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I can't agree more. I can not imagine me doing this work without exercising. I do two workouts per week in the gym, two hours per session, very intensive. All t

by antirez 14y ago

I can't agree more. I can not imagine me doing this work without exercising. I do two workouts per week in the gym, two hours per session, very intensive. All the other days I run at home using the treadmill for 30 minutes, and do around 60 pushups in the morning, 60 in the evening. So it's just 2+2 = 4 hours at gym, plus 0.5*5 = 2.5 more hours, plus the pushups that is very little time. Let's say 8 hours per week of time spent exercising, but the benefits are huge: it's easy to focus during the week staying sit down without any pain, bad feeling or alike. Even after a day of doing many things I often reach home that I'm still pretty rested, and sometimes I add a few hours of work if I feel like there is some interesting problem to fix for Redis, or to write some doc, and so forth. Btw in the previous years I used the treadmill as I do now, but I did not used to do the bigger workouts nor the pushups. I changed my schedule only 12 months ago adding the new stuff, and it's a totally game changer, apparently just running was not enough for me.

neutronicus 14y ago
I don't know if this is what you do, but I've definitely noticed that working seriously on the power lifts (squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press) has made my joints feel better throughout the day.
- solarmist 14y ago
  I know exactly what you're talking about. Whenever I have back pain I know I've been away from deadlifts too long.
  - stiff 14y ago
    Deadlifts as a recommendation for back pain is, well... controversial. Maybe if you keep the weight low and the only source of the back pain is muscle soreness. I don't doubt it works for you, but in general people with back issues should stay away from deadlifting heavy weights.
    - solarmist 14y ago
      Hahaha.. Yeah, I'm healthy and young. I just meant that when my back starts hurting from sitting I know it's getting weak so I need to get my ass back in the gym and strengthen it. It does nothing, except maybe bad things, if you don't know the cause of the back issues.
    - jspiral 14y ago
      Heavy deadlifts fixed my back pain and several people I know. Sure, anecdotal evidence, but back pain isn't well understood and there's no real evidence for your position either. all people should stay away from heavy deadlifts until they have mastered good form of course. As an aside, GPs tend to give bad advice on all matters of sports medicine.
      - philbarr 14y ago
        Back pain can often be caused by having weak stomach muscles and having too much of a gut. The back ends up trying to support the weight at the front which the stomach muscles are unable to support by themselves. Source: my GP when he told me I was basically fat. :)
      - draven 14y ago
        Another anecdotal data point: I managed to make my back pain disappear with a combination of deadlifts, squats with good form and stretching of hip flexors. It also fixed some knee issue (side effect of strengthening the legs I guess.) Having recently moved I haven't taken the time to get a gym subscription. After 2 months of sitting all day I managed to hurt my back while sleeping (yep, it's ridiculous); I couldn't bend to tie my shoelaces for one week... So yep, I'm convinced lifting heavy stuff is good for your back (IF you use good form, of course.)
      - stiff 14y ago
        Many people might have back pain because of muscle weakness or just too much sitting, I don't doubt deadlifting could help them, so could many other things. But very few of the very many people with various back issues get them properly checked, and if you have any kind of damage to the actual tissues of your spine, than adding 500lbs of extra force acting on them certainly won't help and I don't think we need extra research to see that ;) I guess it also depends what "heavy" means to you - the weight used in a deadlift will always be higher than in most over exercises, but it is not uncommon for people to lift 2, 3 or 4 times their own weight.
- rjh29 14y ago
  They are also extremely hard to do correctly, and any mistake in form can and will injure you, either over time or due to one bad lift. I personally can't understand why they are so often recommended to beginner lifters.
  - Stwerner 14y ago
    Buying a book like Starting Strength by Rippetoe and starting with low weights goes a long way to getting your form good enough that you won't seriously injure yourself.
    - jdhopeunique 14y ago
      Just to add one anecdotal data point, I've done that and so far(for about 1 year) I have not had any problems. I do squat, deadlift, bench press, press, pullups, and situps. I've worked my way up to 230lbs + bar in deadlift and 200lbs + bar in squat. I experience a little muscle soreness in the back but that is all. I still need to watch what I eat and walk to burn calories since I still need to lose a little weight.
  - jambalaya 14y ago
    I think these lifts should always been done with qualified personnel. Would also recommend the olympic lifts and swimming.
solarmist 14y ago
I'd suggest splitting your two hour workouts into one hour chucks or even making them separate workouts. There's been a good amount of research implying if not stating out right that an intense workout of more than an hour does more harm than good. After about an hour you've burned most of the glycogen in your muscles and are just spinning your wheels (ie overworking your muscles rather than breaking them down to build them up).
- mertd 14y ago
  There's been a good amount of research implying if not stating out right that an intense workout of more than an hour does more harm than good. This is an extremely generalizing statement. Could you please provide citation(s)? For example the term "hitting the wall" used commonly among marathoners practically means depleting the glycogen. However this generally happens around the 2 hour mark (assuming no replacement during exercise). Not all exercises are created equally. A walk in the park is a form of exercise and so is endurance running. Shall we just assume these are equally demanding and stop at the 1 hour mark regardless?
  - riledhel 14y ago
    He pointed out the gym workouts are very intensive. And I agree with the advice from experience; I have a couple of friends who are really good swimmers and they told me their bodies respond better to short training sessions. Maybe give it a try for six weeks and then compare the results.
  - solarmist 14y ago
    It's been a couple years since I dug into the research myself, but doing a quick search it appears to be related to depleted glycogen, depleting bio-available testosterone, a rise in cortisol, plus various immune system changes. It hard to find specific articles on the internet though, but here's one that's talks in a general way about it, but doens't come out and say one hour. http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less Here's another that graphs the cortisol response vs time, but doesn't link to the specific article. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan6.htm http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan6.htm

by antirez 14y ago

neutronicus 14y ago

I don't know if this is what you do, but I've definitely noticed that working seriously on the power lifts (squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press) has made my joints feel better throughout the day.

solarmist 14y ago
I know exactly what you're talking about. Whenever I have back pain I know I've been away from deadlifts too long.
- stiff 14y ago
  Deadlifts as a recommendation for back pain is, well... controversial. Maybe if you keep the weight low and the only source of the back pain is muscle soreness. I don't doubt it works for you, but in general people with back issues should stay away from deadlifting heavy weights.
  - solarmist 14y ago
    Hahaha.. Yeah, I'm healthy and young. I just meant that when my back starts hurting from sitting I know it's getting weak so I need to get my ass back in the gym and strengthen it. It does nothing, except maybe bad things, if you don't know the cause of the back issues.
  - jspiral 14y ago
    Heavy deadlifts fixed my back pain and several people I know. Sure, anecdotal evidence, but back pain isn't well understood and there's no real evidence for your position either. all people should stay away from heavy deadlifts until they have mastered good form of course. As an aside, GPs tend to give bad advice on all matters of sports medicine.
    - philbarr 14y ago
      Back pain can often be caused by having weak stomach muscles and having too much of a gut. The back ends up trying to support the weight at the front which the stomach muscles are unable to support by themselves. Source: my GP when he told me I was basically fat. :)
    - draven 14y ago
      Another anecdotal data point: I managed to make my back pain disappear with a combination of deadlifts, squats with good form and stretching of hip flexors. It also fixed some knee issue (side effect of strengthening the legs I guess.) Having recently moved I haven't taken the time to get a gym subscription. After 2 months of sitting all day I managed to hurt my back while sleeping (yep, it's ridiculous); I couldn't bend to tie my shoelaces for one week... So yep, I'm convinced lifting heavy stuff is good for your back (IF you use good form, of course.)
    - stiff 14y ago
      Many people might have back pain because of muscle weakness or just too much sitting, I don't doubt deadlifting could help them, so could many other things. But very few of the very many people with various back issues get them properly checked, and if you have any kind of damage to the actual tissues of your spine, than adding 500lbs of extra force acting on them certainly won't help and I don't think we need extra research to see that ;) I guess it also depends what "heavy" means to you - the weight used in a deadlift will always be higher than in most over exercises, but it is not uncommon for people to lift 2, 3 or 4 times their own weight.
rjh29 14y ago
They are also extremely hard to do correctly, and any mistake in form can and will injure you, either over time or due to one bad lift. I personally can't understand why they are so often recommended to beginner lifters.
- Stwerner 14y ago
  Buying a book like Starting Strength by Rippetoe and starting with low weights goes a long way to getting your form good enough that you won't seriously injure yourself.
  - jdhopeunique 14y ago
    Just to add one anecdotal data point, I've done that and so far(for about 1 year) I have not had any problems. I do squat, deadlift, bench press, press, pullups, and situps. I've worked my way up to 230lbs + bar in deadlift and 200lbs + bar in squat. I experience a little muscle soreness in the back but that is all. I still need to watch what I eat and walk to burn calories since I still need to lose a little weight.
- jambalaya 14y ago
  I think these lifts should always been done with qualified personnel. Would also recommend the olympic lifts and swimming.

solarmist 14y ago

I'd suggest splitting your two hour workouts into one hour chucks or even making them separate workouts. There's been a good amount of research implying if not stating out right that an intense workout of more than an hour does more harm than good. After about an hour you've burned most of the glycogen in your muscles and are just spinning your wheels (ie overworking your muscles rather than breaking them down to build them up).

mertd 14y ago
There's been a good amount of research implying if not stating out right that an intense workout of more than an hour does more harm than good. This is an extremely generalizing statement. Could you please provide citation(s)? For example the term "hitting the wall" used commonly among marathoners practically means depleting the glycogen. However this generally happens around the 2 hour mark (assuming no replacement during exercise). Not all exercises are created equally. A walk in the park is a form of exercise and so is endurance running. Shall we just assume these are equally demanding and stop at the 1 hour mark regardless?
- riledhel 14y ago
  He pointed out the gym workouts are very intensive. And I agree with the advice from experience; I have a couple of friends who are really good swimmers and they told me their bodies respond better to short training sessions. Maybe give it a try for six weeks and then compare the results.
- solarmist 14y ago
  It's been a couple years since I dug into the research myself, but doing a quick search it appears to be related to depleted glycogen, depleting bio-available testosterone, a rise in cortisol, plus various immune system changes. It hard to find specific articles on the internet though, but here's one that's talks in a general way about it, but doens't come out and say one hour. http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less Here's another that graphs the cortisol response vs time, but doesn't link to the specific article. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan6.htm http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan6.htm