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I hate gym culture and I hate running too because the exercise is the 'core' of what you're doing in that time. Walking works for me because I can listen to new

I hate gym culture and I hate running too because the exercise is the 'core' of what you're doing in that time. Walking works for me because I can listen to new music and podcasts or sometimes just go through my mental monologue backlog without any stress. Living in an extremely walkable European capital is also a plus. Human legs are heavily optimized for walking. Running is a hunting/fleeing mechanism and it just feels wrong for me to artificially simulate that stress environment.

busymom0 5y ago
> I can listen to new music and podcasts That's exactly what I started doing last year when covid hit. Before then, I used to do decent running / stepper cardio in the gym. When covid hit, I cancelled my bus pass membership and have been walking everywhere since then. I do all my groceries, buying pet food etc walking. It takes about 40 minutes and I get to listen to podcasts during then. I have even started to "plan" my groceries - so I only buy around 2-3 days worth of meat and that ends up forcing me to leave the house at least every couple days. I sometimes plan things like buying larger items like toilet paper on separate days so I can walk with all my items without having to do uber or something else.
- spiderjerusalem 5y ago
  Yes haha, I've also been 'cheating' myself to walk more. Grocery planning as you mentioned, also picking up food from far away restaurants that I miss due to the lockdown.
akvadrako 5y ago
> Walking works for me because I can listen to new music and podcasts or sometimes just go through my mental monologue backlog without any stress. That's why I like running.
- spiderjerusalem 5y ago
  Any sort of intense exercise makes it impossible for me to actually think or concentrate on listening. It's a heightened state in many ways biochemically and is very different from the calm that walking gives. Running would just make what I'm listening to background noise, but that's not the correct level of engagement I want. I want 'exercise' to be the side effect and not the main activity I'm engaging in. Running is the other way around.
  - rrdharan 5y ago
    You could try running significantly slower (jogging, ~10 min/mi pace). Worked well for me.
    - kossTKR 5y ago
      Yes this is actually an important factor that is often overlooked. For the longest time i ran really fast to the point of exhaustion, ,sometimes with small pauses interval style. Then i tried running slower, which was actually hard for me for some reason, but could go much longer, and with less tax on my sympathetic nervous system and joints. I've also seen people do the "powerwalking" thing so that's also an option.
  - atat7024 5y ago
    Have you tried running on CBD?
    - mrfusion 5y ago
      Explain?
      - frosted-flakes 5y ago
        Running high
      - atat7024 5y ago
        Use CBD (from cannabis) tincture in the mouth, or loose leaf vaporized, before and after running, can reduce recovery time and inflammation.
pc86 5y ago
> Running is a hunting/fleeing mechanism and it just feels wrong for me to artificially simulate that stress environment. "Artificially simulate that stress environment?" Is that a joke? Exercise is [physical] stress. What about that seems "wrong" to you?
- scatters 5y ago
  There's an argument that stress is bad, because it forces the body to prioritise immediate survival at the expense of long term health. However, simulating a hunt should be good for the health since it informs the body that it is in a prey rich environment. The same goes for other stressful but evolutionary fitness promoting activities such as sex.
  - pc86 5y ago
    Any stress-related problems from running (not a point I'm conceding as I've never seen evidence of any) certainly outweighs the long-term problems from being overweight and out of shape with the lower respiratory capacity to boot.
- spiderjerusalem 5y ago
  No, no humour was intended by a purely subjective statement that intense exercise is more or less a deeply unpleasant experience for my body and my brain. The fact that it is beneficial to long term vitality is orthogonal to how it makes me feel and why I am almost never motivated to do it.
  - conistonwater 5y ago
    Just to be clear: if running is "intense exercise" that means you're doing it wrong, and you will have a much better time of it if you slow down to easy conversational pace. (People usually use the run-walk method to develop such a pace in the beginning.) The thing about exercise and human biology is that there is some room for subjective statements, but not that much room. I, for one, find it quite pleasant about exercise that it doesn't matter how it makes me feel temporarily, that it works so long as I do the right thing.
vladvasiliu 5y ago
I understand what you're saying and in my experience, while lifting weights or running, I don't really think about anything but the current action. However, I find that taking this time "off" from my usual activities, especially during the work day, is like a breath of fresh air (pun not initially intended). Yes, I also find that walking allows me to either listen to podcasts, music, or just think about random things. I will even start walking around my apartment or my parents' garden when I need to think over a difficult problem. But I find, more and more, that being "on" all the time and trying to optimise every last minute of the day isn't all that... optimal. Taking, say, an hour off work every day [0], during which I absolutely do not think about work at all, and only focus on the feeling of my muscles working or my breathing during a run has enormous consequences on my thinking about work when I actually get back. I find that this helps be much, much more focused than had I staid at my desk browsing random things on the internet or even walking and having my thoughts drift back to whatever it was I was working on. Bonus points for this removing my back and other random pains while sitting. To me, those are different "tools", each with its own purpose. --- [0] I don't run for long periods of time and am not looking to run a marathon. My goal is usually to run around 30 minutes, just enough to give my cardiovascular system a bit of a workout. So all in all, it takes me around 1h, counting the cool-down period (when the thinking random thoughts process comes back), washing my clothes and showering.
Steltek 5y ago
Me too! I call it "hamster wheel exercise" (not sure where I heard that term). Bike commuting to work feels very different than simply biking in a circle after work. Pandemic has not been kind to the bathroom scale. I lost my regular exercise but my diet got worse from stress eating.

busymom0 5y ago

> I can listen to new music and podcasts That's exactly what I started doing last year when covid hit. Before then, I used to do decent running / stepper cardio in the gym. When covid hit, I cancelled my bus pass membership and have been walking everywhere since then. I do all my groceries, buying pet food etc walking. It takes about 40 minutes and I get to listen to podcasts during then. I have even started to "plan" my groceries - so I only buy around 2-3 days worth of meat and that ends up forcing me to leave the house at least every couple days. I sometimes plan things like buying larger items like toilet paper on separate days so I can walk with all my items without having to do uber or something else.

spiderjerusalem 5y ago
Yes haha, I've also been 'cheating' myself to walk more. Grocery planning as you mentioned, also picking up food from far away restaurants that I miss due to the lockdown.

akvadrako 5y ago

> Walking works for me because I can listen to new music and podcasts or sometimes just go through my mental monologue backlog without any stress. That's why I like running.

spiderjerusalem 5y ago
Any sort of intense exercise makes it impossible for me to actually think or concentrate on listening. It's a heightened state in many ways biochemically and is very different from the calm that walking gives. Running would just make what I'm listening to background noise, but that's not the correct level of engagement I want. I want 'exercise' to be the side effect and not the main activity I'm engaging in. Running is the other way around.
- rrdharan 5y ago
  You could try running significantly slower (jogging, ~10 min/mi pace). Worked well for me.
  - kossTKR 5y ago
    Yes this is actually an important factor that is often overlooked. For the longest time i ran really fast to the point of exhaustion, ,sometimes with small pauses interval style. Then i tried running slower, which was actually hard for me for some reason, but could go much longer, and with less tax on my sympathetic nervous system and joints. I've also seen people do the "powerwalking" thing so that's also an option.
- atat7024 5y ago
  Have you tried running on CBD?
  - mrfusion 5y ago
    Explain?
    - frosted-flakes 5y ago
      Running high
    - atat7024 5y ago
      Use CBD (from cannabis) tincture in the mouth, or loose leaf vaporized, before and after running, can reduce recovery time and inflammation.

pc86 5y ago

> Running is a hunting/fleeing mechanism and it just feels wrong for me to artificially simulate that stress environment. "Artificially simulate that stress environment?" Is that a joke? Exercise is [physical] stress. What about that seems "wrong" to you?

scatters 5y ago
There's an argument that stress is bad, because it forces the body to prioritise immediate survival at the expense of long term health. However, simulating a hunt should be good for the health since it informs the body that it is in a prey rich environment. The same goes for other stressful but evolutionary fitness promoting activities such as sex.
- pc86 5y ago
  Any stress-related problems from running (not a point I'm conceding as I've never seen evidence of any) certainly outweighs the long-term problems from being overweight and out of shape with the lower respiratory capacity to boot.
spiderjerusalem 5y ago
No, no humour was intended by a purely subjective statement that intense exercise is more or less a deeply unpleasant experience for my body and my brain. The fact that it is beneficial to long term vitality is orthogonal to how it makes me feel and why I am almost never motivated to do it.
- conistonwater 5y ago
  Just to be clear: if running is "intense exercise" that means you're doing it wrong, and you will have a much better time of it if you slow down to easy conversational pace. (People usually use the run-walk method to develop such a pace in the beginning.) The thing about exercise and human biology is that there is some room for subjective statements, but not that much room. I, for one, find it quite pleasant about exercise that it doesn't matter how it makes me feel temporarily, that it works so long as I do the right thing.

vladvasiliu 5y ago

I understand what you're saying and in my experience, while lifting weights or running, I don't really think about anything but the current action. However, I find that taking this time "off" from my usual activities, especially during the work day, is like a breath of fresh air (pun not initially intended). Yes, I also find that walking allows me to either listen to podcasts, music, or just think about random things. I will even start walking around my apartment or my parents' garden when I need to think over a difficult problem. But I find, more and more, that being "on" all the time and trying to optimise every last minute of the day isn't all that... optimal. Taking, say, an hour off work every day [0], during which I absolutely do not think about work at all, and only focus on the feeling of my muscles working or my breathing during a run has enormous consequences on my thinking about work when I actually get back. I find that this helps be much, much more focused than had I staid at my desk browsing random things on the internet or even walking and having my thoughts drift back to whatever it was I was working on. Bonus points for this removing my back and other random pains while sitting. To me, those are different "tools", each with its own purpose. --- [0] I don't run for long periods of time and am not looking to run a marathon. My goal is usually to run around 30 minutes, just enough to give my cardiovascular system a bit of a workout. So all in all, it takes me around 1h, counting the cool-down period (when the thinking random thoughts process comes back), washing my clothes and showering.

Steltek 5y ago

Me too! I call it "hamster wheel exercise" (not sure where I heard that term). Bike commuting to work feels very different than simply biking in a circle after work. Pandemic has not been kind to the bathroom scale. I lost my regular exercise but my diet got worse from stress eating.