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How little exercise can you get away with?
- datadrivenangel 3mo agohttps://archive.is/mai5w https://archive.is/mai5w
- joe_the_user 3mo agoOne thing people out here periodically is how causation is hard to find. Someone who is dying may be not inclined to do anything 'cause they feel lousy all the time.
- yoz-y 3mo agoMedian age of 61… 4.4 minutes of “vigorous” activity. Hard to interpret this as anything else that if you remain being able to be somehow active in your later years you will be better off. I find all of the studies of “how little exercise” is needed sad. Instead we should be focusing on how to restructure modern lifestyle to allow everybody to achieve the minimum of cardiovascular and strength exercises.
- XorNot 3mo ago> allow everybody to achieve the minimum of cardiovascular and strength exercises Aren't you just asking the same question? I certainly prefer sitting then doing exercise, I just also don't like the consequences of doing none.
- ohrus 3mo agoI think what the poster was getting at is that finding a minimum is a negative way to view human health (what is the minimum amount of food a human needs to survive, what is the minimum I need to brush my teeth so they don't fall out of my head, etc.). Restructuring society in healthy ways (shorter work weeks, bike lanes, green cities, etc.) will allow us to achieve whatever that minimum would have been (had we measured!) and more! At least I think that's the distinction. The only time I prefer to sit is after I have done a good deal of exercise. I don't mean that as a jab of any sort, just a differing perspective from someone who gets much more than a minimum of required exercise.
- RugnirViking 3mo agoI'm confused. You're saddened by people researching the minimum exercise needed, but want society to aim to give people that minimum? How would society know what the minimum is?
- lazyasciiart 3mo agoPresumably it’s a known amount approximately matching what they do.
- yoz-y 3mo agoWe know the recommended minimum of 150 minutes of cardio exercise and two resistance strength training sessions per week. For many people this is unrealistic. But this is not what the research for minimum is for. There are all those “20 minutes a week”, “7 minutes a day” programs to basically just avoid croaking from not moving at all.
- RIMR 3mo agoRestructuring the modern lifestyle, allowing people more free time to focus on their health, is unprofitable. Whereas minimizing the amount of free time people spend on their health, allowing people more time to labor or consume, is profitable.
- dheera 3mo agoIt's not hard to restructure it at all. 1. Ban overworking. Make it a federal offense. Actually jail CEOs if their employees work >50 hours a week 2. These exercise tracking apps should pay people for the exercise they do. The money will come from health insurance. They pay $1 per mile you run or hike, they save $10 on your future hospitalization. 3. City sponsored exercise events and sports competitions open to everyone, not just athletes. Give tax deductions to those who participate and demonstrate attendance. The solution is right here, above. Whether the politicians choose to listen, is not something I can influence. But I have given the solution.
- Legend2440 3mo agoYour health insurance or employer may already offer a similar program. Mine does. I get up to $500 added to my HSA every year if I hit step count goals on their app. That said, looking around my office, I don't think it's very effective. It's hard to get people to exercise and a few hundred bucks doesn't change that.
- ynac 3mo agoAgreed. I've figured it out during the drier months in the NW of the States. Plenty of work in the woods, workshop, maintenance, and helping neighbors with the same. But winter and the rains I would inevitably put on 10 pounds and lose my super old guy muscles. My mildly successful campaign against the trend is long rain walks and Convict Conditioning workouts.
- BurningFrog 3mo agoCompletely restructuring society seems so simple to some people.
- Gigachad 3mo agoWhat needs to be done is relatively simple. Convincing society to fix what's broken is the hard part. We need to restructure cities away from being driving focused.
- Legend2440 3mo agoA lot of Americans genuinely like their cars and low-density single family neighborhoods. This would also be a massive and expensive undertaking that would require rebuilding the majority of city infrastructure.
- Gigachad 3mo agoIt would be cheaper than continuing down the current path. Like I said, the answer is obvious and conceptually simple. Getting people to accept the truth is the hard part.
- yoz-y 3mo agoIt took us centuries to screw everything so I don’t claim any of this is simple. But we will need to start actually fixing stuff eventually, rather than adding patches.
- KashifNY 3mo agoAt least 30 minutes in a day, probably 3 days a week at minumum as the body requires it to maintain itself that is though if you want to live a happy and good life, but then over doing its isnt good as well, theres need to be a balance in everything
- layman51 3mo agoOverdoing it is a real risk, I learned recently. If you work out too hard, you actually produce free radicals. The tricky thing is that some people can get used to higher heart rate so it doesn’t matter if they are working out hard consistently because they are used to it.
- nradov 3mo agoThat's not how any of this works. Exercise causes some oxidative stress but this isn't a problem in practice. There is only a tiny fraction of committed athletes who over train to the point where it becomes detrimental; most people simply don't have the time or discipline to get anywhere close to that point. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.04.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.04.001 As for heart rate, going above threshold is never comfortable. But it's a good pain and you can get used to tolerating it for occasional high-intensity interval workouts. Over time this will decrease your resting heart rate and reduce the risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE).
- switchbak 3mo agoYou need to ramp up, of course. Given you're training at an appropriate rate, and you're doing sensible things - you should be fine. By sensible things I mean: short and intense weight training, intense cardio sessions, and not-too-long endurance sessions (eg: < 5h). More endurance is fine, but it can be very fatiguing, especially for the older athlete. If you ramp up to those over time, you needn't worry about "free radicals" (that's an oversimplification). Recent research highlights a number of things, but what sticks out is that it's important to maintaining muscle mass because we lose a bunch as we get older, and loss of muscle is a leading morbidity factor.
- XorNot 3mo ago
- gensym 3mo agoWhat a weird question. The amount depends on what you hope to accomplish. Want to be able to get on the floor and play with your grandkids? That's going to require a certain amount of mobility work. Want to be able to hike up Mount Whitney? You'll need regular cardio. I also hate the phrasing that exercise is something to "get away with". Most people who exercise regularly enjoy it. Moving your body is fun, especially once you get fit enough to do it without pain or immediate exhaustion.
- orangecat 3mo agoMost people who exercise regularly enjoy it. There's a huge selection effect here.
- gensym 3mo agoGotta fuckin love hn, where you can't say the simplest thing without getting thrown into a well, actually. I wasn't claiming to have run a damned study. Just making an observation. The thing is, people who don't enjoy exercising but start exercising anyway tend to find they enjoy it after a while. Saying people enjoy exercise is only slightly more controversial than saying "ice cream tastes good". There's a bit of activation energy required, but it's not a huge stretch to notice that something that is good for our bodies gives us pleasure.
- maleldil 3mo ago> Saying people enjoy exercise is only slightly more controversial than saying "ice cream tastes good". You might be in a bubble. I know many people who exercise regularly, and I'd say most of them only do it because it's healthy. If they found a way to stay healthy without exercise, they'd drop it in a heartbeat.
- kubelsmieci 3mo ago> Most people who exercise regularly enjoy it. And because the most people don't exercise, it's easy to conclude, that the most people don't enjoy it. One can even conclude reverse, that only people who enjoy exercising, are doing it.
- delis-thumbs-7e 3mo agoHow about you instead of trying to “get away with” as little exercise as possible you found a way to move your body that you genuinely enjoy? One should not optimise away sleep, nutrition and exercise. Yes we live in a ridiculous fitness and gym boom, but weight training might not actually be a good fit to most people. I love having to psych myself to lift big amounts of steel, I’m ok with bit of pain etc. - mostly people are not. There’s thousands of sports and ways to move out there. You don’t like running, well don’t. Go dancing, hiking, play a team sport, do tai-chi, yoga, goddammit change a hobby every two months, it doesn’t matter. Just do it and do it consistently every week. And what best helps you in that is enjoying what you do, as well as doing it with a friend.
- JohnMakin 3mo agoSome people have disabilities or physical limitations.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- AlienRobot 3mo agoDo these people you mention read a comment on the internet saying people should exercise more and think that comment is referring to them?
- JohnMakin 3mo agoI am one of “these people.” I’m pointing out something to the gp comment that people don’t consider when they make generalizing, moralizing comments like this.
- AlienRobot 3mo agoBut if the comment wasn't considering you, then they weren't telling you to exercise. Nobody is telling someone who physically can't run to run. There is no reason to interpret it this way.
- delichon 3mo agoMy dentist told me I don't have to floss all of my teeth, just the ones I want to keep. You don't have to exercise all of your muscles either.
- algoth1 3mo agoIt may sound crazy, but a properly installed pull up bar on your room doorway is a fun way to apply Pavel Tsatsouline ‘grease the groove’ principle. And it’s both easy and fun. You can do pull ups, and train your abdomen several times a day without getting psychological resistance (from google overview: "Grease the Groove" (GtG) is a strength training method popularized by fitness expert Pavel Tsatsouline. It involves performing a specific exercise frequently throughout the day using only 40–60% of your maximum reps. By avoiding muscle failure and staying fresh, your nervous system efficiently adapts to the movement.")
- jborichevskiy 3mo agoI'm moving to a new place and my office will have an exposed I-beam and I'm stoked. The healthiest points of my life seem to correlate with industrial architecture that I can hang on directly or with rings!
- crooked-v 3mo agoWay back, working for the 2010 Census, I had an ex-Navy coworker who did something like that: whenever he was bored in the office, he would do a couple of push-ups before looking for new work to do.
- elictronic 3mo agoLess than 5% of the population can do a pull-up. I can after having climbed for a bit and worked towards doing it, but you might be surprised to learn how few this would actually benefit.
- hnav 3mo agoif it's sturdy/you're light then doing eccentrics (jump up, come down unassisted) is a good way of working up to full pull ups.
- shaewest 3mo agoThis is where calisthenics comes into play. You can quite easily increase and decrease the leverage on the muscle to workup to the 'main exercise' and even past it. IE, for pull ups, you can hang under a table and do a 'horizontal' pull, you can 'cheat' up the movement (jumping), you can use resistance bands, etc. This is the same for almost every muscle group.
- stevenalowe 3mo agozero, duh.
- small_model 3mo agoI live on 3rd floor with no elevator so I usually have to walk up these twice a day, this along with walking and hanging from a door frame is just enough to keep alive.
- Joel_Mckay 3mo agoFolks should be getting out for a brisk >20 minute/1mile/2km early/late walk everyday when its cool outside, and if you have a dog it is 2 to 3 times a day with shorter <10min sessions if you value the carpets. Many that complain about neck or back problems are almost always suffering from stress/burnout, RSI, and or a sedentary lifestyle. Take it slow at first to avoid injuring yourself, and head home if you feel out of breath each journey. And remember to stay hydrated with normal clean water. Getting outside regularly will help most folks live better longer lives. Have a wonderful day. =3
- __mharrison__ 3mo agoFind something you enjoy doing, then "hack" it to make you participate more. For example, I play a lot of ultimate in the summer. I play with a lunchtime pickup group, so there is a forcing function to play. I like to bike, and helping coach my daughter's high school mountain bike team ensures I get a lot more miles than I would otherwise. In the winter, I have friends that I ski with. I also enjoy exercising on my own, but some activities are better as a group. When I worked in an office, I played a lot of ultimate (lunchtime pickup), but also would do walks with colleagues. Great way to combine debugging, learning, and exercise.
- sublinear 3mo agoLift weights. Do it multiple times a day and chase that pump. Do it for stress relief. Do it to help you fall asleep. Do it to wake up. It's not all about cardio. Your muscles are such a significant part of your metabolism and far too many people avoid strength training. A ton of problems that arise while aging are ultimately hormonal. Even your skin improves. Cardiovascular health begins here. People are literally running before they can walk. That's the realistic answer for most people under 65 trying to make it to at least 80 with a decent quality of life.
- loeg 3mo agoLift weights, but like 30-60 minutes 3x a week is plenty. You definitely don't have to do it multiple times a day if that would be inconvenient.
- sublinear 3mo agoYeah I agree, but considering this is HN, there's a large audience of people who want a serious answer despite it being a somewhat silly question. I already know these comments will be absolutely polluted with conjecture that isn't practical. If someone works from home and doesn't have kids and hates going outside, this is it. If you can at least get into the habit of lifting weights, you're doing better than most. I'm going to be the one that says it: people avoid cardio because they instantly feel like crap. Why? They lack the strength. Your legs are considered a "second heart" for a reason. When you get your strength up, you feel amazing. That run will no longer feel like a chore.
- loeg 3mo agoI can't object to any of that. If you can swing the space for a squat rack at home, it's pretty life-changing. Highly recommend.
- confidantlake 3mo agoPeople not liking cardio was always a weird one to me. Kids love to run around. They naturally do it, no one has to prompt them. Not sure what happens to people as they grow up that makes them lose this joy.
- annzabelle 3mo agoI love to run, and even in winter, in the dark, in the rain, I will get home from work at 6pm, eat a small dinner, and head out for a 40-60 minute jog or interval session a few days a week. I do a aerial circus class once a week, too. I am single and have no children or care giving obligations yet. I bet that when I (hopefully) have small children one day, it will be much harder for me to fit in 3-4 hours a week of running, especially when sleeping enough to feel rested. It would be nice to know what I can do to keep up my health during that phase of life.
- nradov 3mo agoBuy a jogging stroller. You'll have to accept some loss of sleep though, that's just the way it goes.
- Eric_WVGG 3mo agoI’ll tell you an easy way to get away with absolutely no exercise: design your life in such a way that moving around is a normal part of it. Live in a "fifteen minute city." Work someplace that’s either a thirty minute walk or thirty minute bike ride from home. Carry your groceries. If you get your minimal daily requirement of exercise by just living your normal life, any additional exercise you do is bonus, icing on your cake.
- nradov 3mo agoThat's a reasonable start for some people but it lacks the resistance training necessary to prevent sarcopenia later in life. Some people get that as part of their job but most of us need to do at least some weight training. Carrying groceries isn't nearly enough.
- bitshiftfaced 3mo agoI looked into the return on investment of exercise in terms of hours spent exercising and expected hours of waking life you gain. In short, it's a good investment, especially if you do vigorous exercise (both cardio and resistance training). It's an even better time investment if you can do it at home and cut out the commute time to the gym. You don't actually need more than maybe a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment.