3 ms·
Reading these studies has slowly convinced me that motivation is a more important factor than optimising a workout. Yeah, we know that resistance training is w
by strken 2mo ago
Reading these studies has slowly convinced me that motivation is a more important factor than optimising a workout.
Yeah, we know that resistance training is wonderful and so is high intensity cardio, but the biggest barrier seems to be motivating people to do something difficult which puts stress on their bodies. I don't feel like I see much research on HN or elsewhere that covers how to make people actually follow health advice.
- sigmoid10 2mo agoThis still seems like a step in that direction. If you can have more benefits by spending less time training and enduring physical discomfort, then that should be an overall guideline for training aimed at the general population. Although the biggest change in health we've ever seen in our obesogenic society is still from semaglutide and I think physical exercise will never reach the same prevalence as a drug that you can take.
- strken 2mo agoWhat I was thinking is that I'd like to see some research on recovery time, physical impact for the rest of the day, pain after training, productivity on tasks after training, and so on. My hypothesis is that HIIT and other high intensity training will have a greater effect on the rest of someone's day. I suspect the physical discomfort of keeping your heart rate at 120 for an hour is less than that of almost maxing it out in a handful of one minute intervals.
- sigmoid10 2mo ago>I suspect the physical discomfort of keeping your heart rate at 120 for an hour is less than that of almost maxing it out in a handful of one minute intervals. Only when you limit it to lactate levels. But you're not going to push to athlete serum levels anyway. There is a lot of tangential discomfort surrounding every aspect exercise, especially if you're not trained at all and have no routine.
- strken 2mo agoYeah definitely! I'm not suggesting exercise is comfortable, just that a 10 minute workout that takes a sedentary person another 20 minutes to recover from has less of a lifestyle advantage over a 30 minute workout that ends with a gentle wind-down. It might actually be better even after factoring in the recovery time, but I think leaving out the recovery is a mistake when we're talking about public health.
- matwood 2mo agoIt's not about motivation, it's about discipline. Motivation is fleeting, and if someone only exercises when motivated it's going to be hard to keep going. Discipline is what will get a person to exercise enough that it becomes part of their life. But to your point, discipline is not that common. I've done some sort of workout almost every day for the last 25+ years. It had nothing to do with motivation, but making exercise a part of my day like brushing my teeth.
- nathan_compton 2mo ago> It had nothing to do with motivation, but making exercise a part of my day like brushing my teeth. So it isn't about discipline either, it's about habits? I'm like you. Routine exercise for the last 25 years or so. I feel neither particularly disciplined nor particularly motivated. It is either just a habit I've formed or I happen to have the correct physiological temperament for exercise to be easy.
- Balooga 2mo agoOut of interest, how long did it take for you to form the habit for regular exercise? I took a solid 6 months of forcing myself to ignore my mind's constant excuses to not work out, to the point of my mind realizing that the excuses just weren't going to work and stop.
- nathan_compton 2mo agoI don't know. It happened in college when I got involved in an organized, highly athletic, sport. Never stopped. I guess six months wouldn't be a bad number to put on it. Exercise feels good to me. I think it felt good immediately when I started? I like the feeling of pushing myself and I kind of like discomfort/pain I can control.
- Balooga 2mo agoI don't like running, but I continue to run a 10km course a few times a week. Some years ago I felt the transition from someone who just runs for exercise to being a runner. And runners run. So I run.
- Bluescreenbuddy 2mo agoIf you're waiting around for motivation to exercise, you will never succeed. It needs to be a habit. You need discipline.
- Antipode 2mo agoI provided myself motivation by mounting a monitor to my stationary bike so I can play video games on it. I get a minimum of 210 minutes of cardio a week from it.
- newsomix9xl 2mo agoPlease put on ShowHN!
- jerlam 2mo agoIt could be just Zwift, not a new program.
- strken 2mo agoFrom the public health perspective, zoomed out far enough, motivation and habit are the same thing. You want people to do X; which factors hurt and which help?
- nkmnz 2mo agoSo it's better to wait around for motivation to build a habit and develop discipline.