8 ms·

The ROI of Exercise

154 points by ingve 1y ago

donatj 1y ago
> Less pain Is there anything to back this up? The people I know who work out are always complaining about their muscles and joints.
- user68858788 1y ago
  Anecdotally, weight training eliminated my chronic shoulder and hip pains from sitting at a desk. I’ve read several similar stories but I’d be interested to see studies on this.
- cadamsdotcom 1y ago
  Some ways to exercise avoid injury & get results, and some.. don’t. I’m a triathlete of 4 years now - love to be sore but have never been injured & unable to train. There are three things you must do: 1. good technique: lift with the right muscles, run at the right cadence & target heart rate. 2. listen to your body when it needs less or more load. 3. treat recovery as equally important as exercise itself. Exercise’s mirror. That said, instead of actual complaints, your friends might be social signaling! Bringing it up to bond over the joy of exercise. Humans do that subconsciously, and there is a ton of joy to bond over!
  - DSingularity 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - kelnos 1y ago
      Why do people feel the need to waste time commenting about whether or not a comment is LLM-generated? If you think the comment doesn't belong here, downvote or flag it. That goes for things you think are LLM-generated or human-generated. Commenting about LLM-generated speculation is just noise, and I regret spending this time replying to you on this topic when I could be doing absolutely anything else.
      - DSingularity 1y ago
        Why do people feel the need to waste time complaining about how speculation on whether a comment is LLM-generated is a waste of time? If you think the speculation doesn’t belong here, downvote or flag it. That goes for speculation you dislike and generally any comment. Commenting about the value of speculation is just noise, and I regret spending this time replying to you on this topic when I could be doing absolutely anything else.
- donalhunt 1y ago
  From personal experience strength training has been key to recovering from injuries (caused by doing stupid things, not exercise itself). So maybe the correlation between exercise and pain is incorrect? The exercise is the cure to the pain... https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5753318/v1 https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5753318/v1 (pre-print) seems to provide a strong argument for strength training being beneficial. My search was not thorough so likely more studies out there.
- chistev 1y ago
  https://youtu.be/_fbCcWyYthQ?feature=shared https://youtu.be/_fbCcWyYthQ?feature=shared
- jajko 1y ago
  If folks are regularly sore and their goals are not some lofty races or even higher and further down the progression path, they are doing it wrong. You should feel the exercise and specific muscles afterwards, sometimes even a day after (like hamstrings and thighs from squats, those don't get much workout during normal life), but after initial beginner phase the continuous long term goal is to get enough workout that muscles are not sore, just notch below. Properly sore muscle needs few days rest, a well used one can be again fully loaded in 48h easily. And overall definitely less pain or more like 0 pain, ie back from weak core is pretty typical. Another one are knees, but to train knees around some already-damaged tissues is more tricky, but definitely worth it. After starting weightlifting (on top of some sports like ski touring, climbing, hiking etc) I can handle much more, heavier and longer. Need to move your/friend stuff to another apartment? All day carrying with them feels like mild stretch, compared to them complaining for back pain for another 3 days.
- ajuc 1y ago
  You don't know you have problems with X if you aren't using X. If you do nothing for 20 years and then go for a 20km walk - you'll be in pain. But it's the 20 years that caused it, not the 20 km.
  - donatj 1y ago
    Sure, but is the sum of that single day of pain more than the sum of 20 years of pain?
    - _9ptr 1y ago
      It's not 20 years of pain though
- m_fayer 1y ago
  For me personally: My fitness routines are regular but sloppy. I’m often complaining about soreness here, a lightly pulled there, a big joint that needs to be left alone for a few days. It’s annoying but also even kinda satisfying, and I know how to avoid serious injury. I’m not complaining about lower back pain because my fitness activity has rid me of it. That pain would have stopped me from being able to move easily, work on my cabin, play with children, and would have eventually made me overweight and chronically ill. The tradeoff is really a no-brainer in my case, and I don’t think my case is so unique.
- kelnos 1y ago
  There's a difference between soreness and pain. My muscles get sore all the time from exercise, but it's not painful. That soreness just tells me I'm probably going to be a little bit stronger because of the exercise I just did. (Of course it's a continuum: certain higher levels of soreness mean I probably overdid it.) Joint pain is a whole other thing, though. Usually joint pain means that you're doing some sort of exercise incorrectly, or that you're using too much weight or intensity for your current level of physical fitness. Or you have a previous injury that can't fully heal and there are some exercises that you just shouldn't be doing, but you do them anyway. But I think the author is talking about less pain in a different way. For example, I threw out my lower back 25 years ago in college, and it's never been the same since. But doing core exercises and strengthening the muscles around that area means much less chance of pain doing regular day-to-day activities.
  - ruslan_sure 1y ago
    Soreness isn't ideal. It won't make you stronger. Actually, it might make your recovery slower.
    - fercircularbuf 1y ago
      First time I've ever heard that soreness = something wrong. Isn't soreness basically guaranteed to some degree if you've done enough work to actually build strength?
      - beingfit 1y ago
        It depends. But as GP also said, it can be because one is not exercising (that part of the body) regularly. Anecdotally, I have seen that soreness is not really observed when exercising regularly. Some aches and a little fatigue? Probably. But not really muscle soreness.
        chistev 1y ago
        True
- cpursley 1y ago
  There's a big difference between recovery pain and chronic pain. Also, if someone has joint pain, they are doing the wrong exercises. For example, running trashes my knees, but biking does not. Also, picking up heavy shit (weights - squats and deadlifts) is the only thing that resolved lower back pain (from sitting all day).
  - j_bum 1y ago
    I’m in the same exact boat with deadlifts helping my back pain from my desk job.
  - scotty79 1y ago
    Doing anything more than you should will trash something in your body. How much of something you should be doing? Pain is a good indicator. I you are below 40 you shouldn't feel it at all. If you are above, you should feel it a bit and observe it closely while reducing the load. If it gets weaker with time, you have appropriate load, if it doesn't or gets stronger, your load is still too high.
    - cpursley 1y ago
      Some people just have bad knees, you know. But what you said for the most part is accurate in terms of exercise.
      - scotty79 1y ago
        Everybody has bad everything. We are walking wrecks about to fall apart in few short decades. But there's genetic variety. There are dozens of variants of genes that code something as essential as collagen. Some resulting in very crappy kind. Some really do have it worse. That's why everybody needs to be listening to their bodies and apply themselves accordingly.
- nottorp 1y ago
  Most of those are not actually complaining but bragging. Sore muscles -> good workout.
- ruslan_sure 1y ago
  Physical activity triggers the production of endorphins, specifically beta-endorphins, which are natural painkillers.
- brightball 1y ago
  When you start working out, you will have soreness in your muscles from lactic acid because your body isn’t used to it. Once you get in a routine of doing it at least twice a week you won’t get that soreness anymore. People who start working out, then miss a month, then start back experience it all the time. Consistency is key.
  - scotty79 1y ago
    When you start drinking something like unsweetened tea, initially it's almost unbearably bitter. But as you drink it long enough, it feels less and less bitter. It didn't get any less bitter, you just impaired your ability to sense this kind of bitterness. I wonder what happens with muscle soreness. Do they get actually get less sore after consistent exercise? Or do you just blunt your nervous system into not detecting chemical signatures of the damage? I'm guessing it's the second case because people here are commenting that after exercising long enough you can still have gains but no pain of muscle soreness.
    - _9ptr 1y ago
      They get less sore, because they're more adapted to the stress of exercise. The hardest DOMS comes from movements you're not used to.
      - scotty79 1y ago
        Or from the damage in places that your nervous system didn't yet get blunted to.
- ants_everywhere 1y ago
  Every life long runner I know has had a serious knee problem or other injury. But I think running is higher impact on the body that a lot of of other exercise. You're putting your full body weight on a small area several times a second for many minutes every day.
  - EPWN3D 1y ago
    If that's what you're doing, you're not running correctly. Keep your knees bent so that the shock goes up to your gluts and hips.
    - ants_everywhere 1y ago
      I'm not talking about myself and I haven't evaluated the running form of the people I know. But impact is just force and time and the high pressure is because contact is being made with your foot, which has a small surface area. You can find hammers that absorb shocks better than others, but ultimately it's driving the nail because of impact and pressure. (Small hammer head striking quickly). I don't doubt that proper form, correct training, and other interventions can reduce running injuries. But they're the most frequent exercise injuries I've seen personally and they also appear common statistically. (Of course running is more accessible than, say, jai alai so base rates are higher anyway)
- deinonychus 1y ago
  I've wondered about that too. My personal thoughts and anecdote, assuming you're not talking about the kind of "bro I got in a killer workout yesterday, my biceps are still sore" Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness humblebragging: I have a controlled autoimmune disorder like arthritis that causes me some joint pain. But it basically goes away if I do regular strength training. If you do strength training or any sport long enough you'll eventually hurt yourself. Usually that's just a pulled muscle because you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and it goes away after a few days. These micro-injuries actually seem to happen to me a lot, probably because of my condition I'm just prone to this stuff. But I prefer it to the pains of inactivity. Even for people without arthritis, you have a question to answer: which would you rather suffer from? The pains from not working, out like having a weak core and bad posture and the discomfort of being unable to climb a few sets of stairs? Or the pains from working out, like pulling a back muscle because you didn't warm up or some shin or knee pain from too much running? The answer is obvious to me. You're going to get hurt either way. I'll go with the path that makes me feel better, live longer, look hotter, and is a rewarding challenge.
- abullinan 1y ago
  Some people just like to complain? Or at least make it clear they are working out to everyone around them? Or they are working out too hard for their fitness level? Lots of reasons.
- EPWN3D 1y ago
  In my case, it's "good" pain. If you exercise regularly, you're going to be sore a lot of the time, but you grow to like it. It's a reminder that you worked hard and not really debilitating.
kobstrtr 1y ago
> that's about 8,500 hours of exercise, or about a year of solid physical activity These comparisons are crap. You can‘t simply take one year, exercise 24/7, and get your 10 years of life. You have to fit it into life, which is much more time than it seems from claiming it‘s 1 year out of 80. But it‘s still a good investment! :)
- kelnos 1y ago
  That's a perfectly valid comparison. A year's worth of hours is still a year's worth of hours, regardless of what time span I spread it over. We use this sort of formulation everywhere. If I say I work 40 hours a week, no one is going to assume that I start work at 9am on Monday, work non-stop until 1am Wednesday, and then take the rest of the week off. If I say that people spend approximately a third of their lives sleeping, no one thinks I mean that they sleep continuously from birth until they're 30 years old, and then spend the next 60 years awake.
  - sersi 1y ago
    The point is that it's 8500 hours of free time used for exercise. It's time when you're not eating sleeping or working. So it's not exactly the same. For people who have very little free time due to commute, work, children, etc. It's harder to spend half an hour of free time a day on exerciaing. I mean I do agree with the premise that exercising is a good return (especially since the better sleep quality should be factored in) but I think the person you're replying to has a point when he says that saying it's one year of life is not really comparable
  - unop 1y ago
    Umm, the front-loaded 8k hours might not have much return if you were sedantary in the later decades (arguably the years where exercise helps stave off metabolic disease) as much as sustained levels of exercise all through life. I mean, we all know of the university budding sports star types who probably invested in many hours training and trying to break into their sport professionally but not quite cutting it - and then "retiring into mediocrity" with the regular 9-5,2 hour commute, 3 kids and the diet to match. They exercise no differently to the regular Joe and suffer all the maladies the same.
koolba 1y ago
> We know from one study that people who played tennis a few times per week lived roughly 10 years longer than average. So we'll use that value going forward. There has to be some incredible correlation between having the time and money to play tennis “a few times per week” and being significantly wealthier than the average person. And being wealthy is clearly the healthiest thing you can do.
- giantg2 1y ago
  Very much this. While tennis has become more accessible and lower cost over time, it has always been an expensive sport.
  - ceejayoz 1y ago
    Honest question: Why? There's a free court near me, and both balls and racquets can be gotten for peanuts.
    - cpursley 1y ago
      They're talking from a North American perspective (probably). In most of Europe, there are plenty of outdoor and other free exercise opportunity. Another downside of the incorrect build environment (poor city planning) is that Americans simply don't have built-in ways to move their bodies. When I spent time in Eastern Europe, there was literally a free tennis/basketball court across the street. And a variety of other courts, including outdoor gym. And when house sitting around, there was nearly always an outdoor park with greenspace for strolling, exercise. All free.
      - huhkerrf 1y ago
        Well, while we're talking about anecdotes, my neighborhood in a poor Texas town also had a free tennis court. There were a couple more down the road. My in-laws suburb has walking trails end basketball courts.
        1y ago
chaostheory 1y ago
If you’re struggling with exercise and with getting it into a routine, I can’t recommend standalone, wireless VR enough. It was fun and engaging enough to keep me coming back without feeling that I was doing a boring chore, and nearly every game has you moving, with the exception of the flying and driving sims. Imagine fighting ninjas and dodging bullets as your workout. You can literally get that and more with VR. It was my gateway back into fitness.
- Maximus9000 1y ago
  Can you recommend any specific games that meet these requirements? I don't have VR, but I remember playing "Super hot VR" and getting a surprisingly good workout from that game.
  - carpool4268 1y ago
    It sounds like they're talking about pistol whip. If I can promote one myself, Synth Riders can be a hell of a workout. People like comparing it to beat saber. Unlike beat saber, there's no swords, so there's a lot less wrist movement and a lot more arm/full-body movement. It feels a lot like dancing while you're doing it. I'm no great fan of exercise, but if I'm not careful I can exercise myself deep past exhaustion in this one -- especially on the harder difficulty charts. And beyond that there's a mode where you punch the notes instead of trying to catch them. I haven't tried it, but that sounds even more demanding. But aside from anything else, it's just fun! Great option for training cardio, it really works out the arms.
    - chaostheory 1y ago
      Whoa! You’re one of the people behind Synth Riders?!! That’s a great game with great music. I like the immersive add-ons and the fact that it looks like you’re actually dancing to onlookers instead of moving weird like in Beat Saber. My only criticism is that I’m not a fan of the Swing EDM music.
  - chaostheory 1y ago
    Beat Saber Thrill of the Fight Synth Riders Pistol Whip Body Combat Les Mills XR Dance Supernatural (paid subscription) Fix XR (paid subscription) Holotfit (paid subscription) works with rowing machines Racket Club Until you fall Blade and Sorcery Dragon Fist Kung fu (if you want to go all the way with Pc and don’t mind wires, this one supports foot tracking) Blast on! Stride Battle talent Space pirate trainer Racket NX Gorilla tag Stride Blacktop Hoops Masters of Light Mothergunship forge There’s so many other games that I missed listing. Really any action VR game where you’re the first person hero will get you moving enough as a habit. You are now the character instead of a puppet master controlling one via buttons. Need to duck or crouch? You will feel it and sweat sooner or later.
mehulashah 1y ago
100%. There’s no point in nitpicking on this post. There’s an outsized return on exercise and it’s measurable. People don’t get — especially young people — that exercise is like eating, sleeping, and pooping. Your body needs it in regular intervals otherwise its carefully balanced system goes out of whack.
- msgodel 1y ago
  I figured out in my teens that I program and do math way better if I have daily exercise walks. I'm surprised people don't notice that.
  - Breza 1y ago
    I set up a treadmill desk during the pandemic. It has definitely improved my focus and concentration. The book In Praise of Walking has a lot of the science behind why.
- heresie-dabord 1y ago
  Further, people don't know enough about the deadly effects of obesity, high blood pressure, and the big killer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis Exercise is vital! "Atherosclerosis generally starts when a person is young and worsens with age. Almost all people are affected to some degree by the age of 65. It is the number one cause of death and disability in developed countries. Though it was first described in 1575, there is evidence suggesting that this disease state is genetically inherent in the broader human population, with its origins tracing back to CMAH genetic mutations that may have occurred more than two million years ago during the evolution of hominin ancestors of modern human beings."
marcogarces 1y ago
"what is pain? French bread!"
ruslan_sure 1y ago
Physical activity increases lifespan primarily by lowering the likelihood of falling and breaking your hip. If you break your hip, your life expectancy is dramatically reduced. If that's your goal, just train your legs! That said, I think the most important part of exercising is the mental boost it provides. It's like a healthy drug. There are no negative side effects, and it's highly praised by society.
- dachris 1y ago
  That's certainly not the only (and I'd also not put it as primary) reason for extending the lifespan. Still, breaking one's hip in advanced age is often a death sentence as many people never get out of bed again. When an old person breaks their hip around here, people say something along the lines of "we'd better hurry up for visiting them one last time".
  - DebtDeflation 1y ago
    There's also a lot of reverse causation here. Healthy people don't fall very often and when they do they generally don't break their hips. Falling frequently and suffering broken hips when falling are both general signs of poor systemic health and overall fragility which portend a short remaining lifespan regardless.
- firesteelrain 1y ago
  You aren’t wrong. Train your legs and walk. Don’t sit in the recliner when you retire. 7000-10000 steps a day helps
  - megaloblasto 1y ago
    True, however I know a lot of people over 60 who think that walking alone is sufficient. You need to strength train too. Train your abs and at least do body squat variations. Walking is great to lose weight and keep your heart healthy, but not sufficient in itself.
    - 1y ago
TacticalCoder 1y ago
Exercising and building muscles when you're young is the very best thing you can do. These muscles shall stay for a very, very, very long time. As a kid I was doing BMX, tennis (still do some), swimming then as a teenager street skateboarding, rollerskating, MX (motor)bike, tennis. Now I'm an old man (52 y/o) and I don't do much sport. Some MTBing (still can do a wheelie and trackstand, ah!) but really not much. I drive my old sportcar (yup, that is physical and you do sweat). Some tennis while on vacation. And shooting at the range (and, yup, that is a bit physical too). But I really don't do much. I'm of this school: "Qui veut voyager loin ménage sa monture" (french) which translates to "He who wants to travel far takes care of his mount.". The number of friends my age who destroyed their bodies by continuing to exercise as if they were 20 or 30 years old is beyond belief. I think I'm one of the only one who didn't get knee surgery yet. Running is terribly bad as you get older. Hockey (ice or grass): body destroyer. BJJ? Don't get me even started. My doctor says "sport is death". He knows. Tennis is particular in that you can really play it at your own pace: just pick someone your age and hit the court gently. No crazy rallies, just fun: I'm not going to win Roland-Garros at 52 y/o and you ain't either. And there's something else among all of my friends who regularly do sport: as soon as they stop for a few weeks, they get fat. Which is a problem I don't have. So exercising a lot in your teens, 20s and 30s: sure. That shall build you muscle you'll keep for decades (my legs are still very strong). But slow down after that or you'll break your body and then get fat as soon as you have to stop exercising (for example because you have to get knee surgery because you destroyed your knees running). Something something about Buddha / Siddhartha warning to not put too much tension in a lute's strings or in a bow's string. There's a lesson in there. You have your age, deal with it and act accordingly.
- bandika 1y ago
  I think you are really wrong here. I’m 47 and after on and off running for decades, a few months ago I started to run every day. 2K in the first month - to start gently, then 2M (3.22k) for a month, then the next month 5k, and then 8k. I am doing 10k every day after 5 months, and I've never felt before so fit and healthy. I think it’s never too late to start exercising regularly, even if it means daily.
- gilbetron 1y ago
almost_usual 1y ago
The mental toughness, discipline, and higher energy levels that come with exercise are more important to me than physical appearance or living longer, and at this point almost anything else in life. Wake up at 4am, run hill repeats for miles and then go into work. I guarantee no incident or colleague will trigger a stress response. You will feel as cool as a cucumber and when an urgent issue does come up you will handle it with absolute mental clarity. That afternoon drowsiness will also not hit you at all, counterintuitive right? By 9pm you will fall asleep no matter what happened that day. This kind of work gives you an edge on everyone. You look at things and say, “shit this is easy compared to what I did this morning” and you will feel mentally fresh.
- weregiraffe 1y ago
  By 9pm? A lot of people will need to go to bed at 8pm to survive this schedule.
  - p1esk 1y ago
    I wake up at 7am, take kids to school, go to a gym 8-9, go for a swim in the ocean 9:15-9:45, start working at 10. Feel great.
    - porridgeraisin 1y ago
      I always wondered how routines like this work (not the activities themselves, but the timings) If you swim till 9.45, how are you out, bathed, dried, changed, home, and at your table by 10?
      - p1esk 1y ago
        I take a shower at the beach, bike back (~5 min), change, and start checking my email 5 minutes later (I work remotely).
- zoover2020 1y ago
  Amen. What is the routine that works for you?
isaacremuant 1y ago
"hackernews" the self help site always rings so hollow.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
lazarus01 1y ago
I can share a very simple incentive for exercise. As you age, you will lose lean muscle and bone density. But you do have some control in maintaining a healthy level of strength for your elder years. You can maintain strength and density by engaging in resistance training. The total amount of training required is up for debate. I follow Dr. Peter Attia and he discusses needing about 1 hr a week of resistance training. The other aspect of maintaining strength is protein intake. Dr. Attia describes it as a “chore”, that is to consume 1g of protein supplement for each pound of body mass. That’s a lot! Think about your future, do you want to be strong and mobile into your later years? I see older unhealthy people walking the streets and don’t envisage myself letting that happen. You must take good care of yourself and put in the time to exercise and eat properly.
- CalRobert 1y ago
  I am embarrassed to admit I always thought people focused too much on protein and it was bro science but I also never managed to get stronger despite resistance training. Then in my forties I finally started eating 150-180 g of protein a day and doing resistance training to exhaustion a couple days a week and the difference has been huge. I wish I’d done this 20 years ago.
  - lazarus01 1y ago
    That’s fantastic! Don’t beat yourself up. What’s important is that you're taking good care of yourself today! You took control!
  - hombre_fatal 1y ago
    I'm 6'1 and 190-200lb, and I went from 130g to 80g a day of protein for the last year and have only gained more lean mass. I do think proteinmaxing is mostly food/supp industry hype + advice for people who need to tricked into replacing donuts with something healthier. So YMMV. But I think the training until exhaustion part of your comment is the important bit.
    - gruez 1y ago
reckoner99 1y ago
To me, exercise is compounding in action. Each workout may feel small in isolation, but like interest accruing, the benefits multiply invisibly over years. Extra vitality today, resilience tomorrow, and ultimately, more time across decades.
- NotCamelCase 1y ago
  I was adamant on using one of those health/exercise tracking devices, mainly out of distaste of our modern habit to be constantly in the know of everything, but I gotta say, since I've started using one, it's just so satisfying seeing the accumulated numbers over N months or even years!
Balgair 1y ago
Anecdata: I hated exercise. Still do. People talk about a glow or a good feeling after exercise. My SO does too. I never felt it. Until I dieted down to being 'at weight' not overweight. Only then did it feel good to exercise, and only then after I exercised. The act itself is still a terrible experience. I've put on weight again and, yep, I hate exercise now. But now I know there is a light at the end of the dieting and weightless tunnel. Without the experimental results, I would never have known. So, its not that I don't trust the science here, I mean, how can I refute it? It's just that my lived experience says that I'm a freak and I'm sitting out on the end of some bell curve or whatever. I know that it got a high ROI, that's why I did these weight loss experiments in the first place. It's just that for some reason, my body and mind hate exercise until I get down to healthy levels. Thanks for letting me share this.
- speedgoose 1y ago
  You may want to find some activities you enjoy while doing them. I don't know what you tried, but sometimes a small variation is enough to make it fun and rewarding during the exercise. For example, I find slow road running pretty boring. The only value is doing exercise and relaxing my brain. I gave up many times. But replace the roads by challenging technical single tracks, and I'm very happy and havn't gave up in years.
  - Balgair 1y ago
    Yeah, I get this every time I talk about weight loss/exercise. For reference, I've swum miles at once, run a marathon, played team sports, combat sports, pick up basketball, roughhousing with kiddos, etc. I've not done literally everything, but I feel like I've tried enough things to make a reasonable call. Look, I just hate exercise. I don't feel energized or happy or fulfilled or whatever. I just feel exhausted and tired and sweaty and gross. There really isn't a second, throughout my life, where I've ever wanted to exercise for it's own sake. I know, that seems like crazy talk to you probably. But, form what i know of myself and my life, it's just the way it is. Like I said, when I was 'at weight' for my height and in a good BMI, then afterwards I would feel good and nice and that exercise was worth it. But when I am overweight, then exercise looses that feeling for me. I just feel bad. Still, thank you for the encouragement and ideas, I do appreciate it.
simonebrunozzi 1y ago
What a sloppy article. Correlation is not causation. All credibility is lost for this guy, in my view. > We know from one study that people who played tennis a few times per week lived roughly 10 years longer than average. So we'll use that value going forward. This is the study [0]. The study itself, in the conclusions, states that: "Conclusion: Various sports are associated with markedly different improvements in life expectancy. Because this is an observational study, it remains uncertain whether this relationship is causal." Has the author read the study at least? [0]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30193744/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30193744/
Herring 1y ago
Advising people to exercise doesn't work and doesn't scale. Gyms are for people who have plenty of intrinsic motivation and money and time. To improve physical activity at the population scale and over a lifetime, it literally has to be built into the design of the cities, so people get enough exercise while walking to work or grabbing groceries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0&ab_channel=NotJustBikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0&ab_channel=NotJu... https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/pubs/activity-inequality-nature17.pdf https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/pubs/activity-inequality...
- tylerflick 1y ago
  What? Every city and small town I have ever lived in has had publicly accessible outdoor workout stations and running paths. A pair of running shoes is about 120 USD and good for ~500 miles.
  - pier25 1y ago
    Running is not a good sport for most people because of its high impact.
    - speedgoose 1y ago
      I think everyone could benefit from running eventually, even though they may have to start by jogging or walking. But it's true that it's a sport that isn't for everyone because it's hard.
      - pier25 1y ago
        It may be hard but my point is that it's high impact. I can cause pain on knees, etc.
    - kulahan 1y ago
      The danger of impacts from running is unbelievably overstated
  - 1y ago
jibbit 1y ago
Despite decades of being told about the benefits of exercise, I had absolutely no idea what the actual time investment looked like to go from unfit to fit. I couldn't put a number on it, and part of me assumed it must be enormous otherwise, why wouldn't anyone just say the number? Then I discovered Couch to 5K: 30 minutes, 3 times a week. A concrete, achievable number that delivered (to me) mind blowing results. How could it be so low? How could i not know this? How is anyone walking around ignorant (as i was) of this?
OptionOfT 1y ago
I used to hike every morning before starting work. Absolutely lovely. Currently waiting for a new hip, because for some reason I've worn mine out too soon. Now, I won't say that the fact I'm in pain 24/7 isn't making me sad, but the fact that I don't come outside as often anymore really is not helping.
hintymad 1y ago
How would people cope with the demand that we need to spend increasingly more time exercising when we age? Mobility, strength, Vo2Max, power, endurance. It takes a long time to cover these five areas, and more if we desire to cover all the muscle groups.
e-dant 1y ago
The comments here about you needing money or time to exercise are wrong, and missing the point: It’s hard, and that’s why you do it. It’s also fun. Get the fuck out there and run, climb, swim.
outofmyshed 1y ago
Doesn’t have kids, other caring responsibilities or chronic illnesses (that they declare) therefore everyone should do what they do and are just doing life wrong. Okay.

154 points by ingve 1y ago

> Less pain Is there anything to back this up? The people I know who work out are always complaining about their muscles and joints.

user68858788 1y ago
Anecdotally, weight training eliminated my chronic shoulder and hip pains from sitting at a desk. I’ve read several similar stories but I’d be interested to see studies on this.
cadamsdotcom 1y ago
Some ways to exercise avoid injury & get results, and some.. don’t. I’m a triathlete of 4 years now - love to be sore but have never been injured & unable to train. There are three things you must do: 1. good technique: lift with the right muscles, run at the right cadence & target heart rate. 2. listen to your body when it needs less or more load. 3. treat recovery as equally important as exercise itself. Exercise’s mirror. That said, instead of actual complaints, your friends might be social signaling! Bringing it up to bond over the joy of exercise. Humans do that subconsciously, and there is a ton of joy to bond over!
- DSingularity 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - kelnos 1y ago
    Why do people feel the need to waste time commenting about whether or not a comment is LLM-generated? If you think the comment doesn't belong here, downvote or flag it. That goes for things you think are LLM-generated or human-generated. Commenting about LLM-generated speculation is just noise, and I regret spending this time replying to you on this topic when I could be doing absolutely anything else.
    - DSingularity 1y ago
      Why do people feel the need to waste time complaining about how speculation on whether a comment is LLM-generated is a waste of time? If you think the speculation doesn’t belong here, downvote or flag it. That goes for speculation you dislike and generally any comment. Commenting about the value of speculation is just noise, and I regret spending this time replying to you on this topic when I could be doing absolutely anything else.
donalhunt 1y ago
From personal experience strength training has been key to recovering from injuries (caused by doing stupid things, not exercise itself). So maybe the correlation between exercise and pain is incorrect? The exercise is the cure to the pain... https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5753318/v1 https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5753318/v1 (pre-print) seems to provide a strong argument for strength training being beneficial. My search was not thorough so likely more studies out there.
chistev 1y ago
https://youtu.be/_fbCcWyYthQ?feature=shared https://youtu.be/_fbCcWyYthQ?feature=shared
jajko 1y ago
If folks are regularly sore and their goals are not some lofty races or even higher and further down the progression path, they are doing it wrong. You should feel the exercise and specific muscles afterwards, sometimes even a day after (like hamstrings and thighs from squats, those don't get much workout during normal life), but after initial beginner phase the continuous long term goal is to get enough workout that muscles are not sore, just notch below. Properly sore muscle needs few days rest, a well used one can be again fully loaded in 48h easily. And overall definitely less pain or more like 0 pain, ie back from weak core is pretty typical. Another one are knees, but to train knees around some already-damaged tissues is more tricky, but definitely worth it. After starting weightlifting (on top of some sports like ski touring, climbing, hiking etc) I can handle much more, heavier and longer. Need to move your/friend stuff to another apartment? All day carrying with them feels like mild stretch, compared to them complaining for back pain for another 3 days.
ajuc 1y ago
You don't know you have problems with X if you aren't using X. If you do nothing for 20 years and then go for a 20km walk - you'll be in pain. But it's the 20 years that caused it, not the 20 km.
- donatj 1y ago
  Sure, but is the sum of that single day of pain more than the sum of 20 years of pain?
  - _9ptr 1y ago
    It's not 20 years of pain though
m_fayer 1y ago
For me personally: My fitness routines are regular but sloppy. I’m often complaining about soreness here, a lightly pulled there, a big joint that needs to be left alone for a few days. It’s annoying but also even kinda satisfying, and I know how to avoid serious injury. I’m not complaining about lower back pain because my fitness activity has rid me of it. That pain would have stopped me from being able to move easily, work on my cabin, play with children, and would have eventually made me overweight and chronically ill. The tradeoff is really a no-brainer in my case, and I don’t think my case is so unique.
kelnos 1y ago
There's a difference between soreness and pain. My muscles get sore all the time from exercise, but it's not painful. That soreness just tells me I'm probably going to be a little bit stronger because of the exercise I just did. (Of course it's a continuum: certain higher levels of soreness mean I probably overdid it.) Joint pain is a whole other thing, though. Usually joint pain means that you're doing some sort of exercise incorrectly, or that you're using too much weight or intensity for your current level of physical fitness. Or you have a previous injury that can't fully heal and there are some exercises that you just shouldn't be doing, but you do them anyway. But I think the author is talking about less pain in a different way. For example, I threw out my lower back 25 years ago in college, and it's never been the same since. But doing core exercises and strengthening the muscles around that area means much less chance of pain doing regular day-to-day activities.
- ruslan_sure 1y ago
  Soreness isn't ideal. It won't make you stronger. Actually, it might make your recovery slower.
  - fercircularbuf 1y ago
    First time I've ever heard that soreness = something wrong. Isn't soreness basically guaranteed to some degree if you've done enough work to actually build strength?
    - beingfit 1y ago
      It depends. But as GP also said, it can be because one is not exercising (that part of the body) regularly. Anecdotally, I have seen that soreness is not really observed when exercising regularly. Some aches and a little fatigue? Probably. But not really muscle soreness.
      - chistev 1y ago
        True
cpursley 1y ago
There's a big difference between recovery pain and chronic pain. Also, if someone has joint pain, they are doing the wrong exercises. For example, running trashes my knees, but biking does not. Also, picking up heavy shit (weights - squats and deadlifts) is the only thing that resolved lower back pain (from sitting all day).
- j_bum 1y ago
  I’m in the same exact boat with deadlifts helping my back pain from my desk job.
- scotty79 1y ago
  Doing anything more than you should will trash something in your body. How much of something you should be doing? Pain is a good indicator. I you are below 40 you shouldn't feel it at all. If you are above, you should feel it a bit and observe it closely while reducing the load. If it gets weaker with time, you have appropriate load, if it doesn't or gets stronger, your load is still too high.
  - cpursley 1y ago
    Some people just have bad knees, you know. But what you said for the most part is accurate in terms of exercise.
    - scotty79 1y ago
      Everybody has bad everything. We are walking wrecks about to fall apart in few short decades. But there's genetic variety. There are dozens of variants of genes that code something as essential as collagen. Some resulting in very crappy kind. Some really do have it worse. That's why everybody needs to be listening to their bodies and apply themselves accordingly.
nottorp 1y ago
Most of those are not actually complaining but bragging. Sore muscles -> good workout.
ruslan_sure 1y ago
Physical activity triggers the production of endorphins, specifically beta-endorphins, which are natural painkillers.
brightball 1y ago
When you start working out, you will have soreness in your muscles from lactic acid because your body isn’t used to it. Once you get in a routine of doing it at least twice a week you won’t get that soreness anymore. People who start working out, then miss a month, then start back experience it all the time. Consistency is key.
- scotty79 1y ago
  When you start drinking something like unsweetened tea, initially it's almost unbearably bitter. But as you drink it long enough, it feels less and less bitter. It didn't get any less bitter, you just impaired your ability to sense this kind of bitterness. I wonder what happens with muscle soreness. Do they get actually get less sore after consistent exercise? Or do you just blunt your nervous system into not detecting chemical signatures of the damage? I'm guessing it's the second case because people here are commenting that after exercising long enough you can still have gains but no pain of muscle soreness.
  - _9ptr 1y ago
    They get less sore, because they're more adapted to the stress of exercise. The hardest DOMS comes from movements you're not used to.
    - scotty79 1y ago
      Or from the damage in places that your nervous system didn't yet get blunted to.
ants_everywhere 1y ago
Every life long runner I know has had a serious knee problem or other injury. But I think running is higher impact on the body that a lot of of other exercise. You're putting your full body weight on a small area several times a second for many minutes every day.
- EPWN3D 1y ago
  If that's what you're doing, you're not running correctly. Keep your knees bent so that the shock goes up to your gluts and hips.
  - ants_everywhere 1y ago
    I'm not talking about myself and I haven't evaluated the running form of the people I know. But impact is just force and time and the high pressure is because contact is being made with your foot, which has a small surface area. You can find hammers that absorb shocks better than others, but ultimately it's driving the nail because of impact and pressure. (Small hammer head striking quickly). I don't doubt that proper form, correct training, and other interventions can reduce running injuries. But they're the most frequent exercise injuries I've seen personally and they also appear common statistically. (Of course running is more accessible than, say, jai alai so base rates are higher anyway)
deinonychus 1y ago
I've wondered about that too. My personal thoughts and anecdote, assuming you're not talking about the kind of "bro I got in a killer workout yesterday, my biceps are still sore" Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness humblebragging: I have a controlled autoimmune disorder like arthritis that causes me some joint pain. But it basically goes away if I do regular strength training. If you do strength training or any sport long enough you'll eventually hurt yourself. Usually that's just a pulled muscle because you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and it goes away after a few days. These micro-injuries actually seem to happen to me a lot, probably because of my condition I'm just prone to this stuff. But I prefer it to the pains of inactivity. Even for people without arthritis, you have a question to answer: which would you rather suffer from? The pains from not working, out like having a weak core and bad posture and the discomfort of being unable to climb a few sets of stairs? Or the pains from working out, like pulling a back muscle because you didn't warm up or some shin or knee pain from too much running? The answer is obvious to me. You're going to get hurt either way. I'll go with the path that makes me feel better, live longer, look hotter, and is a rewarding challenge.
abullinan 1y ago
Some people just like to complain? Or at least make it clear they are working out to everyone around them? Or they are working out too hard for their fitness level? Lots of reasons.
EPWN3D 1y ago
In my case, it's "good" pain. If you exercise regularly, you're going to be sore a lot of the time, but you grow to like it. It's a reminder that you worked hard and not really debilitating.

kobstrtr 1y ago

> that's about 8,500 hours of exercise, or about a year of solid physical activity These comparisons are crap. You can‘t simply take one year, exercise 24/7, and get your 10 years of life. You have to fit it into life, which is much more time than it seems from claiming it‘s 1 year out of 80. But it‘s still a good investment! :)

kelnos 1y ago
That's a perfectly valid comparison. A year's worth of hours is still a year's worth of hours, regardless of what time span I spread it over. We use this sort of formulation everywhere. If I say I work 40 hours a week, no one is going to assume that I start work at 9am on Monday, work non-stop until 1am Wednesday, and then take the rest of the week off. If I say that people spend approximately a third of their lives sleeping, no one thinks I mean that they sleep continuously from birth until they're 30 years old, and then spend the next 60 years awake.
- sersi 1y ago
  The point is that it's 8500 hours of free time used for exercise. It's time when you're not eating sleeping or working. So it's not exactly the same. For people who have very little free time due to commute, work, children, etc. It's harder to spend half an hour of free time a day on exerciaing. I mean I do agree with the premise that exercising is a good return (especially since the better sleep quality should be factored in) but I think the person you're replying to has a point when he says that saying it's one year of life is not really comparable
- unop 1y ago
  Umm, the front-loaded 8k hours might not have much return if you were sedantary in the later decades (arguably the years where exercise helps stave off metabolic disease) as much as sustained levels of exercise all through life. I mean, we all know of the university budding sports star types who probably invested in many hours training and trying to break into their sport professionally but not quite cutting it - and then "retiring into mediocrity" with the regular 9-5,2 hour commute, 3 kids and the diet to match. They exercise no differently to the regular Joe and suffer all the maladies the same.

koolba 1y ago

> We know from one study that people who played tennis a few times per week lived roughly 10 years longer than average. So we'll use that value going forward. There has to be some incredible correlation between having the time and money to play tennis “a few times per week” and being significantly wealthier than the average person. And being wealthy is clearly the healthiest thing you can do.

giantg2 1y ago
Very much this. While tennis has become more accessible and lower cost over time, it has always been an expensive sport.
- ceejayoz 1y ago
  Honest question: Why? There's a free court near me, and both balls and racquets can be gotten for peanuts.
  - cpursley 1y ago
    They're talking from a North American perspective (probably). In most of Europe, there are plenty of outdoor and other free exercise opportunity. Another downside of the incorrect build environment (poor city planning) is that Americans simply don't have built-in ways to move their bodies. When I spent time in Eastern Europe, there was literally a free tennis/basketball court across the street. And a variety of other courts, including outdoor gym. And when house sitting around, there was nearly always an outdoor park with greenspace for strolling, exercise. All free.
    - huhkerrf 1y ago
      Well, while we're talking about anecdotes, my neighborhood in a poor Texas town also had a free tennis court. There were a couple more down the road. My in-laws suburb has walking trails end basketball courts.
      - 1y ago

chaostheory 1y ago

If you’re struggling with exercise and with getting it into a routine, I can’t recommend standalone, wireless VR enough. It was fun and engaging enough to keep me coming back without feeling that I was doing a boring chore, and nearly every game has you moving, with the exception of the flying and driving sims. Imagine fighting ninjas and dodging bullets as your workout. You can literally get that and more with VR. It was my gateway back into fitness.

Maximus9000 1y ago
Can you recommend any specific games that meet these requirements? I don't have VR, but I remember playing "Super hot VR" and getting a surprisingly good workout from that game.
- carpool4268 1y ago
  It sounds like they're talking about pistol whip. If I can promote one myself, Synth Riders can be a hell of a workout. People like comparing it to beat saber. Unlike beat saber, there's no swords, so there's a lot less wrist movement and a lot more arm/full-body movement. It feels a lot like dancing while you're doing it. I'm no great fan of exercise, but if I'm not careful I can exercise myself deep past exhaustion in this one -- especially on the harder difficulty charts. And beyond that there's a mode where you punch the notes instead of trying to catch them. I haven't tried it, but that sounds even more demanding. But aside from anything else, it's just fun! Great option for training cardio, it really works out the arms.
  - chaostheory 1y ago
    Whoa! You’re one of the people behind Synth Riders?!! That’s a great game with great music. I like the immersive add-ons and the fact that it looks like you’re actually dancing to onlookers instead of moving weird like in Beat Saber. My only criticism is that I’m not a fan of the Swing EDM music.
- chaostheory 1y ago
  Beat Saber Thrill of the Fight Synth Riders Pistol Whip Body Combat Les Mills XR Dance Supernatural (paid subscription) Fix XR (paid subscription) Holotfit (paid subscription) works with rowing machines Racket Club Until you fall Blade and Sorcery Dragon Fist Kung fu (if you want to go all the way with Pc and don’t mind wires, this one supports foot tracking) Blast on! Stride Battle talent Space pirate trainer Racket NX Gorilla tag Stride Blacktop Hoops Masters of Light Mothergunship forge There’s so many other games that I missed listing. Really any action VR game where you’re the first person hero will get you moving enough as a habit. You are now the character instead of a puppet master controlling one via buttons. Need to duck or crouch? You will feel it and sweat sooner or later.

mehulashah 1y ago

100%. There’s no point in nitpicking on this post. There’s an outsized return on exercise and it’s measurable. People don’t get — especially young people — that exercise is like eating, sleeping, and pooping. Your body needs it in regular intervals otherwise its carefully balanced system goes out of whack.

msgodel 1y ago
I figured out in my teens that I program and do math way better if I have daily exercise walks. I'm surprised people don't notice that.
- Breza 1y ago
  I set up a treadmill desk during the pandemic. It has definitely improved my focus and concentration. The book In Praise of Walking has a lot of the science behind why.
heresie-dabord 1y ago
Further, people don't know enough about the deadly effects of obesity, high blood pressure, and the big killer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis Exercise is vital! "Atherosclerosis generally starts when a person is young and worsens with age. Almost all people are affected to some degree by the age of 65. It is the number one cause of death and disability in developed countries. Though it was first described in 1575, there is evidence suggesting that this disease state is genetically inherent in the broader human population, with its origins tracing back to CMAH genetic mutations that may have occurred more than two million years ago during the evolution of hominin ancestors of modern human beings."

marcogarces 1y ago

"what is pain? French bread!"

ruslan_sure 1y ago

Physical activity increases lifespan primarily by lowering the likelihood of falling and breaking your hip. If you break your hip, your life expectancy is dramatically reduced. If that's your goal, just train your legs! That said, I think the most important part of exercising is the mental boost it provides. It's like a healthy drug. There are no negative side effects, and it's highly praised by society.

dachris 1y ago
That's certainly not the only (and I'd also not put it as primary) reason for extending the lifespan. Still, breaking one's hip in advanced age is often a death sentence as many people never get out of bed again. When an old person breaks their hip around here, people say something along the lines of "we'd better hurry up for visiting them one last time".
- DebtDeflation 1y ago
  There's also a lot of reverse causation here. Healthy people don't fall very often and when they do they generally don't break their hips. Falling frequently and suffering broken hips when falling are both general signs of poor systemic health and overall fragility which portend a short remaining lifespan regardless.
firesteelrain 1y ago
You aren’t wrong. Train your legs and walk. Don’t sit in the recliner when you retire. 7000-10000 steps a day helps
- megaloblasto 1y ago
  True, however I know a lot of people over 60 who think that walking alone is sufficient. You need to strength train too. Train your abs and at least do body squat variations. Walking is great to lose weight and keep your heart healthy, but not sufficient in itself.
  - 1y ago

TacticalCoder 1y ago

Exercising and building muscles when you're young is the very best thing you can do. These muscles shall stay for a very, very, very long time. As a kid I was doing BMX, tennis (still do some), swimming then as a teenager street skateboarding, rollerskating, MX (motor)bike, tennis. Now I'm an old man (52 y/o) and I don't do much sport. Some MTBing (still can do a wheelie and trackstand, ah!) but really not much. I drive my old sportcar (yup, that is physical and you do sweat). Some tennis while on vacation. And shooting at the range (and, yup, that is a bit physical too). But I really don't do much. I'm of this school: "Qui veut voyager loin ménage sa monture" (french) which translates to "He who wants to travel far takes care of his mount.". The number of friends my age who destroyed their bodies by continuing to exercise as if they were 20 or 30 years old is beyond belief. I think I'm one of the only one who didn't get knee surgery yet. Running is terribly bad as you get older. Hockey (ice or grass): body destroyer. BJJ? Don't get me even started. My doctor says "sport is death". He knows. Tennis is particular in that you can really play it at your own pace: just pick someone your age and hit the court gently. No crazy rallies, just fun: I'm not going to win Roland-Garros at 52 y/o and you ain't either. And there's something else among all of my friends who regularly do sport: as soon as they stop for a few weeks, they get fat. Which is a problem I don't have. So exercising a lot in your teens, 20s and 30s: sure. That shall build you muscle you'll keep for decades (my legs are still very strong). But slow down after that or you'll break your body and then get fat as soon as you have to stop exercising (for example because you have to get knee surgery because you destroyed your knees running). Something something about Buddha / Siddhartha warning to not put too much tension in a lute's strings or in a bow's string. There's a lesson in there. You have your age, deal with it and act accordingly.

bandika 1y ago
I think you are really wrong here. I’m 47 and after on and off running for decades, a few months ago I started to run every day. 2K in the first month - to start gently, then 2M (3.22k) for a month, then the next month 5k, and then 8k. I am doing 10k every day after 5 months, and I've never felt before so fit and healthy. I think it’s never too late to start exercising regularly, even if it means daily.
gilbetron 1y ago

almost_usual 1y ago

The mental toughness, discipline, and higher energy levels that come with exercise are more important to me than physical appearance or living longer, and at this point almost anything else in life. Wake up at 4am, run hill repeats for miles and then go into work. I guarantee no incident or colleague will trigger a stress response. You will feel as cool as a cucumber and when an urgent issue does come up you will handle it with absolute mental clarity. That afternoon drowsiness will also not hit you at all, counterintuitive right? By 9pm you will fall asleep no matter what happened that day. This kind of work gives you an edge on everyone. You look at things and say, “shit this is easy compared to what I did this morning” and you will feel mentally fresh.

weregiraffe 1y ago
By 9pm? A lot of people will need to go to bed at 8pm to survive this schedule.
- p1esk 1y ago
  I wake up at 7am, take kids to school, go to a gym 8-9, go for a swim in the ocean 9:15-9:45, start working at 10. Feel great.
  - porridgeraisin 1y ago
    I always wondered how routines like this work (not the activities themselves, but the timings) If you swim till 9.45, how are you out, bathed, dried, changed, home, and at your table by 10?
    - p1esk 1y ago
      I take a shower at the beach, bike back (~5 min), change, and start checking my email 5 minutes later (I work remotely).
zoover2020 1y ago
Amen. What is the routine that works for you?

isaacremuant 1y ago

"hackernews" the self help site always rings so hollow.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

lazarus01 1y ago

I can share a very simple incentive for exercise. As you age, you will lose lean muscle and bone density. But you do have some control in maintaining a healthy level of strength for your elder years. You can maintain strength and density by engaging in resistance training. The total amount of training required is up for debate. I follow Dr. Peter Attia and he discusses needing about 1 hr a week of resistance training. The other aspect of maintaining strength is protein intake. Dr. Attia describes it as a “chore”, that is to consume 1g of protein supplement for each pound of body mass. That’s a lot! Think about your future, do you want to be strong and mobile into your later years? I see older unhealthy people walking the streets and don’t envisage myself letting that happen. You must take good care of yourself and put in the time to exercise and eat properly.

CalRobert 1y ago
I am embarrassed to admit I always thought people focused too much on protein and it was bro science but I also never managed to get stronger despite resistance training. Then in my forties I finally started eating 150-180 g of protein a day and doing resistance training to exhaustion a couple days a week and the difference has been huge. I wish I’d done this 20 years ago.
- lazarus01 1y ago
  That’s fantastic! Don’t beat yourself up. What’s important is that you're taking good care of yourself today! You took control!
- hombre_fatal 1y ago
  I'm 6'1 and 190-200lb, and I went from 130g to 80g a day of protein for the last year and have only gained more lean mass. I do think proteinmaxing is mostly food/supp industry hype + advice for people who need to tricked into replacing donuts with something healthier. So YMMV. But I think the training until exhaustion part of your comment is the important bit.
  - gruez 1y ago

reckoner99 1y ago

To me, exercise is compounding in action. Each workout may feel small in isolation, but like interest accruing, the benefits multiply invisibly over years. Extra vitality today, resilience tomorrow, and ultimately, more time across decades.

NotCamelCase 1y ago
I was adamant on using one of those health/exercise tracking devices, mainly out of distaste of our modern habit to be constantly in the know of everything, but I gotta say, since I've started using one, it's just so satisfying seeing the accumulated numbers over N months or even years!

Balgair 1y ago

Anecdata: I hated exercise. Still do. People talk about a glow or a good feeling after exercise. My SO does too. I never felt it. Until I dieted down to being 'at weight' not overweight. Only then did it feel good to exercise, and only then after I exercised. The act itself is still a terrible experience. I've put on weight again and, yep, I hate exercise now. But now I know there is a light at the end of the dieting and weightless tunnel. Without the experimental results, I would never have known. So, its not that I don't trust the science here, I mean, how can I refute it? It's just that my lived experience says that I'm a freak and I'm sitting out on the end of some bell curve or whatever. I know that it got a high ROI, that's why I did these weight loss experiments in the first place. It's just that for some reason, my body and mind hate exercise until I get down to healthy levels. Thanks for letting me share this.

speedgoose 1y ago
You may want to find some activities you enjoy while doing them. I don't know what you tried, but sometimes a small variation is enough to make it fun and rewarding during the exercise. For example, I find slow road running pretty boring. The only value is doing exercise and relaxing my brain. I gave up many times. But replace the roads by challenging technical single tracks, and I'm very happy and havn't gave up in years.
- Balgair 1y ago
  Yeah, I get this every time I talk about weight loss/exercise. For reference, I've swum miles at once, run a marathon, played team sports, combat sports, pick up basketball, roughhousing with kiddos, etc. I've not done literally everything, but I feel like I've tried enough things to make a reasonable call. Look, I just hate exercise. I don't feel energized or happy or fulfilled or whatever. I just feel exhausted and tired and sweaty and gross. There really isn't a second, throughout my life, where I've ever wanted to exercise for it's own sake. I know, that seems like crazy talk to you probably. But, form what i know of myself and my life, it's just the way it is. Like I said, when I was 'at weight' for my height and in a good BMI, then afterwards I would feel good and nice and that exercise was worth it. But when I am overweight, then exercise looses that feeling for me. I just feel bad. Still, thank you for the encouragement and ideas, I do appreciate it.

simonebrunozzi 1y ago

What a sloppy article. Correlation is not causation. All credibility is lost for this guy, in my view. > We know from one study that people who played tennis a few times per week lived roughly 10 years longer than average. So we'll use that value going forward. This is the study [0]. The study itself, in the conclusions, states that: "Conclusion: Various sports are associated with markedly different improvements in life expectancy. Because this is an observational study, it remains uncertain whether this relationship is causal." Has the author read the study at least? [0]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30193744/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30193744/

Herring 1y ago

Advising people to exercise doesn't work and doesn't scale. Gyms are for people who have plenty of intrinsic motivation and money and time. To improve physical activity at the population scale and over a lifetime, it literally has to be built into the design of the cities, so people get enough exercise while walking to work or grabbing groceries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0&ab_channel=NotJustBikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0&ab_channel=NotJu... https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/pubs/activity-inequality-nature17.pdf https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/pubs/activity-inequality...

tylerflick 1y ago
What? Every city and small town I have ever lived in has had publicly accessible outdoor workout stations and running paths. A pair of running shoes is about 120 USD and good for ~500 miles.
- pier25 1y ago
  Running is not a good sport for most people because of its high impact.
  - speedgoose 1y ago
    I think everyone could benefit from running eventually, even though they may have to start by jogging or walking. But it's true that it's a sport that isn't for everyone because it's hard.
    - pier25 1y ago
      It may be hard but my point is that it's high impact. I can cause pain on knees, etc.
  - kulahan 1y ago
    The danger of impacts from running is unbelievably overstated
- 1y ago

jibbit 1y ago

Despite decades of being told about the benefits of exercise, I had absolutely no idea what the actual time investment looked like to go from unfit to fit. I couldn't put a number on it, and part of me assumed it must be enormous otherwise, why wouldn't anyone just say the number? Then I discovered Couch to 5K: 30 minutes, 3 times a week. A concrete, achievable number that delivered (to me) mind blowing results. How could it be so low? How could i not know this? How is anyone walking around ignorant (as i was) of this?

OptionOfT 1y ago

I used to hike every morning before starting work. Absolutely lovely. Currently waiting for a new hip, because for some reason I've worn mine out too soon. Now, I won't say that the fact I'm in pain 24/7 isn't making me sad, but the fact that I don't come outside as often anymore really is not helping.

hintymad 1y ago

How would people cope with the demand that we need to spend increasingly more time exercising when we age? Mobility, strength, Vo2Max, power, endurance. It takes a long time to cover these five areas, and more if we desire to cover all the muscle groups.

e-dant 1y ago

The comments here about you needing money or time to exercise are wrong, and missing the point: It’s hard, and that’s why you do it. It’s also fun. Get the fuck out there and run, climb, swim.

outofmyshed 1y ago

Doesn’t have kids, other caring responsibilities or chronic illnesses (that they declare) therefore everyone should do what they do and are just doing life wrong. Okay.