7 ms·

Paul Graham Thinks You Should Exercise

61 points by sethbannon 13y ago

dnautics 13y ago
Actually I find that 7 minute workouts (which I heard about on hn) have vastly improved my life in the past four months.... So thank you, HN.
- HudsonMauer 13y ago
  Have any favorites you care to share?
  - mlwarren 13y ago
    This article (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-mi...) was popular on HN months back. Looks like http://www.7-min.com/ http://www.7-min.com/ has made a timer application for the workout routine.
    - awaxman11 13y ago
      http://7min.io/ http://7min.io/ is also really good for the 7 minute workout
  - amattn 13y ago
    I'm a huge fan of this one: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-min-fit/id655808630?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-min-fit/id655808630?mt=8
  - dnautics 13y ago
    I use the "7-minute workout" android app. There's a bug in it where you can't switch apps in the middle, but I consider this bug to be a feature! For whatever reason, the chromium plugin which was my backup, no longer works (I also liked it because it plays a nice arpeggio at the end, so that's a positively reinforcing primary stimulus). If you're asking about the workout, I've begun modifying it - I now do the 7 minute workout with 5 lb dumbbells and 5lb ankle weights. I also often do some pull-ups before and after. I also do triangle push ups (or sometimes clap-push ups) instead of the push ups, I do side-to-side push ups (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqQcQrXoYrw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqQcQrXoYrw) instead of push-up and rotate, and instead of side planks, I do static leg lift, at about 5 degrees elevation. when I first started out I was doing 7 days a week, but cheating (which is fine, you do whatever to bootstrap) - now I'm doing 5 or 6 days a week, which I think is sufficient.
1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago
Why is someone other then Paul G. telling me what he thinks.
diziet 13y ago
I'd met Seth rock climbing at Dogpatch Boulders in SF. There are a lot of startup founders and people working at startups that go rock climbing -- make sure to check it out.
darkstar999 13y ago
I don't think hitting the gym once a week counts. You should at least do some light cardio daily.
WestCoastJustin 13y ago
This is not rocket science. You need only to take a glace around the office to notice that our industry is not exactly the healthiest. We are sitting all day, eat pizza, and guzzling energy drinks (mind eye: google "cartman gamer"), obviously this is an exaggeration, but in some cases, it isn't! Adding exercise can go a long way, you do not have to think of this as wasted time, you can listen to audio books, podcasts, etc while you are doing your thing. My main gripe is that as engineers and measurement freaks, I want to research exercise before actually doing anything, and then want to measure my results. There is no clear action path down this road. Diet and exercise are two side of the same coin. Maybe I'll produce some content on this topic since I have spent the last couple years getting my house in order. For example, say, starting tomorrow, you wanted to "eat healthy" and "workout". What would you do? There is nothing that will give you a grocery list + meal plan, along with a workout routine. You need to do all this research first!
- jgrahamc 13y ago
  I would urge you to very much think of it as 'wasted time'. There's an obsession here from some people with filling every moment with information (such as audio books, podcasts, etc.). While exercising it's a perfect time to have no other stimuli and let your mind wander. Just let it wander. It's really useful to do that because rather than listening to other people's thoughts you'll have thoughts of your own. Unexpected thoughts at that.
  - acchow 13y ago
    Daily exercise can be very efficient if you're doing something like T25 or Insanity. It also improves the quality of your other time.
  - jacquesm 13y ago
    Or better still instead of doing pointless exercise: do something useful. Help someone build a house, go shopping for old ladies in the neighbourhood, chop wood for your stove (or your neighbours stove), chase pickpockets, and if you have them play with your kids (or someone else's kids!). Anything as long as it is useful and you get your exercise.
dionidium 13y ago
I think the point of this article is that the author has been to the gym at least once a week for a year and he wanted us to know that.
yawgmoth 13y ago
The fable here is that neglecting facets of your lifestyle has consequences. Exercise tends to correlate heavily with consciously managing diet and mental health. I am thankful that someone as PG is a proponent of this sort of thing because the state of workplace culture (in many places) is already unhealthy enough (e.g. bagel Monday, pizza Friday, donut Wednesday, coupled with excessive sitting and high caffeine consumption). We all could benefit from employers who felt it a responsibility to keep their employees healthy (though the onus is ultimately on individuals, of course).
guard-of-terra 13y ago
Am I the only one who's not going to? Have more interesting/less awful ways to spend my time. Go to a concert, for example.
- enraged_camel 13y ago
  We'll see if you can still go to concerts once you develop serious health problems at the age of 40.
  - tomjen3 13y ago
    Don't be too sure, there are plenty of old hackers still around.
    - enraged_camel 13y ago
      Look at the population as a whole. Statistically speaking, people who don't work out are much more likely to develop health problems.
- tomjen3 13y ago
  Nah, most people aren't going to exercise. Which is why it infuriates me that researchers are wasting time showing the benefits of exercise on this or that subgroup instead of solving the entire thing with the damn exercise in a pill.
bfe 13y ago
I realized the limiting factor in my performance is not time, it's mental energy. Since I started running almost every day, the time it takes to run more than makes up for itself in added mental energy. And if you bring someone you need to talk with with you to run (or at least walk) outdoors in the sunshine, it sometimes turns into a more focused discussion than you might have had indoors at your usual places surrounded by your laptops and phones.
gmonaco 13y ago
Not making time for exercise now seems akin to cutting out food because you have no time to eat So now we just need Soylent for Exercise ;-) FWIW, I agree with the article. Also, exercising seemed like a chore at first, but now it's fun and I look forward to it.
- smtddr 13y ago
  gmonaco, I got your back.. er abs.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DcJRW88pk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DcJRW88pk
mhurron 13y ago
Well so do I, but I don't get a headline on HN because of it. What makes him so damn special.
kyro 13y ago
Exercise is a source of confidence, motivation, and resilience -- a free and unlimited source. So not only will it benefit you, but keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy will likely increase the chances of your startup succeeding. I say that because people often feel, including me, that exercise comes at the cost of productivity, when in fact it multiplies it.
kyllo 13y ago
In my view, exercise is mandatory if you don't want serious health problems at a young age. I could go on all day about which specific types of exercise are best, but it really depends on the person. The key is to find an exercise that YOU enjoy doing, and make the time to do it regularly. Personally, I enjoy powerlifting and grappling. There are literally zero days where I drag my feet and have force myself to go to the weight room, or to jiu-jitsu class. I look forward to these activities all day while I'm at work. To me, they are fun and rewarding. Find a sport or form of exercise that is fun to you, and just do it, a lot. Enter amateur competitions if you can. Doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it makes you sweat. It will help keep you fit, relieve stress, and even help you meet people and make friends, making you a happier person all around.
- jlees 13y ago
  I completely agree that doing something enjoyable is absolutely the best approach, and if you want to optimise for various things, that's great - but don't knock the millions of folk who are getting off their arses and actually moving about. (It also makes me happier to think of people out there enjoying exercise, than "putting in their time" on the treadmill like hamsters.) Sadly, finding a form of exercise that fits is easier said than done, as with so many things. If you are unfit, there are many barriers - both physical and mental - to just trying out new sports until you find the right one. Even less unfit people can be paralysed with fear of the unknown, over-abundance of choice, etc. College and workplace activity offerings are great, as are good gyms, because you can just try out a bunch of classes once and see what works for you. But it took me many years to get to the point where I was brave enough to walk in the door of a Crossfit gym, which I now thoroughly enjoy. Maybe the point here is that if you have friends or acquaintances that "don't like exercise", bring them along to something you love or have always wanted to try (ideally the latter - doing someone's favourite sport with them is way intimidating if you're new to exercise, failing together is much more enjoyable).
  - kyllo 13y ago
    Yes, the older and more out-of-shape you are, the harder it can be to find a sport/exercise you like, and to form new, healthy habits and break old, unhealthy ones in general. But a very common question that people ask of recreational sport coaches is some variation of "I don't think I'm fit enough to even do this yet, what should I do to get ready for it?" And unless you already have a serious medical condition, the answer is almost always "Just show up and give it a try." Most people don't realize this, but even if you're overweight, slow and weak, you don't need to put yourself through a "training montage" in order to prepare for a sport. The best way to get in shape for a a particular sport, is just to start playing that sport. Just ease into it volume/intensity-wise as appropriate for your level of fitness.
amattn 13y ago
Exercise is a positive return on the time investment. A good workout (7-30 mins), a 15-30 min bike ride or a 10-20 min run will more than pay off with improved productivity and energy throughout the day.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
j_s 13y ago
I'm curious what pg's exercise routine is.
a3voices 13y ago
>Yesterday Foursquare alerted me that I had been to a gym at least once a week for the past year. That's very insufficient. You should be exercising 5 or 6 days per week, if not 7.
Toenex 13y ago
Working exercise into you're day is a good way to ensure you stick to it. I've always cycled to work and not only does this mean I do hundreds of hours of exercise that I wouldn't otherwise do it saves money and is probably quicker than commuting by car. I also feel more alert when I get to my desk.
phogster 13y ago
What type of exercises do you guys recommend for someone that sits at a desk all day?
- freiheit 13y ago
  Anything that you'll actually do every week and gets your heart rate up. Bonus points if it gets you outside. Walking. Running. Bicycling. Personally, I like biking to work. Integrates the exercise right into my routine and doesn't really take that much more time than my other commute options. I also do longer weekend rides (40-70 miles).
hackula1 13y ago
A few months ago I traded in bourbon and podcasts after work for yoga. I keep it simple and fairly easy. While I would probably be even better off doing intense cycling and/or lifting, basic yoga is doable for me after a hard day of work. Not only do I feel much more in shape, but I feel drastically more relaxed as well.
Hansi 13y ago
Why are there so many articles posted on HN about this? Want to live long and be productive exercise and eat mostly healthy must be common sense at this point right? I'm not knocking on the OP for posting this but am interested in hearing comments on why this keeps getting repeated. I sure know that everyone around me on a day to day basis knows this independent of whether they follow it or not.
Mankhool 13y ago
I think the health results of daily excersize are a fringe benefit to the perseverance and dedication required to do so. Once you have perseverance and determination, you can DO anything.
stephth 13y ago
With the 7 minute workout, you have no excuse not to exercise daily. All you need is a wall, a chair, a mat if the floor doesn't have carpet, and about 8 minutes. You get a full body endurance workout with all its long term and short term benefits - makes you feel more awake right away and helps you sleep better at the end of the day - and just 8 minutes later you can be back on your keyboard. You can exercise more if you want to, but unless you have an impeding health problem, you have no excuse not to do this much. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-mi... I used this iOS app to learn the exercises (I started by learning 6 exercises and then evolved from there, in less than two weeks I was doing the full workout), and I use it every day to guide me: http://www.uovo.dk/apps/7minute.html http://www.uovo.dk/apps/7minute.html (There's plenty of others similar apps out there which I haven't tried but this one works for me)
- tomjen3 13y ago
  And after that your neighbor complains because you started to jump around at 6 am. Really all those exercises you can do anywhere - yeah you can do them anywhere if you live in the 'burbs.
  - stephth 13y ago
    That's not a good excuse. There are plenty of hours in the day from which to choose an 8 minutes window.
pstack 13y ago
With all due respect to Paul Graham and on behalf of my fat ass and all my fellow (especially telecommuting) fat asses out there, /screw that guy/!. :D
varelse 13y ago
A long time ago my very athletic college girlfriend dumped me for a very athletic version of me. In the final weeks of that doomed relationship, I desperately hit the gym to try to stop the inevitable end of that first love. I failed. But what I succeeded at was vowing to never again get dumped for someone that was pretty much me but in better shape. So the rest of the failed experiments on the way to meeting my wife found new and innovative ways to reject me. These days, when I'm in a technical interview, and I get asked how I solve problems, I answer with something like "On a treadmill, running at 7-9 mph, until the answer becomes clear to me." About 2/3 of the time, the person asking the question is taken aback and I've just saved myself from working at a company full of couch potatoes half my age and heading twice as fast into effective old age. Really, we won't get along, let's just move along. And about 1/3 of the time, the person seems to get that I'm using exercise to get away from the information deluge of the workplace to give my brain a chance to do its thing. These are the only jobs to which I give any consideration. The day you stop moving is the day you start dying IMO.
- tomjen3 13y ago
  I am not quite sure how that would work if you worked on a project alone and need to review a large stack of code or you work with somebody else, you can't exactly take 3 minutes on a threadmill.
  - varelse 13y ago
    If you work on a team, mark time on your calendar where you are busy and stick to it - there are very few emergencies that really are more important than maintaining your own personal productivity - in the rare event that you hit one, throw an exception. And that may sound self-centered and harsh, but really, your most valuable time at work is your time in flow. If your employer doesn't value that, and feels free to interrupt you willy nilly as well as drop you into the middle of a 1960s boiler room of coders happily jabbering away instead of writing code, your project and likely your company is doomed. If you're working alone and you're blocked, go exercise, it works like magic because it monkey wrenches your brain out of the infinite loop that's keeping you from seeing the solution. If you aren't blocked, go exercise anyway. Make it a regular habit. Finally, review that stack of code after you come back from the gym. You'll be in a much more receptive state to do so.

61 points by sethbannon 13y ago

Actually I find that 7 minute workouts (which I heard about on hn) have vastly improved my life in the past four months.... So thank you, HN.

HudsonMauer 13y ago
Have any favorites you care to share?
- mlwarren 13y ago
  This article (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-mi...) was popular on HN months back. Looks like http://www.7-min.com/ http://www.7-min.com/ has made a timer application for the workout routine.
  - awaxman11 13y ago
    http://7min.io/ http://7min.io/ is also really good for the 7 minute workout
- amattn 13y ago
  I'm a huge fan of this one: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-min-fit/id655808630?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-min-fit/id655808630?mt=8
- dnautics 13y ago
  I use the "7-minute workout" android app. There's a bug in it where you can't switch apps in the middle, but I consider this bug to be a feature! For whatever reason, the chromium plugin which was my backup, no longer works (I also liked it because it plays a nice arpeggio at the end, so that's a positively reinforcing primary stimulus). If you're asking about the workout, I've begun modifying it - I now do the 7 minute workout with 5 lb dumbbells and 5lb ankle weights. I also often do some pull-ups before and after. I also do triangle push ups (or sometimes clap-push ups) instead of the push ups, I do side-to-side push ups (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqQcQrXoYrw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqQcQrXoYrw) instead of push-up and rotate, and instead of side planks, I do static leg lift, at about 5 degrees elevation. when I first started out I was doing 7 days a week, but cheating (which is fine, you do whatever to bootstrap) - now I'm doing 5 or 6 days a week, which I think is sufficient.

1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago

Why is someone other then Paul G. telling me what he thinks.

diziet 13y ago

I'd met Seth rock climbing at Dogpatch Boulders in SF. There are a lot of startup founders and people working at startups that go rock climbing -- make sure to check it out.

darkstar999 13y ago

I don't think hitting the gym once a week counts. You should at least do some light cardio daily.

WestCoastJustin 13y ago

This is not rocket science. You need only to take a glace around the office to notice that our industry is not exactly the healthiest. We are sitting all day, eat pizza, and guzzling energy drinks (mind eye: google "cartman gamer"), obviously this is an exaggeration, but in some cases, it isn't! Adding exercise can go a long way, you do not have to think of this as wasted time, you can listen to audio books, podcasts, etc while you are doing your thing. My main gripe is that as engineers and measurement freaks, I want to research exercise before actually doing anything, and then want to measure my results. There is no clear action path down this road. Diet and exercise are two side of the same coin. Maybe I'll produce some content on this topic since I have spent the last couple years getting my house in order. For example, say, starting tomorrow, you wanted to "eat healthy" and "workout". What would you do? There is nothing that will give you a grocery list + meal plan, along with a workout routine. You need to do all this research first!

jgrahamc 13y ago
I would urge you to very much think of it as 'wasted time'. There's an obsession here from some people with filling every moment with information (such as audio books, podcasts, etc.). While exercising it's a perfect time to have no other stimuli and let your mind wander. Just let it wander. It's really useful to do that because rather than listening to other people's thoughts you'll have thoughts of your own. Unexpected thoughts at that.
- acchow 13y ago
  Daily exercise can be very efficient if you're doing something like T25 or Insanity. It also improves the quality of your other time.
- jacquesm 13y ago
  Or better still instead of doing pointless exercise: do something useful. Help someone build a house, go shopping for old ladies in the neighbourhood, chop wood for your stove (or your neighbours stove), chase pickpockets, and if you have them play with your kids (or someone else's kids!). Anything as long as it is useful and you get your exercise.

dionidium 13y ago

I think the point of this article is that the author has been to the gym at least once a week for a year and he wanted us to know that.

yawgmoth 13y ago

The fable here is that neglecting facets of your lifestyle has consequences. Exercise tends to correlate heavily with consciously managing diet and mental health. I am thankful that someone as PG is a proponent of this sort of thing because the state of workplace culture (in many places) is already unhealthy enough (e.g. bagel Monday, pizza Friday, donut Wednesday, coupled with excessive sitting and high caffeine consumption). We all could benefit from employers who felt it a responsibility to keep their employees healthy (though the onus is ultimately on individuals, of course).

guard-of-terra 13y ago

Am I the only one who's not going to? Have more interesting/less awful ways to spend my time. Go to a concert, for example.

enraged_camel 13y ago
We'll see if you can still go to concerts once you develop serious health problems at the age of 40.
- tomjen3 13y ago
  Don't be too sure, there are plenty of old hackers still around.
  - enraged_camel 13y ago
    Look at the population as a whole. Statistically speaking, people who don't work out are much more likely to develop health problems.
tomjen3 13y ago
Nah, most people aren't going to exercise. Which is why it infuriates me that researchers are wasting time showing the benefits of exercise on this or that subgroup instead of solving the entire thing with the damn exercise in a pill.

bfe 13y ago

I realized the limiting factor in my performance is not time, it's mental energy. Since I started running almost every day, the time it takes to run more than makes up for itself in added mental energy. And if you bring someone you need to talk with with you to run (or at least walk) outdoors in the sunshine, it sometimes turns into a more focused discussion than you might have had indoors at your usual places surrounded by your laptops and phones.

gmonaco 13y ago

Not making time for exercise now seems akin to cutting out food because you have no time to eat So now we just need Soylent for Exercise ;-) FWIW, I agree with the article. Also, exercising seemed like a chore at first, but now it's fun and I look forward to it.

smtddr 13y ago
gmonaco, I got your back.. er abs.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DcJRW88pk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DcJRW88pk

mhurron 13y ago

Well so do I, but I don't get a headline on HN because of it. What makes him so damn special.

kyro 13y ago

Exercise is a source of confidence, motivation, and resilience -- a free and unlimited source. So not only will it benefit you, but keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy will likely increase the chances of your startup succeeding. I say that because people often feel, including me, that exercise comes at the cost of productivity, when in fact it multiplies it.

kyllo 13y ago

In my view, exercise is mandatory if you don't want serious health problems at a young age. I could go on all day about which specific types of exercise are best, but it really depends on the person. The key is to find an exercise that YOU enjoy doing, and make the time to do it regularly. Personally, I enjoy powerlifting and grappling. There are literally zero days where I drag my feet and have force myself to go to the weight room, or to jiu-jitsu class. I look forward to these activities all day while I'm at work. To me, they are fun and rewarding. Find a sport or form of exercise that is fun to you, and just do it, a lot. Enter amateur competitions if you can. Doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it makes you sweat. It will help keep you fit, relieve stress, and even help you meet people and make friends, making you a happier person all around.

jlees 13y ago
I completely agree that doing something enjoyable is absolutely the best approach, and if you want to optimise for various things, that's great - but don't knock the millions of folk who are getting off their arses and actually moving about. (It also makes me happier to think of people out there enjoying exercise, than "putting in their time" on the treadmill like hamsters.) Sadly, finding a form of exercise that fits is easier said than done, as with so many things. If you are unfit, there are many barriers - both physical and mental - to just trying out new sports until you find the right one. Even less unfit people can be paralysed with fear of the unknown, over-abundance of choice, etc. College and workplace activity offerings are great, as are good gyms, because you can just try out a bunch of classes once and see what works for you. But it took me many years to get to the point where I was brave enough to walk in the door of a Crossfit gym, which I now thoroughly enjoy. Maybe the point here is that if you have friends or acquaintances that "don't like exercise", bring them along to something you love or have always wanted to try (ideally the latter - doing someone's favourite sport with them is way intimidating if you're new to exercise, failing together is much more enjoyable).
- kyllo 13y ago
  Yes, the older and more out-of-shape you are, the harder it can be to find a sport/exercise you like, and to form new, healthy habits and break old, unhealthy ones in general. But a very common question that people ask of recreational sport coaches is some variation of "I don't think I'm fit enough to even do this yet, what should I do to get ready for it?" And unless you already have a serious medical condition, the answer is almost always "Just show up and give it a try." Most people don't realize this, but even if you're overweight, slow and weak, you don't need to put yourself through a "training montage" in order to prepare for a sport. The best way to get in shape for a a particular sport, is just to start playing that sport. Just ease into it volume/intensity-wise as appropriate for your level of fitness.

amattn 13y ago

Exercise is a positive return on the time investment. A good workout (7-30 mins), a 15-30 min bike ride or a 10-20 min run will more than pay off with improved productivity and energy throughout the day.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

j_s 13y ago

I'm curious what pg's exercise routine is.

a3voices 13y ago

>Yesterday Foursquare alerted me that I had been to a gym at least once a week for the past year. That's very insufficient. You should be exercising 5 or 6 days per week, if not 7.

Toenex 13y ago

Working exercise into you're day is a good way to ensure you stick to it. I've always cycled to work and not only does this mean I do hundreds of hours of exercise that I wouldn't otherwise do it saves money and is probably quicker than commuting by car. I also feel more alert when I get to my desk.

phogster 13y ago

What type of exercises do you guys recommend for someone that sits at a desk all day?

freiheit 13y ago
Anything that you'll actually do every week and gets your heart rate up. Bonus points if it gets you outside. Walking. Running. Bicycling. Personally, I like biking to work. Integrates the exercise right into my routine and doesn't really take that much more time than my other commute options. I also do longer weekend rides (40-70 miles).

hackula1 13y ago

A few months ago I traded in bourbon and podcasts after work for yoga. I keep it simple and fairly easy. While I would probably be even better off doing intense cycling and/or lifting, basic yoga is doable for me after a hard day of work. Not only do I feel much more in shape, but I feel drastically more relaxed as well.

Hansi 13y ago

Why are there so many articles posted on HN about this? Want to live long and be productive exercise and eat mostly healthy must be common sense at this point right? I'm not knocking on the OP for posting this but am interested in hearing comments on why this keeps getting repeated. I sure know that everyone around me on a day to day basis knows this independent of whether they follow it or not.

Mankhool 13y ago

I think the health results of daily excersize are a fringe benefit to the perseverance and dedication required to do so. Once you have perseverance and determination, you can DO anything.

stephth 13y ago

With the 7 minute workout, you have no excuse not to exercise daily. All you need is a wall, a chair, a mat if the floor doesn't have carpet, and about 8 minutes. You get a full body endurance workout with all its long term and short term benefits - makes you feel more awake right away and helps you sleep better at the end of the day - and just 8 minutes later you can be back on your keyboard. You can exercise more if you want to, but unless you have an impeding health problem, you have no excuse not to do this much. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-mi... I used this iOS app to learn the exercises (I started by learning 6 exercises and then evolved from there, in less than two weeks I was doing the full workout), and I use it every day to guide me: http://www.uovo.dk/apps/7minute.html http://www.uovo.dk/apps/7minute.html (There's plenty of others similar apps out there which I haven't tried but this one works for me)

tomjen3 13y ago
And after that your neighbor complains because you started to jump around at 6 am. Really all those exercises you can do anywhere - yeah you can do them anywhere if you live in the 'burbs.
- stephth 13y ago
  That's not a good excuse. There are plenty of hours in the day from which to choose an 8 minutes window.

pstack 13y ago

With all due respect to Paul Graham and on behalf of my fat ass and all my fellow (especially telecommuting) fat asses out there, /screw that guy/!. :D

varelse 13y ago

A long time ago my very athletic college girlfriend dumped me for a very athletic version of me. In the final weeks of that doomed relationship, I desperately hit the gym to try to stop the inevitable end of that first love. I failed. But what I succeeded at was vowing to never again get dumped for someone that was pretty much me but in better shape. So the rest of the failed experiments on the way to meeting my wife found new and innovative ways to reject me. These days, when I'm in a technical interview, and I get asked how I solve problems, I answer with something like "On a treadmill, running at 7-9 mph, until the answer becomes clear to me." About 2/3 of the time, the person asking the question is taken aback and I've just saved myself from working at a company full of couch potatoes half my age and heading twice as fast into effective old age. Really, we won't get along, let's just move along. And about 1/3 of the time, the person seems to get that I'm using exercise to get away from the information deluge of the workplace to give my brain a chance to do its thing. These are the only jobs to which I give any consideration. The day you stop moving is the day you start dying IMO.

tomjen3 13y ago
I am not quite sure how that would work if you worked on a project alone and need to review a large stack of code or you work with somebody else, you can't exactly take 3 minutes on a threadmill.
- varelse 13y ago
  If you work on a team, mark time on your calendar where you are busy and stick to it - there are very few emergencies that really are more important than maintaining your own personal productivity - in the rare event that you hit one, throw an exception. And that may sound self-centered and harsh, but really, your most valuable time at work is your time in flow. If your employer doesn't value that, and feels free to interrupt you willy nilly as well as drop you into the middle of a 1960s boiler room of coders happily jabbering away instead of writing code, your project and likely your company is doomed. If you're working alone and you're blocked, go exercise, it works like magic because it monkey wrenches your brain out of the infinite loop that's keeping you from seeing the solution. If you aren't blocked, go exercise anyway. Make it a regular habit. Finally, review that stack of code after you come back from the gym. You'll be in a much more receptive state to do so.