even afford healthy food and here you are being condescending about what is wrong with all these other people you don't know a thing about.
- always_good 9y ago
  I'm not sure which part of my comment you think you're responding to. Seems like a generic rant against someone who might have said "anyone who doesn't exercise is a failure."
  - zaptheimpaler 9y ago
    >Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at all. They just don't like it the same way a kid doesn't like vegetables How about this part, where you compare anyone who doesn't exercise to a spoiled child?
- calvano915 9y ago
  Number one excuse for not doing exercise/physical activity is lack of time. Work jobs that include PA. Do activities with the kids that involve PA. Find 10-20 mins a few times a week for vigorous. Not that hard, no excuse, and their comment was not smug whatsoever. Part of caring for a family is caring for yourself.
  - mevile 9y ago
    Many people take the jobs they're lucky to find. They're lucky they have a job at all, or two if that's what they need. You should go take a walk down a not so nice street and let all the people you see there know how much more they should be exercising.
Flow 9y ago
I've Cardiogram installed on my iPhone and Apple Watch. In the app there's a statistics page and if what it says there I think many of the other users of Cardiogram surely must lie on their deathbed or are severely sick. :-( For example, on a slow weekend where I don't even leave the house I still get numbers that my 5000 steps inside my apartment are "higher than 83%" of the other users. Likewise with pulse and other metrics. The thought of so many people moving so much less and probably eat a lot worse than I do makes me really worried. Will the human body adapt in time or will this turn into an almost plague level of dying soon?
r_singh 9y ago
Exactly, I agree with you completely. I'm 23, I've been exercising regularly since I was 18 and I cannot imagine life without a 20 min run and some weight training daily. I workout for the high it gives me, it's the most sustainable form of high for weekdays. The benefits cannot even be counted if one exercises carefully and consistently; society should embrace it and make it a daily ritual like brushing teeth.
yodsanklai 9y ago
> Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at all. Maybe they are right. Life expectancy in Europe is about 80 years old. I may be wrong but I suspect most people who are 80 years old now never exercised. They probably were physically active but didn't exercise in the modern sense of the term. If you are reasonably active in your daily life and eat healthy food, I'm not sure exercising is such a necessity.
- cesnja 9y ago
  What you're missing from this observation is that exercise doesn't extend one's lifetime that much, but just improves the general quality of life, meaning that 80-year olds that are/were active in moderation now enjoy a bit better QOL [1]. [1] https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/56/suppl_2/89/581109 https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/56/suppl_...
closeparen 9y ago
It’s surprising to you that people don’t voluntarily subject themselves to regular self-torture? Taking pride and pleasure in one’s ability to endure pain is certainly a trait that exists, but not a universal one. It would very surprising for someone who does not share this affinity to engage in regular, focused, deliberate practice at doing work whose sole purpose is its vigorous unpleasantness. Of course there are people who have pleasant and unchallenging movement as part of their daily life (I walk and bike to work on flat ground, for example) but that is a far cry from going to the gym for a serious exercise routine.
- CuriouslyC 9y ago
  It's not torture, it's a challenge. If a person doesn't learn to love overcoming challenges, they're always going to be mediocre. There's no getting around that.

a_t48 9y ago

If you didn't start doing it younger, it's a tough habit to get into. I just started exercising twice a week (started in December). It's very hard starting off.

MadSudaca 9y ago
The upside is that once you turn it into a habit and unconsciously, as well as consciously, link it to your health and general well being, you'll be wanting to do it regularly, feeling bad when you don't for some period of time.
toyg 9y ago
Define “younger”. I was super-active until I had ankle problems at 19: football three to four times a week over winter, basketball all summer almost every day, running, and so on. I kept up in my 20s by walking a lot and the semi-periodic footie or basketball game with colleagues, until about 28. Then I bought a car and had kids, and my body exploded. A lot of athletes end up pretty big once they retire. “Starting young” for regular exercise is fundamentally meaningless, imho. It’s much more important to find ways to fit regular exercise in everyday routines that adults with commitments can stick to without having to spend mental energy on it. Whoever can come up with a simple way for a 30-40-yo to keep fit without having to think about it is going to be a bazillionaire. Walking is a good start, but the combination of car-friendly cities, the need to care for minors, and a society constantly running at breakneck speed, makes it an unrealistic choice for most.

bagacrap 9y ago

Having active hobbies is key. Many places and climates aren't suited to that though. Dragging yourself to a gym ~every day for years quickly becomes tiresome. People turn to group ex and personal trainers to get through the mental boredom but that's too expensive for many to afford.

maxxxxx 9y ago
You don't have to go every day. Twice or even once a week has a lot of benefit.
- trophycase 9y ago
  Sure, but gyms have extremely low stimulus and lifting weights really has no short term goal outside of the activity itself (compared to winning a basketball game, for example)
  - bradford 9y ago
    This seems like a rather defeatist attitude; the kind that keeps people away from the gym. I can assure you that once you commit to a regular exercise schedule, it is both highly stimulating and an end in itself.
    - maxxxxx 9y ago
      It's certainly important to pick something you like. For example, I hate running on treadmills
      - Analemma_ 9y ago
        If you hate it, then you hate it, although there are things you can try to make it better. I used to hate running on treadmills, until I found that I don't mind it if I listen to techno music with a tempo matching my gait. The funny thing about this is, I can't stand techno at any other time. I think one of the keys to exercising regularly is finding "lifehacks" like this that reduce the misery.

maxxxxx 9y ago

Totally agree. One thing I am noticing that a lot of people don't respect light exercise. Either you have to do something extreme like Crossfit or you may as well do nothing. It's like most photos of yoga people are super fit, skinny people in their twenties so a lot of people are scared to even start.

d1zzy 9y ago
And unfortunately that results in people pushing themselves too much, too suddenly, injuring themselves (many times permanently) which means now they cannot even do light exercise. I would ban all marketing around hard exercising, it's damaging and unhealthy but I know that won't necessarily fix the issue as it seems to be some kind of group pressure problem, where people already engaged in doing a lot of physical exercise push newcomers to do the same, completely irresponsible.
lifeformed 9y ago
I find just going on a walk makes such a huge difference compared to nothing at all. Every little bit helps.
- xeromal 9y ago
  I was my most fit when I was in Chicago walking from train stop to train stop. Like you said, walking goes a long way.
sametmax 9y ago
Indeed. I felt into this trap as well. I had to run 2 marathons before I realized it was too much for me, and stepped down to only running for the exercice. If you always overdo it, it will not stick. And continuity is the most important part.
evo_9 9y ago
This is very true. My light day workouts consist of fun stuff that are mostly sports related (hockey) like stick-handling, passing the puck around and shooting on a net with real pucks (sets of 10-15 shots rapid-fire really burn your arms and it's super fun). I have a pretty elaborate off-ice workout area setup in my basement that doubles as a great VR space. After that I play a few VR games that are full body/active type stuff (room-scale). For example, Space Pirate Trainer is my current jam; I currently hold the #3 spot on the world leader board and my games of late tend to take around 45m from level 1 to 70+. My heart-rate btw routinely hits around 130-140 toward the end of one of those game. Extreme stuff is awesome too if you are trying to maintain a high level of fitness for specific needs but most people can get by with way less and have pretty excellent results in day-to-day wellness. Tabata, burpees, pull-ups all have their place but even those you can do much less frequently than most think and benefit hugely.

sametmax 9y ago

Our brain is designed to prioritized comfort, there is nothing crazy about it. In a society decreasing material constraints and increasing opportunities to be in ones comfort zone, you will see it more and more. The problem is that most of the fulfilling things in life exist outside of our comfort zone. Hence we have a society full of comfortable unhappy people. It's ironic, given that the previous generations were unhappy because of the lack of comfort.

colordrops 9y ago

In American culture, it's considered basic practice for most people to keep their body clean and teeth in good repair. A subset of people keep their bodies exercised and fit. An much smaller subset have a mental hygiene practice such as mindfulness or introspection of some sort. We are an unhealthy people in general, which leads to many mental and physical health issues, a war like stance, and school shootings.

numbers 9y ago
Your thinking of the hierarchy of basic hygiene -> exercise -> mindfulness is exactly how I started thinking about my daily life about 3-4 months ago. I am not 100% there yet but I started by making sure by never skipping brushing even if I'm running late to work, then moved to flossing more often. Around the winter holidays I started walking more often (30+ mins), now I do it every day and then just last week I started practicing mindfulness by meditating and I saw it as the last step toward understanding my body more. Of course, I could be doing these with more rigor and more time but I think soon I'll see them as non-negotiables for everyday living. To me, it's a surprise that I went for a long time without thinking exercise is what my body needs just as much as I need calories and sleep.
- anonytrary 9y ago
  Flossing is the kale of dental hygiene. It's the best habit I've taken up for my health other than running.
- bernardino 9y ago
  > To me, it's a surprise that I went for a long time without thinking Boy, me too! I think most of my days fall into several categories: 1. hygiene: exercising, flossing, shaving, making my bed, eating, etc 2. spirituality: something like mindfulness, not meditation though, but rather just looking at the evening sky more often or being acutely aware of this moment and the next, of the very food I am eating, or not interpreting every experience I experience and just allowing this moment to be, etc 3. simplifying: decluttering, eliminating ideas or things that I become aware of and come across that I find aren't capital-t true or that I don't need, internally or externally 4. play: interests, going to class, studying, learning, working, hanging out with friends, sitting in traffic, paying the bills, swimming in the ocean, etc

mevile 9y ago

Exercise is important, but your comment is so full of smug "look why can't everyone be as awesome as me" that it really turned me off to any point you were trying to make. Not everyone is rich enough to have the time to exercise. Some people have to work two jobs just to pay rent. Some people have children that take up all of their time, we're not all brought up in nurturing wealthy homes with supportive parents making sure we learn all the things we should. People can't find a moment to have a minute of rest in their lives, can't even afford healthy food and here you are being condescending about what is wrong with all these other people you don't know a thing about.

always_good 9y ago
I'm not sure which part of my comment you think you're responding to. Seems like a generic rant against someone who might have said "anyone who doesn't exercise is a failure."
- zaptheimpaler 9y ago
  >Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at all. They just don't like it the same way a kid doesn't like vegetables How about this part, where you compare anyone who doesn't exercise to a spoiled child?
calvano915 9y ago
Number one excuse for not doing exercise/physical activity is lack of time. Work jobs that include PA. Do activities with the kids that involve PA. Find 10-20 mins a few times a week for vigorous. Not that hard, no excuse, and their comment was not smug whatsoever. Part of caring for a family is caring for yourself.
- mevile 9y ago
  Many people take the jobs they're lucky to find. They're lucky they have a job at all, or two if that's what they need. You should go take a walk down a not so nice street and let all the people you see there know how much more they should be exercising.

Flow 9y ago

I've Cardiogram installed on my iPhone and Apple Watch. In the app there's a statistics page and if what it says there I think many of the other users of Cardiogram surely must lie on their deathbed or are severely sick. :-( For example, on a slow weekend where I don't even leave the house I still get numbers that my 5000 steps inside my apartment are "higher than 83%" of the other users. Likewise with pulse and other metrics. The thought of so many people moving so much less and probably eat a lot worse than I do makes me really worried. Will the human body adapt in time or will this turn into an almost plague level of dying soon?

r_singh 9y ago

Exactly, I agree with you completely. I'm 23, I've been exercising regularly since I was 18 and I cannot imagine life without a 20 min run and some weight training daily. I workout for the high it gives me, it's the most sustainable form of high for weekdays. The benefits cannot even be counted if one exercises carefully and consistently; society should embrace it and make it a daily ritual like brushing teeth.

yodsanklai 9y ago

> Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at all. Maybe they are right. Life expectancy in Europe is about 80 years old. I may be wrong but I suspect most people who are 80 years old now never exercised. They probably were physically active but didn't exercise in the modern sense of the term. If you are reasonably active in your daily life and eat healthy food, I'm not sure exercising is such a necessity.

cesnja 9y ago
What you're missing from this observation is that exercise doesn't extend one's lifetime that much, but just improves the general quality of life, meaning that 80-year olds that are/were active in moderation now enjoy a bit better QOL [1]. [1] https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/56/suppl_2/89/581109 https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/56/suppl_...

closeparen 9y ago

It’s surprising to you that people don’t voluntarily subject themselves to regular self-torture? Taking pride and pleasure in one’s ability to endure pain is certainly a trait that exists, but not a universal one. It would very surprising for someone who does not share this affinity to engage in regular, focused, deliberate practice at doing work whose sole purpose is its vigorous unpleasantness. Of course there are people who have pleasant and unchallenging movement as part of their daily life (I walk and bike to work on flat ground, for example) but that is a far cry from going to the gym for a serious exercise routine.

CuriouslyC 9y ago
It's not torture, it's a challenge. If a person doesn't learn to love overcoming challenges, they're always going to be mediocre. There's no getting around that.