Looking at the funnel plot in fig. 3 in the linked meta-analysis [1], the high precision studies (standard error < 0.268) are clustered around an effect size of 0. The overall positive effect derives exclusively from the medium and low-precision studies, with several visible outliers well to the right influencing the mean significantly. The medium and low-precision studies had problems with one or more of the following:
"randomisation; allocation concealment; blinding of therapists (intervention supervisors); blinding of participants; blinding of outcome assessors; handling of incomplete data (use of intention-to-treat analysis); selective reporting and any other risk of bias." [1]
Also, the result was only statistically significant for poor quality control groups that didn't engage in any shared activity:
"When the control group involved either no contact (eg, waiting list, usual care; p<0.01) or education (eg, computer course, health lectures; p=0.01) the estimate was statistically significant. Where the control condition was exposed to an active control (eg, stretching; p=0.17) or social group (p=0.62), the effect size was still positive but no longer statistically significant." [1]
In summary, a few poor quality studies with large bias account for most if not all of the effect reported in this meta-analysis.
Thank you for spending the time to assess the validity of the claimed result, and for taking the time to explain it to us. This is a great example of the frequently poor quality of reported scientific studies.
If people used their time to study and learn new things instead of fretting about their exercise, they'd be able to interpret the results of studies like these.
If people used their time to exercise instead of watch TV/Netflix/Hulu, they'd be able to think more clearly and better absorb the results of studies like these.
Do not say you're too busy to exercise. Your productivity is much higher when you exercise.
Do not say you're too old to exercise. The older you are, the more crucial it is.
Get in the habit. Start with even just 2 intense minutes a day. Once you're in the habit, you'll work out longer.
My father was prescribed to storvas (for cholesterol) over a decade ago... luckily he is an avid reader and soon found out what road the permanent meds lead to.
He quit the meds and started working out consistently (never mind spondylitis which he combatted with bed rest) for 10 years (and still continuing).
Today, he's over 50 and is killing it in every aspect in life. His mind is sharp, business is good and best of all he can run over 6kms in 30 minutes (plus all the weights and stuff)! He's now reducing running for his knees and cycles out youngsters half his age 3 times a week (with 3 times weight training).
This could've been a very different picture if he continued with prescribed meds. After experiencing this, he's purchased workout plans for everyone in the family for 9 years straight and wants us to treat workouts like we brush our teeth (nevermind if we don't get competitive).
I work way better if I exercise, it's like the clock for my life even in my 20s. Never want to lose the habit.
I just hate it. Not that I haven't tried. I've tried running, weights, walking. It's boring, and makes me feel tired and irritable. I just want to go to bed after exercise. Not my thing.
Not meaning to be snarky at all, but have you tried reading about mindfulness first? I found that in my 20s running was awful and I was almost literally counting the steps until I got to the end. But as I've gotten older and embraced a more mindful worldview running, walking, swimming or any of the traditional "slog" activities has become a really nice quiet time where I can appreciate all the little motions and sensations of being awake.
Sorry if that comes off as patronizing or hokey, but if you can stay in shape "enough" early, I've found that it becomes it's own reward as I've gotten older.
Couldn't agree more and appreciate your constructive tone in the reply. Mindfulness really has become a focus of mine very recently and definitely something that I practice while swimming.
The act of staying in the moment not worrying about the future or repeating the past in my head has significantly improved who I am.
In practice this tends to be me very deliberately feeling the water, counting my strokes, paying Dill attention to my breathing.
I cannot do it (excuses excuses I know) if there is no purpose. Exercise sake I find the most boring thing in the world and just don't do it although I know I should.
Excercise to get somewhere on the other hand - not a problem. When I lived a 40minute bike ride from work, I enjoyed it and looked forward to it.
When the daughter lived 30 minutes walk from school would walk her to school and run back (15 minutes - took a longer detour). Again, I enjoyed it.
If I need to go the shops, I'll walk and enjoy it.
All went to post last year when got a crippling injury and could barely walk. Now with the youngest child also needing to get to nursery not the time in the morning to walk daughter to school and I know work from home. Now that I have to force myself to do excercise for exercise sake, I do nothing
"I cannot do it (excuses excuses I know) if there is no purpose. Exercise sake I find the most boring thing in the world and just don't do it although I know I should."
You owe it to your friends and neighbors.
Never mind the health benefits or nicer looks or fitting into smaller clothes - you owe it to everyone around you to be able to:
- run for help
- carry a body
- move debris or pull a hose or help push a car
- (etc.)
If you have any expectation at all of being taken seriously and held as an equal by the people around you, this is the minimum set of capabilities.
If for not other reason than the fact that attractive and in-shape people have more opportunities and there is a clear bias in their favor should be enough of a reason.
I feel the same way - just exercising is boring. However, I found that doing other things in which my body moves is quite enjoyable. A couple of examples are martial arts and Zumba class. I took up martial arts in my 30's and after a couple of years I was able to take my shirt off at the 4th of July party without shame. My current drive is to got to Zumba dance class at the gym a couple of nights a week. I get to listen to some loud upbeat music and learn a couple of dance moves along the way. And since I'm at the gym anyway, I'll generally do a couple of the muscle machines too.
I don't know where you live, but it might be worth looking at whether there is a Parkrun close to you. http://www.parkrun.com
I'm in my 50s, absolutely hated running - hadn't done it for 30 years. Started when my wife and kids started doing it, just to help out and got to really enjoy it. Weekly 5km run, hugely mixed ability field, nice friendly atmosphere, nice route. I rather look forward to it now. I also discovered a latent competitive spirit which means that while I puff around the course, I seem to be unable to not sprint for the last 100 meters.
You just need to exercise every day for a couple of months. Bike everywhere, lift weights / do calisthenics / climb three times a week. After two months of this it starts feeling more fun because it's easier and you'll start seeing progress.
Five years seems like such a very long time when you start. Five years ago I was smoking, consuming way too much sugar, and eating tons of processed foods. Small changes over time and I'm at around 10% body fat, unbelievable lung capacity, and a much stronger psyche and work ethic. I feel like I've gotten younger from 26 to 31, and I'm 32 in June.
Try sex, dancing, medieval sword fencing, playing with children in the parc, paintball, walking to the local grocery shop, avoiding elevators, laser tag, going to the beach, skying, boxing, gardening, bar fighting, historical rehersal, theater...
It doesn't need to feel like doing sport. Moving your body is what's important.
I used to hate any type of training for years, but I'm really glad I was able to coax myself into starting & sticking with it in spite of my resistance. Few things in life have so many upsides and so few downsides.
Anyway, I think you have to commit to it long enough that you actually see some measurable results. Many people give up before they even reach that point. It takes effort and persistence, but not on some superhuman level. Pick a program and stick to it for a few months, while making sure your diet is on point.
Did you hire a trainer? I'm thinking that might be something that makes a difference for me. A bigger financial commitment plus a human being that is expecting me to show up would make it more likely that I follow through.
No, but I did have a workout buddy for the first year or so that I was going, so that probably helped. But anyway, I'd still recommend a trainer as he might be able to identify any weak spots in your posture, mobility etc and give better personalized advice than what you'd find online. Had I had one early on, I might not have ended up as a hunchback with huge arms and chicken legs after my first few years of training (I've luckily been able to develop a more balanced physique since).
I'm an adrenaline junkie and found my love of exercise in biking. You can go fast enough that it's a decent rush, and going out on trails can be really exciting. Once you get into good shape you can hit over 30mph for short times.
You can go even faster with some effort! The other day I was frequently hitting well over 50kph, maxing out around 62kph (30-38mph) and I was trying to conserve energy. It's a hell of a lot of fun. I'm not even that fast or fit - any half decent bike will absolutely fly on a good descent.
I'll just file myself in under here and agree that contrary to the wave of "just try harder!" and "try this other thing!" comments that came in reply, that going in to an exercise program and finding that it makes your life worse is quite possibly the sign of a serious medical problem.
I'm actually in that boat right now. For the last few years I have struggled with an exercise program on and off. I have consistently had the experience that it initially makes me feel better, but then I hit a plateau of a certain level of progress that makes me increasingly tired as I try to "push through" and prone to getting every cold that wanders by. Well... guess who's typing this while wearing a heart monitor for a month? My diagnosis is not yet complete but at this point I'm fairly confident I have a condition where my heart goes into some serious atrial fibrillation, only while I am asleep [1], resulting in me not being aware that I may have a moderately-serious heart condition probably for quite a few years (quite possibly decades) until quite recently.
My point is not that you may have this exact problem I have. Delores12 is also correct that this is a known effect of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and as documented on HN that has recently been getting upgraded in the medical community from "ideopathic condition we're not sure we even believe in" to a real diagnosis with a real mechanism, and there are other things this can indicate. My point is "exercise actually makes me feel worse" is a potentially serious symptom of something, and rather than feeling guilty about it or getting moralized at by people who do not have this experience, I would strongly suggest going to a doctor, getting a physical if you haven't already had one, and finding a doctor who takes this seriously as a symptom if the physical doesn't find anything immediately.
I wish I had gone to the doctor earlier. I have some other local health issues that mean that even now I can't actually say what I did was irrational per se, indeed I even found some other issues I had in the meantime, but now I'm in a position where my condition is sufficiently bad that I'm beginning to feel like I'm in some sort of sleep deprivation torture experiment some days, worse than when I was a new parent, and I'm not joking or exaggerating for effect. Unfortunately the medical system is hard to make move faster than it wants to. If you can find what your problem is before then, you'll be happier.
[1]: I do not need people to pop up with the possible causes of this; I am currently engaged with the medical system and aware of the possibilities related to apnea, etc. (I have recorded myself at night and I do not seem to have a snoring problem, so if it is apnea it's the relatively unusual, but existing, no-snoring version. It may also simply be genetic as my mother is prone to it.)
Soccer? Frisbee? I had a problem not wanting to do things if it wasn't competitive... and not wanting to play if I wasn't going to be good...
Anyway I sort of got over that... but mostly I just have some dogs I walk now. We do a 5 mile loop before breakfast every morning. Made a big difference in my health and mindset. Plus... it means getting up early enough to do a 5 mile loop before breakfast, and since I'm competitive (even with myself) I started saying, "Ok, yesterday was 1 hour... can I do the same walk in 55 minutes today?" So that turned into jogging... and a few years into it I really started liking to jog. My morning feels off if I don't get the blood flowing before I shower.
Gamification and competition can be a good motivator. I use the Strava.com mobile app to track endurance exercises (swimming/cycling/running) and just started using the Jefit app to track weightlifting. When I see my friends have been working out and beating me it gives an incentive to get off the couch.
There's nothing wrong with going straight to bed after exercise. You'll probably sleep better for it.
Have you ever tried a Martial Art? It does not need to make you a "fighter", but (at least for me) actually learning and improving at has never been boring (28 years of Aikido and counting).
Try basketball at the local Y or park. Or swimming. Or Raquetball. I hate running and walking too, but I love competition and performing. The being in shape part is just a bonus.
I have never, so far as I am aware, experienced any such thing as an endorphin rush, even though I do practically everything in life harder and with better music. Physical activity is great if it's part of something fun, but I've never been able to find anything intrinsically pleasant about exercise for its own sake.
It caused gradual rise in blood sugar, which caused him to read about potential side effects after which he got cautious and decided that he wanted another way. Turns out rigorous working out was a good way to control cholesterol and he was determined he had stop the meds out of fear for future.
You can read about side effects of statins like lipitor, et cetera, it just scared him off and lead to exercising; which comes with a whole lotta benefits. Tbh I'm not really sure the side effects might've even been that drastic, but he didn't wanna take chances.
Side note: statins are a 20+ billion dollar industry. lipitor being a solid winner. Made my dad feel like there was no coming back once he was dependent on the statin.
Is "to storvas" a typo? I can't tell what that is, and Google isn't helping. I don't understand what the result of those meds would be without know what those meds themselves are.
I find that if I walk 30 minutes, 3 days a week, I feel significantly better. I've been going to the gym lately and feel even better than that. The point being, is we've become so lethargic that 30 minute walk, 3 days a week is a great start and easy to accomplish.
Shameless plug: I work at fitness startup, MoveWith (https://www.movewith.com). We are focused on creating audio fitness classes by some of the best instructors. I know that sometimes I don't know what I should do so for me it has been really helpful to have an instructor in my ear guiding my workout, I am biased here of course ;).
I have created a free gift trial for the Hacker News community (no credit card required) to try it out. Hopefully this motivates people to get moving!
https://www.movewith.com/redeemgift/hackernews :)
I took a look around the web site to see what MoveWith is and one thing jumped out at me right away - the photos are almost all of women (e.g. https://www.movewith.com/collections/getsweaty). It doesn't bother me, but it's also clearly intentional and I'm wondering what the reason is.
I just tried low intensity audio workout. Some feedback: I quit after 3 minutes not being able to imagine any of the movements, crunch being an exception. It may be a neat idea for gym junkies, but useless for beginners.
Working out is good for you. That's an empirical fact. I don't think it does anyone any favors to pretend that it's not. Obviously if you have injuries you should modify and scale workouts appropriately. But not working out is making a conscious choice to be less healthy. That's fine if that's where your priorities lie, but it's still a conscious choice to be less healthy, not simply a difference of opinion. It's much closer to choosing to smoke cigarettes than it is choosing to use a different text editor.
I get that. I try not to push people that don't actually want a push. And I know people that get really turned off of a thing if people are too enthusiastic about it or pushing it too hard at them. Sometimes I feel it too.
I feel it is pretty common in tech, especially as people are used to pitching their "good" or "correct" solutions to people bringing up a problem.
My problem with exercise is simply time. There are a million things I want to do and with a 10-7 work shift, I just can't do much.
Staying 30 minutes longer happens easily so it's 7:30. Commuting to the gym would take another 20-30. 1h in the gym and it's 9 (or later). Commuting an hour home and it's 10. Go to supermarket, maybe cook something up and it could easily be 11 already. This leaves 1-2h max to do anything else, given I am not dead from the gym. Now spinning up the brain to focus on something creative also needs a bit of time.
Morning gym is hard as well. All gyms around my home open from 9:30/10:00 which is when I have to be on the way to the office already.
So the time slots that are free are very competitive. Pick one: Do I go to the gym? Do I watch a movie with the gf? Do I program? Do I learn the next grammar chapter? Do I work on other hobbies that I've been putting off too long? Do I meet friends and catch up on social life?
To be honest, this 'problem' makes me currently think of switching into a part time job, just so I have more time for the things I actually care about. (Part time remote for optimum happiness but that might be impossible to come by)
This is a very typical "extreme reach" barrier. I cannot exercise every day, therefore I am not going to do any.
What about starting at once per week? You don't have start at the optimal point. Once per week is already going to create the habit, give you some health and energy benefits and you can scale up from there.
Also, gym or equipment are not necessary. I do everything at home, and my only "equipment" is composed of a mat and a pull-up bar attached to a door. You can get each item for around 10$.
You can do HIIT cardio exercises that last only 10-20 minutes and have been shown to be much more beneficial than long cardio sessions like running for one hour.
You can also increase muscle mass doing calisthenics exercises with as little as 10 minutes of exercise no more than twice per week (total weekly time: 20 minutes).
I recommend reading the 4 Hour Body from Tim Ferris for this.
There are a lot of options that don't need to include going to the gym or long exercises.
A message from another couch potato trying to improve oneself :)
You don't need to go to the Gym. What you need to do, is to take ownership of your body and your health regimen. You don't need any complex mechanical stuff to do that. Bodyweight exercises are more than enough for regular folks and you can do them at home. Research. See what works for you. These guys have a terrific supportive attitude and great do-at-home courses to get you started https://gmb.io/
Aerobic: Do a run per week and walks on other days around your house. If you want to compress that time and are ready for some pain, do interval runs (research Tabata exercise).
You don't need the gym. Gym is marketing bullshit by an industry that attempts to monetize basic human functions. The only reason gyms are packed with exercise machines is because it's the cheapest way to offer some sort of structured conditioning without expert guidance. I.e it's the most profitable model for gym owners. It's not as good as free weight exercises (unless you are after some specific athletic goal, I think) for any sort of thing.
I found buying an activity bracelet with onboard pulse meter motivated me considerably. Polar A360 was good enough for me, but I'm sure there are better alternatives.
I don't think we disagree. I'm not saying you shouldn't go to a gym if you like it, nor that the equipment there is non-functional. I'm saying, it's not necessary for health benefits.
The context of the discussion was the claim that one needs to go to a gym to maintain a healthy regimen of exercise, which I vehemently oppose.
In this context the main goal of exercise is longevity and staying healthy as possible through senescence.
I don't think there is any conclusive evidence of how much muscle mass is needed for better longevity. My long bet is that regular farmers walks with enough weights are enough for that (combined with some body weight exercises like pull ups).
I don't need the gym for my farmers walks. I have a few rubbery bikes handles strapped to 40 kg weights which I lug around outside my house. I have a pull up bar at home. Done. No need to go to gym.
This is partly a lifestyle choice - I don't enjoy exercise, but I've seen relatives go in a bad way after they forgot to take care of themselves for a couple of decades. I want a regimen that provides sufficient benefits, with as few excuses not to do them as possible.
>it's difficult to serious build muscle mass without lifting weights.
Who said anything about building serious mass? There are many, say, professional fighters who do very little weight training and they look exceptional (literally).
You want to get in shape, you don't need a gym. Do hard work for 30 minutes a day. Work that makes you sweaty and tired. Run, sprint, pushups, burpees, anything. You will get in shape. If you don't believe it, try it for a couple months.
Wait until you get an injury. Professional fighters might be an exception because the type of workouts they do (like grappling) recruit many different muscles, but there's a reason that nearly all sprinters for example train with weights. If you don't do any weight training, definitely make sure to cross train with a variety of activities to avoid becoming imbalanced.
That said, you only need a rack, a bar, a bench, and some plates to get the best possible workout with weights. Doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, and olympic lifts is all it takes to become extremely strong and hardened against injuries. Machines are totally unnecessary.
And I'm not even so sure about fighters. Which fighters do you have in mind that explicitly don't do weight training?
"Which fighters do you have in mind that explicitly don't do weight training?"
The fighters at my gym.
I guess I can't say for certain what the pros do or do not, but I assume some of the competition amateurs I see are doing the best they can. And they look like it. And I know that guys like Conor McGregor have made statements about doing purely "functional exercise". I'm sure some pro fighters weight-train, because it has obvious benefits. It's also hard to sustain muscle in a cardio-focussed sport.
I'm definitely a weight-training advocate, as well. I'm a believer that in order to "get stronger" you have lift heavier and heavier things. That's only really feasible at the gym. I try to get there a couple times a week.
On the other hand, so many people who are starting out try to get some heavy duty "system" in place before they feel they can begin. I see these people at the gym; there for 2 hours, putting everything in their phone, not even working up a sweat. It's not that complicated; just do work.
I am definitely also a functional strength advocate, and I'm not gung ho about needing to deadlift 500 lbs or something to be athletic. I personally prefer olympic lifts, because they force you to be explosive and I'm training for a sports that involve pure speed and jumping ability. I try to do all my other lifts explosively too. And I can't stand the dudes on their phone in the gym -- I can tell I make them uncomfortable even with the relentlessness of my workouts!
Machines are actually worse than free weights; you don't get a full body workout, especially all those stabilizer muscles that help prevent injury.
> hardened against injuries.
I can second this; while I've not become extremely strong, I credit strength training for my lack of broken bones after taking a 600ft tumble down a hard pack snow slope. Strength training in recovery also helped me heal faster.
>Machines are actually worse than free weights; you don't get a full body workout
Yes and no. Free weights are the better of the two choices, but machines are head and shoulders better than free weights for solo trainer safety, which is a problem for us guys and gals trying to "fit it in" to our schedules, as well as beginners.
So, I don't discourage people from machines simply because they aren't optimal. They have their place. I generally use the rack to bench. I love the AirDyne and Concept 2, if those count!
> So, I don't discourage people from machines simply because they aren't optimal.
Any exercise is better than no exercise. And yeah, things like bench press you should ideally have a spotter for. Myself, I stick to the five lifts from Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" (a recommendation I got from HN of all places!), so squats I use a power rack with pins, and overhead press, deadlift and power clean need no spotters. Bench you can do without a spotter if you leave the collars off (just dump the plates on one side, then the other), but most gyms frown on that.
You simply have to prioritize it over some of those other leisure activities.
Personally, I strongly recommend getting a door frame pull up bar and a set of gymnast rings to go with it. This should provide all the equipment you need for a reasonably good body weight resistance training routine.
For cardio, there are many options. Running? You just need shoes and 30 minutes. And you only need cardio once or twice a week.
A little exercise is like a drug. It makes me feel stronger, smarter, more alert. You don't have to go to a gym and bulk up, you just need to start somewhere. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Agreed! While walking around the neighbourhood with my four year old, I found someone disposing of a skateboard. I grabbed it, and rode around for a bit. I'm hooked again! It has been 25 years since I was in to skateboarding. I bought a new board yesterday, pulled out my snowboarding wrist guards because I need my wrists to make money with a keyboard, and got to work learning my balance all over again last night for about 15 minutes. I'm bringing it to work to ride at lunch. I refuse to die with two young kids because I was too stupid to make exercise a priority.
If you follow a bodyweight fitness routine, for instance /r/bodyweightfitness' recommended routine[1], you'll only need a few pieces of equipment to get a good workout regimen going.
"Commuting to the gym would take another 20-30. 1h in the gym and it's 9 (or later). Commuting an hour home and it's 10."
You don't have to go to the gym to exercise. You could exercise at home, using bodyweight exercise and isometrics.[1][2] For aerobic exercise, you can (for example) run or jump rope. Neither of those requires a commute or gym membership.
One good way to get started is the r/bodyweightfitness Recommended Routine.[3]
If you believe it's important enough, you'll find a way to make time. When I started my first job (90's, 3-letter IT company), I was doing 1.5 to 2 shifts + weekend work, so 80-90 hour weeks. I made do with 20-30 minutes of callisthenics in my (tragically small) living room. 7x a week, that adds up to 3-4 hours a week, not insignificant.
Also, find friends who want to be active, not just to go the pub and drink and watch sports (instead of taking part). Get your GF interested in (doing) sports too, and it's a win-win situation.
Please don't take this to be insulting, just trying to explain that once you find a compelling factor, you'll be able to make it work. And once you make it a lifestyle, you will find it uncomfortable to NOT be active.
You'd also be surprised at some of the people from varied walks of life you'll meet; rock climbing in the 90s was festooned with mathematicians and engineers as a progression from mental to physical chess; today it's the domain of the teens, but I'm fine with that as a natural evolution of the consumerism and commodization of most sports. And triathlons, adventure races and ultras have a lot of high-wealth folks participating nowadays, in the current culture of shifting from collecting assets to collecting experiences.
You could spend less time at the gym. You could (probably) go running around your work or your home. You could work out or do yoga at home. You could even work out or stretch in the office during breaks!
"Any reason you give for not exercising regularly is not a reason, it's an excuse".
Commuting 20-30 minutes to a gym sounds completely absurd [0]. You can use that time for exercising. Just walk or run around your home or office, or climb stairs, or do calisthenics in your living room, or whatever.
What I do is cycle to work, which takes about 1 hour per day plus showering both ways (driving the same distance would take about 40 minutes two ways.)
I've been in the same spot. It turns out we tell ourselves stories.
> Staying 30 minutes longer happens easily so it's 7:30
Set an alarm to 6:50. Get out on time.
> Commuting to the gym would take another 20-30
You don't need a gym.
> Go to supermarket, maybe cook something up
Shop once a week. Cook ahead & freeze.
>Now spinning up the brain to focus on something creative also needs a bit of time.
Move that to the morning, if you need the evening for social activities.
> Do I work on other hobbies that I've been putting off too long?
Trust me: You want to work out. There are always more hobbies than you have time for. There's only one healthy body. And you're not (easily) getting it back if you let it go.
From 30-40 years, exercise is a priority. After that age is THE priority. It is up to you what you want to put your time into but I strongly encourage simplifying exercise by removing commute from it.
I never really understood going 'somewhere' to do exercise.
Do a small run of half an hour around your office, in a nearby park for example.
Some years back, I re-evaluated how I spend my free time (not working, not with the family). I knew that I mostly surfed online or watched TV. I decided to only watch TV if I could be in the midst of a workout. I spent a few hundred bucks getting some basic exercise equipment for my home and I began using it almost every day after work in the evenings.
I'm very pleased with that decision. It's produced great results for me, both physically and mentally.
If you can't find the time for the gym and don't want or don't have the space to buy and build a whole homegym, can I suggest to buy a good but simple in-home rowing machine? It is, imho, the perfect combination between aerobic and anaerobic exercises and it really works out every of your muscles in a good way, the only downside is that you have to be careful and learn the correct movements else you are just going to get pain in your whole back.
A good one, with a good variety of (high) resistance and a quality rope would cost about 400/500$, double it if you want agonist-level equipment.
Absolutely.... I do 15 minutes every morning before work on my C2.... works wonders.
I also do 15 minutes at night throwing kettle bells around for my strength work.
Like any exercise, you've got to work up a sweat to get benefit tho.
My new life changing discovery is that you don't need to spend an hour. I've long resisted going to the gym for exactly the reasons you describe, but I've recently joined a gym just round the corner from my office and realized that I can go either before work or on my lunch break, and more importantly that by having a plan before I go and being efficient about it I can be in and out in 30 minutes or less. For me the practical difference now between going and not going to the gym being at work at 8.30 and being at work at 9.00.
I find this bizarre, both in that every gym I've belonged to opened before 6:00AM and that these gyms must be excluding a significant market of potential members.
I've started exercising over lunch, a half hour run instead of sitting in front of Hacker News and Reddit really helps clear my head for the afternoon's problems, as well as the obvious health benefits. I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.
Check this out. I workout three times a week for 20ish minutes or less. I modify this method a bit. Curls instead of pull ups and kettle bell swings instead of squats. I bought everything so I've got it all at home. Kettle bell and two dumbbells take up very little space. If you actually want to exercise there is always a way. I'm not in the same shape I was in when I was working out at the gym 6 days a week but I don't need to be anymore.
I started exercising when I was working full time and going to school part time. It was a lot of work and it was very stressful because neither work or school knew (or cared) about the different demands they would place on my time, so I spent most of my time putting out a fire in one part of my life knowing that another was building somewhere else.
I contrasted two semesters, one where I would tell myself "I don't have time to go to the gym, I need to stay at home and do this problem set" and another where I would tell myself basically the opposite, "I don't have time to NOT go to the gym." What I noticed was that the semesters where I made more of an effort (3-4 times a week) to go to the gym, my grades were better.
Over the years I've found that exercise sharpens the time you have left over. So sure, you spend an extra hour a day exercising but the other 23 hours are just better - you're more alert, you think better, you have more energy, you sleep better, you're less irritable.
You do you, but what I found works for me is working out in the morning. On good days, I get to the pool at 0630 and swim for 40 minutes, then go to work. As a bonus life hack, I've discovered that this combines your post-workout stupor with your early-morning-coffee stupor so you get all the stupor out of the way in the morning while you're checking e-mail and no one else is doing anything anyway.
Do this 3-4 times a week for a few months and see how you feel at the end of it.
Here's a trick: find a friend who you feel you can't bail on and who won't bail on you. Pick a regular time you can both attend. Find some exercise/sport you both enjoy. Now, if it's just your one friend, you'll feel bad bailing, and so will they. Additionally, if it's a reasonably social activity, you'll combine socialising and exercise.
Alternatively, do this with the gf. As long as you won't let each other off the hook, that is..
Something else that worked really well for me for a while was a small running/dinner club. We'd all get together one evening and go for a fairly social, chatty run, followed by dinner at one attendee's place. Burgers, pizza, whatever, something that's pretty quick and easy to toss together. Again, mixing socialising and exercise. The only reason this has stopped happening is because I've temporarily stopped running due to injury.
One more thing: I suspect anything less than 30 minutes a day of exercise is sort of "free" time. Many people report feeling more alert and getting better sleep with regular exercise. So you may regain that 30 minutes per day with increased productivity, or possibly even less time sleeping due to better sleep. (Citation needed!).
I know you've had a heap of responses already, but regarding eating after you get home: Prep something in advance. Make dinner the night before, but double it. The next day after the gym just warm it up, eat, and relax. You'll spend ~10m extra the day before preparing extra and save yourself tons of energy and time the next day. It'll make working out seem a lot less daunting.
Try to fit a bunch of these in and eventually you'll have quite a lot more time. Prep food in advance, work out at home, you're saving well over an hour already.
I feel your pain regarding wanting to go part time so you have time for what you care about. I have many weeks where things pile up until the weekend, then it's all errands and chores all weekend. Such a drag.
You can make a good workout in 15 minutes if you have time constraints. Lifting dumbbells is not the pinnacle of exercise. Do sprint-related things or other high intensity training. It's been proven to have as much of an effect as distance running, with the added benefit of increased metabolic rate and more muscle gain.
Best us to work it into your day like run at lunch and eat at your desk after. Or get off a train stop early and walk. Also I keep a dumbell under my home desk (not confident enough to do this at open plan work office) so if on the phone or having a YouTube moment type thing I do a few exercises.
This is absolutely bizarre to me. The gyms in my area all open between 4am and 6am. The busiest times are the first hour or two after opening and early evening (after 5 or so).
Suggestion: get some weights, and lift while watching a movie with the girlfriend. Get a used exercise bike and ride it while reading a book. Multitask your way to gains.
All that long commuting, working late to pay to live nowhere near your work. Your banker has lots of free time and won't come to visit you if you get sick.
Does anyone else worry about staying fit as an office worker? As much as I enjoy my career, I might give serious consideration to moving into something more physical in future. While you can easily fit in a decent amount of exercise outside of work if you only work 40 hours, it strikes me as much more efficient to make your work exercise in and off itself. I spent one summer working as a software engineer intern with 6 weeks in between working at a summer camp where I was on my feet all day every day. When I got back to the office my mood and focus were sky high compared to before but I never had to try to do exercise at summer camp, the job itself just was exercise.
I have mentioned this in previous threads, but here goes:
See if there are squash courts in your area. If so, take lessons (commit to 5-10 lessons), and ask the instructor to introduce you to other novice players. The game is exhilerating, easy to learn, low-inpact, high cardio, and has a huge supportive world wide community.
In one year, I went from doing no gym / physical activity, to playing squash 3x a week (or more). Additionally, since I'm at the gym anyway, I am now doing gym routine alongside playing squash (something that during my 34 years of living, I'd never managed to keep up as a routine). A funny aside - I've never been a morning person, but I've been trying to "fix" that by scheduling squash games with people at 05:30 am. It "stings" in the morning, but it's incredible how awake you are at 6:30 after having battled it out on the court at full blast. I might flake out on myself to get to the gym that early, but I won't flake out on another person I committed to. Your mileage may vary, but just sharing something which (finally) worked for me. Good luck!
(Just played an hour of squash, 2km rowing machine, full workout - all before breakfast)
I have similar experiences with hockey. It's obviously not as cheap as squash, but most of the pickup in my area is 6:30am or so. The rink is also walkable from my office, so sometimes I bring my skates to work and skate during lunch just to get myself moving. The best part is, it's never too late to start! I took lessons starting at 22, but I was easily the youngest person in the class. Lots of people in their 40s learning to ice skate for the first time.
This is coming from a person who you couldn't pay to exercise two years ago. Recreational sports don't feel like exercise, they feels like playing a game. Also with something like ice skating all your improvements are very noticeable and it feels really good to master a new skill or pull off a deke or score a goal in a game.
Obviously also not for everyone, but these kind of stories are true for every sport. Find something you like, it's never too late to try something new.
I loved squash through undergrad for exactly those reasons - structured, high intensity, fun, low time commitment. But I couldn't call it low-impact; I don't play today because I found the game had too much stop-and-go and heavy direction changes and it was killing my knees and ankles :(
Maybe I should have said lowER impact (compared to most sports, soccer, etc). I regularly play with some older folks - and they don't move around so much... they make ME do the moving!
If you can find a job that you love that requires moderate activity, and funds a lifestyle you can get enjoyment from, that's obviously great. But this study doesn't suggest that you need to do this to stay sharp.
And, at least in the US, the statistics show that average lifespan has actually been decreasing for people in blue collar jobs. Part of this may be that physically demanding jobs simply cause the body to wear out faster or because you end up injuring yourself and having limited mobility making it harder for you to stay active. And, of course, a big part of it is most likely that blue collar jobs usually don't include great healthcare plans, and if you're earning less money, you may end up with a plan that really isn't affordable if something major happens.
It seems that a white collar job with maybe 5 days a week where you workout for an hour - some sort of combination of strength training and aerobic activity - is probably the best middle ground we have right now.
> is most likely that blue collar jobs usually don't include great healthcare plans
Maybe. But there is also lifestyle to consider. I've noticed that blue-collar folks are often the joe-sixpack type. Even with the physical aspect of their jobs, they have poor diets (by choice) and drink a lot.
Many companies in the US are providing gyms for their employees, making staying in decent shape that much easier. I definitely take advantage. Even when I don't have time for a full workout, I can hop on treadmill for a 30 minute run and be back to work in 40 minutes (assuming showers aren't all occupied).
I already do run to work, and it helps, as well as a reasonably active hobby. But there's a big different between running to work and a job that keeps you on your feet and moving for 40 hours a week.
I go to the gym in the early morning but when I worked out over lunch it was:
00:00 - 00:05 Change into workout clothes
00:05 - 00:40 Work out
00:40 - 00:45 Shower (yes a shower only takes 5 minutes if you're not just relaxing under the water)
00:45 - 00:55 Back into work clothes
00:55 - 01:00 Back to the desk
Eat at the desk after the lunch break. If that's not practical you can cut the workout in half and have 20 minutes to eat which is rarely not enough time.
If you have a plan and don't waste time an hour is an exceptionally long time.
Typically, I do one heavy compound lift per day, mess around while I'm waiting for my coworker to finish running on the treadmill / lifting, and then do some ab exercises with her. We get some coffee from the cafe after that, and I eat my packed lunch at my desk.
Honestly, I really only need the shower on squat and deadlift days; bench and overhead press are comparatively light. I'm mostly in a holding pattern for fitness right now, as I work 12-hour shifts and then go to school full-time during the day. Once I'm not hating my life as much, I'll be able to do fitness that's a little more involved.
Nothing helps me tackle a tough programming problem like a nice, long bike ride. Is it grueling at times? Of course. Are my legs burning by the end? Usually. But, hard physical activity is the perfect way to clear my mind.
Plus, the fact that your body will go to shit if you don't exercise. Before I started lifting weights approx 10 years ago, I had back aches from sitting in an office chair all day. After regular, challenging, weight training, those problems vanished. Why? Because my muscles are strong now.
If you don't use your muscles, they soon because worthless, and painful. It's amazing how much stronger you get in a short amount of time as a beginner in weight training.
You don't like exercising? Boo hoo, no one does. I'd much rather eat pizza and drink beer than put 30 miles on my bike. But, I know it's important, so I suck it up and go. Even when I absolutely don't want to.
I'm 63 and a bit overweight. But I have lost 50 lbs in the last 2 years. Wife and I try to exercise for 50 to 70 minutes a day Monday-Friday. We are up at 4:30 am and at the gym at 5:10.
We feel better doing this for ourselves. Some weekends we go to the gym and usually, when we do we stay longer.
Wife and I work downtown and we take are time getting ready to leave. We drive separate because we don't work near each other. I go to bed anywhere from 8:30 to 10. I like 8 hours of sleep but most nights get 7 to 7 1/2.
I remember going to gold's gym in austin (this would have been in the 90's, no idea if gold's is still there) at 5am, and some of the people there were already well into their workouts, if not also leaving for the day(!).
I go to bed between 8:30 and 10. Depends on what is going on. My kids are grown (19, 24) but they live with us right now. So I usually want to spend a little time with them if they are around. One is in graduate school and one works in the evening with disadvantaged kids in a stm enrichment program.
I do nap. Hey I'm 63. I have an office with a door at work and I take a power nap 4 out of 5 days. I love a power nap. Usually 12 to 18 minutes or so.
I've been up all night tonight testing 3 server replacements from home. So no exercise today. Drinking a glass of wine as I wind down from the testing.
My wife and I are on basically the same schedule. No kids which I'm sure makes it much easier but the alarm is 4:30, gym by 5:15, asleep between 9 and 10, usually closer to 9. We both do a lot of weights and HIIT so try to stick to 3 days on, 1 day off. It's also helpful to have that rotating schedule in case something comes up.
Low carb. Protein, some veggies and lots of fat. Mostly good fat like olive oil. 1 tablespoon of MCT oil a day. Nuts.
A little chocolate a couple times a week.
Was pre-diabetic and no longer am. My blood chemistry has never been better. Total cholesterol is around 120 and triglycerides are around 70. I do take a statin.
I have two doctors that support my diet. One a internist and one a cardiologist.
I get up and sit in the dark for 10 to 15 minutes. I drink two cups of mild coffee. Some morning eat 1/2 oz almonds before going to the gym. Some mornings I eat nothing.
Breakfast is usually two scrambled eggs with some meat (can be chicken, salmon, beef, turkey). Small amount of cheese. Some mornings egg and a half (the whites of one.).
I don't think the science is ambiguous as to why carbs can be problematic.
The problem with carbs isn't that they are necessarily bad, but that the bulk of easily available food is mostly non-fibrous processed carbs, which leads to overeating, reduced nutrient density and less appetite satiety which makes overeating very easy.
Walk to any grocery store and most of any boxed food provide energy as carbs. At 2000 calories a day, that's a ~500g (4cal/g) budget for protein & carbs. 4x nutter butter packages burns through 1k+ calories, which I've seen family member teenagers do while junk fooding it up, then eating multiple 1k+ calorie meals. There's a ridiculous amount of inadvertent overeating that is occurring with the types of convenience foods available today.
Most naturally occurring carbs (rice, fruit, wheat, quinoa) are generally loaded up with fiber which satiate appetite, reduce insulin/sugar spikes, etc. Most people don't eat raw or minimally processed carbs through. It's generally consumed as soda, bread, chips/snacks, etc, + whichever meal is being consumed that day.
The body's metabolic process is pretty straightforward. Sugar is stored as glycogen in muscles & liver. Fat/Lipids are stored as fat in the presence of insulin. Protein is used for tissue regeneration and also converted into sugar through gluconeogenesis. Caloric excess means extraneous fat is stored, with an additional burden placed on the heart to support the additional blood flow to having more "body" (more capillaries), while caloric deficit leads to the consumption of the fat reserves.
People would be healthier in general by merely consuming higher nutrient density foods and staying at a proper caloric maintenance. Weighing food out for a week usually opens people eyes to the portions they are consuming. A serving of cereal seems okay at 120 calories, but in reality, a "bowl" is like 3-4 servings when actually measured out.
I'd take Recommended Daily Values with a pinch of salt. They are heavily dated and are derived from a time when recommended diets were heavy in sugar/carbs and frowned upon fat.
High cholesterol foods contributing to high cholesterol is another one of those myths that continue to linger.
Modern research is showing that high cholesterol folk are high because their bodies are producing high amounts of cholesterol, not because they are consuming high amounts of cholesterol.
if you exercise 5+ days/week you dont have to worry about diet. its often the other way around that many people strugle with eating enough to gain weight/muscles.
This is pretty much completely untrue. Anecdata, but I thought if I exercised like crazy I could eat terribly and be fine. I was wrong, and remained massively obese. When I started actually tracking my intake and eating healthier I lost massive amounts of weight, without any change in the exercise routine.
It's been 10 years and I still have to watch my calories like a hawk if I want to stay below obese (I've quit trying for not being overweight, though that would be nice). I swim 1250 meters a day. Previously I've cycled 24 miles a day, or run 30-45 minutes a day, depending on what worked best with my work/home situation.
This is the key point. Eating healthy is absolutely a good idea and helps you perform better but most people eat a lot more than they think they do.
When I started exercising I lost 50 pounds over a year and a half or so without a single change to my (absolute garbage) diet.
Saying you can work out 5x week and eat anything is idiotic, but the key to weight loss is to track your calories, not to eat healthier. You should eat healthier for other reasons.
Your comment seems inconsistent though - am I missing something? Not eating excessively is a big part of eating healthy. For someone who is prone to overeating this counts as worrying about one's diet, I'd say.
I generally take "eating healthy" to mean the composition of the food is good. Little sugar, not an excessive amount of salt, mostly fruits and vegetables with some starch and protein.
If you eat 3,500 calories of the above every day you are probably going to gain weight. If you eat 1,400 calories a day of fast food you probably won't, but it's hard to say that the latter is healthy.
Especially so if you combine weight training with something anaerobic like sprinting. I still follow a few basic dietary heuristics like not eating packaged foods, no sodas, and having the core of my diet be vegetables with lots of healthy oils, but past that I eat as much as possible and I am very, very lean at 82 kg.
Just because the high level effects of a study like this are commonly understood, and predictable, it doesn't mean the science isn't valuable! Digging deeper into things like this helps us understand our inner workings better and has immense value (not speaking to this particular study - just in general).
I agree with this. The "trick" for me was squash. Was never a "sports person" but always thought ping-pong was fun. Approached squash like it was a fun, goofy ping-pong hobby (as its basically fun with no skill whatsoever). Ended up feeling the competitive drive kick in. Got a few lessons so I felt confident that I was making progress. Now I've been doing it several times a week for over a year, gone to a few tournaments, and have a good roster of 10-15 people (now friends!) whom I play regularly.
I think as technology people, we often grew up missing the athletic / team / social aspect associated with sports, which helps make it actually desirable to keep as a lifestyle activity. I now have a good group of friends from this one hobby (where before, I'd have been more likely to just have video game buddies, drinkimh buddies, etc).
For me a buddy system works well. Agreeing to meet a friend at a certain time at the gym and calling one another when starting out for the gym works wonders for me on days when I'd rather do something else.
make it more convenient to go than to not go - hack your routine. Once you're there, you'll be less likely to resist the small amount of effort to actually work out.
Leave your work access card (or some other daily essential) in a locker overnight if they'll let you, so you have to go to the gym in the morning no matter what.
Take pre-workout in a morning or before you leave work so you have too much energy to _not_ go to the gym.
You only need to bootstrap the habit. Then it becomes natural.
Decisions are backed by the environment (in a broad sense), so it's important to understand (for the sake of effectiveness) which changes can be done to the environment, to stimulate taking such decision[s].
I'll say one thing - my dad is 70, doubtful he's ever had a gym routine. But, as he's gained wait, he's had interest in better diet, losing weight. He told me he'd consider exercise. So I took him to his nearby gym, wrote down two checklists (an "A" day, and "B" say) and showed him the exercises, how weights & machines work, got him familiar/comfortable/unafraid of it. I think a big "friction" is people thinking "I have no idea what I'd even do in the gym". So having a plan helps that. That was a few weeks ago, and he's been in the gym a couple times a week in the morning. Super proud of him - as you can imagine, getting my older stubborn dad to learn a new truck is a tough sell!
Well, you can change your own environment. This is personal, but what has worked has been one of:
* Have a gym close to work (i.e. 5 minute walk or less) and a corporate culture that lets you take 45-60 minute lunch breaks. Bonus - I find this makes my afternoons much more productive.
* Live 6+ cycle-able miles from work and ideally have a shower at work
* Be a student with a gym near your classes and an hour or two to kill between them
When one of these things is true I always manage to get a decent routine going. Without that I have always failed. Moving away from southern California to a place where I walk and cycle everywhere has helped.
Depending on the social structure, problems of individuals may have a socialized cost; if this is the case, also people who don't give a flying raccoon or not, do actually pay for that.
Pretty much this. All you can do for most people is to be an example to them in this regard, and politely suggest getting some physical activity to them every now and then, if it comes up naturally in conversation.
They're all adults, in this age of information they all the facts available for such decision.
You could say the same about getting people to save for retirement, but then we tried making 401k plans opt-out and participation increased. We can dramatically change behavior simply by changing the default.
Sometimes there are obvious ways to do this--check here if you don't want to be an organ donor, click this link if you don't want half this raise/starting salary to automatically go into your 401k--and sometimes it's a lot trickier, but it still seems worth investigating in those cases.
It's not obvious how to make exercising opt-out, but I'm skeptical of any claims that we can't non-coercively change behavior until we investigate it a lot and fail consistently.
Some companies provide on-site gyms. Some have secure bike parking + showers. Some provide free or subsidized membership to nearby gyms (if simply subsidized, it could be made opt-out). Even something as simple as providing standing desks could make a difference.
Sure, they're all adults, but their behavior is still shaped more by culture and environment than thoughtful, conscious decisions. Why do I give the government an interest-free loan instead of minimizing my withholding and put it into an interest-bearing account? I know I have the fiscal discipline to benefit from this, but it's weird and not default, so I don't.
Trivial inconveniences are incredibly effective in changing behaviors. In many cases, we can adjust those inconveniences.
I know we could do all that, and it would likely be met with some success.
The point is - should we? Why waste all those resources in subtly coercing, conditioning and deceiving responsible, adult people into wanting to have better lives? The situation will self-correct in a few decades all by itself, and there is too many of us on this planet anyway.
I have a colleague at work who is younger than me, almost morbidly obese. He is fully aware of it, he even cracks jokes about it. He is interested in reading all the theory in the world about anatomy, digestion, dieting, excercise, even chemistry, but he is too weak-willed to actually hop on that bike (which he bought last year, yet to my knowledge never used so far), or go for a walk. But he's already finished the new Mass Effect game and is up to speed with all the TV series out there. Every now and then, I suggest that he joins us when we go out on light bike trip, or swimming in nearby lake in summer, but he always makes one excuse or another.
Another colleague of mine is slightly older, and used to be almost as obese as the first one. About a year ago, he decided to start cycling to work, and also do some cycling in his free time. He changed a lot, is much more lean (or rather less "unlean", he still has ways to go), and by his own words, feels much better.
Both of them have made their choice, and are making it over and over again.
That said, I'm all for teaching kids good habits, they do not know any better, and it is our generation's task to impart wisdom (or something we consider wisdom, anyway) to the next one.
The company I work for has showers, a decent on site gym and secure and convinient bike parking. All of that does get used, but the bike parking is probably 1/10 of the number of car parking spots and there aren't more than a handful of people in the gym in the morning.
This is in Denmark, btw, probably one of the easiest countries to bike in.
I really don't know how to get people to start exercising.
> The real question: is there anyone out there that really debates that exercising constantly = better, longer life?
The real question is: how much better, how much longer? A priori any real-valued metric has a 50% chance of being net positive, but that doesn't mean the effect will be large enough to matter.
1h sports per week for 30 years means 7h * 52 * 30 = 10920h additional life. Equals to 1.25 additional years.
So for 30 years of exercise you get about 1 additionl year? I hoped for more :-P
I think it's not just the extra 1 year (assuming that much), but also the quality of life. I'd rather be a sprightly 80 yr old (sadly, I'm more than halfway there now), than chair/bed bound.
On one side of my family retirement for my grandparents meant long days vegetating in front of the television with little dogs to pet. Church on Sundays were really their only time out. This brought dementia by age 80 and a host of other issues and they are on their way out. On the other side my grandfather plays basketball, golfs, runs, reads a book every few days, even drinks at a bar. No dementia. Sharp as a tack. Dare I say... no church.
Both my grandfathers where professors who kept working up until their irrespective colleges forced them retire due to their alzheimers. One ran marathons up until his 70s and the other one did moderate exercise. Both did everything you are supposed to do, both got alzheimers. 80 isn't going to be a party no matter how healthy you are, it's 80.
The guy who ran my white water raft guide course was 74.
He did a backflip out of the raft in a 3+ rapid, into a glacier melt river North of 60. He laughed when I was given control of the raft for the first time and I flipped it with him and five others in it within 30 seconds.
I'm willing to bet he will still be having a ball at age 80.
It's only anecdotal but I've seen the same (church aside). My very bright, well to do Grandparents are mostly house bound now and have gotten far slower the less active they've gotten. On the other hand my other grandmother is still the exact same as she was 20 years ago and she's constantly out and about and going on holidays/trips regularly.
Parent isn't claiming that the Google search is itself evidence. The scientific studies that are returned by a Google search are the evidence. The search is a means of obtaining the evidence.
Second link: "The effects of exercise training on elderly persons with cognitive impairment and dementia: A meta-analysis" (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003999304...) (Conclusion: "Exercise training increases fitness, physical function, cognitive function, and positive behavior in people with dementia and related cognitive impairments.")
Overall the balance of the articles seem to indicate positive effects for exercise in both preventing dementia and even improving the prospects of people with dementia. This does not mean exercise is a "magic bullet" to completely preventing or curing dementia, but it seems like exercise helps.
> Exercise Is Associated with Reduced Risk for Incident Dementia among Persons 65 Years of Age and Older
Correlation is not causation. How many times do we have to repeat that? It could be that folks who are more physically active tend to have healthier habits as well due to their personality/behavior.
Let me quote what the study you linked said:
> However, the existing evidence does not prove that regular exercise is associated with a lower dementia risk.
Agreed, but I don't think this changes the conclusion much. Sure, it is very possible that the observed decrease in dementia risk alluded to in these articles is more linked to healthier lifestyles and habits, and the proven benefits of exercise, than being a direct 1:1 link. This really doesn't diminish the importance of exercise and healthier habits, though.
As a counterpoint, my (surviving) grandparents have had exactly the same lifestyle since retirement (TV all day) and are in their 80's.
My grandmother is relatively fit, looks the same as she did 10 years ago. My grandfather is currently in hospital with his 3rd stroke, dementia, and diabetes.
While genetics plays a large part, I think nutrient density of foods paired with activity is the thing to look at. The body is a big ball of chemical reactions and having limiting reagents in crucial biological processes would be obvious in causing issues.
My grandmother lived to the age of 103. While she didn't do anything you'd normally label "exercise", she certainly did a lot of cleaning - and up until her 80s would routinely light a coal fire in the hearth, as her house did not have central heating.
Yeah .. they're not really appreciated on HN. I'm guessing because they want to avoid the whole Reddit-style comment chain of meta-jokes, one liners etc. It's a little disappointing, but if you want a laugh, there are plenty of other places to find them. If it keeps HN a place for more serious discussion, then I'm fine with it.
> This brought dementia by age 80 and a host of other issues
As someone who suffers an immune disease that simultaneously makes me unable to do strenuous exercise, and is also independently associated with "a host of other issues", comments like this actually make me quite angry. How can you possibly claim this demonstrates cause and effect?
Why shouldn't it, assuming you're trying to conduct serious discourse? I find it to be a huge issue in my life, trying to communicate with people who make unverifiable or false claims is a huge waste of time, not to mention that somehow those falsehoods will be carried on from person to person.
I get what you're saying. I would be happy to hit eighty sitting on a couch.
It seems where I live, in the Bay Area, the men seem lucky to live to 65, even the ones that exercise. I don't know why. I sometimes think it's our stressful lifestyle, and not going to church?
I bet your grandparents live in the Mid-West? I spent a month in Joplin Missouri, and was astonished to see so many people over 80 doing just everything.
This one guy was over 90, and still driving his car to see his girlfriend in Florida. The first time I met him, he was working on my buddy's air conditioning, in a shack in his back yard. That shop was sweltering. He shook my hand, and he saw me look at his chest scar. "That's my second. I told the doc to out in a zipper."
I'm too depressed to look up stats. My neighbors are dropping like flies. It's just weird. They are all high income too?
"Researchers found that the foot's impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain."
Navigation is thought to be central to the evolution of our cognition as it is both complex and essential for survival and propagation, hence the "the method of loci" as a memory tactic. Walking was the primary or possibly only time when navigation was important for most early people..
This is the most common one line reply to any study, and it's a pet peeve of mine. If you actually read past the headline, you'd see this was not a population study, but a review of experimental ones, where your "confounding factor" is literally the fact that experimenters asked people to exercise.
Please, be skeptical of studies, but don't be so arrogant to presume authors aren't capable of the most elementary scientific reasoning.
Even if you're right, it still doesn't remove the confounding factors. Let's assume you're right and each study has a control group that doesn't exercise (for.... x years...? seems ridiculous) and an experimental group which exercises regularly. But then...unhealthy people wouldn't be able to be in the latter group because they can't exercise regularly.
I humbly submit "healthiness" as a possible confounding factor contributing to both "sharp mind" and "ability to exercise" (and thus be in the experimental group). Not sure where healthiness would come from - genetics? Diet? Less stress?
I'm reading this in the same place you linked. It's a meta study of experimental studies, where experimenters ask otherwise sedentary people to be subject to "exercise interventions" (it's in the title...). Observations weren't for years AFAIK, studies over 4 weeks were eligible and an effect was observed.
Edit: as for your confounding effect, it doesn't strike at the heart of the study. The study finds that actually doing exercise improves your cognitive function. Not that there are "sharp" people and "active" people and these tend to go together. Whether or not you're sharp or healthy to begin with, doing "exercise intervention" will improve your cognition.
I actually skimmed the linked article for subheaders, found things like "Brain boost" and "Heavy shopping bags". Started reading, stopped at "T'ai Chi" - this is where I lost interest assuming that it was one of those sensationalist pseudoscience pieces.
If you read the study and point out a flaw, thank you for your contribution. If you make a zero effort "observation" which makes it clear you didn't even skim the abstract, you're adding nothing of value.
Sure, that too. Just cause I'm feeling extra pedantic, I'll point out that of those who are too lazy to click the link (the majority of people, including me most days), there is a small subset who presume their uninformed comment can dismantle the entire study--the arrogant.
As someone who is in his fifties, and just took my first real break from the gym in 40 years (2 months off) I can easily say I don't miss it. I still walk to/from work, which is about a 12km round trip, 5 times a week.
And although I have considered never picking up a weight again, I know the benefits of weight bearing exercise and so, sometime this year, will go back to they gym, but less frequently and for a shorter duration.
And never forget that 50% of your health is nutrition.
People are so very emotionally tied to food they get blinded when it comes to "proper" nutrition. For technical folk, I think if we start phrasing nutrition alongside "limiting chemical reagents" all of a sudden the mind starts thinking about making sure all the proper reagents are available in abundant supply for the body.
I hate direct exercising, ie running around my local area or going to the gym. However what I do love is participating in activities which require exercising; mountain biking, table tennis, football, hiking and badminton. I love all of these sports for its social benefits and most of the time I forget I'm exercising :)
I found "Spark! How exercise will improve the performance of your brain" (Ratey/Hagerman) to be a good popular summary of research in this field. (No connection with the authors!).
Recent study ("Running as a Key Lifestyle Medicine for Longevity"):
Abstract: Running is a popular and convenient leisure-time physical activity (PA) with a significant impact on longevity. In general, runners have a 25%–40% reduced risk of premature mortality and live approximately 3 years longer than non-runners. Recently, specific questions have emerged regarding the extent of the health benefits of running versus other types of PA, and perhaps more critically, whether there are diminishing returns on health and mortality outcomes with higher amounts of running. This review details the findings surrounding the impact of running on various health outcomes and premature mortality, highlights plausible underlying mechanisms linking running with chronic disease prevention and longevity, identifies the estimated additional life expectancy among runners and other active individuals, and discusses whether there is adequate evidence to suggest that longevity benefits are attenuated with higher doses of running.
Conclusion: There is compelling evidence that running provides significant health benefits for the prevention of chronic diseases and premature mortality regardless of sex, age, body weight, and health conditions. There are strong plausible physiological mechanisms underlying how running can improve health and increase longevity. Running may be the most cost-effective lifestyle medicine from public health perspective, more important than other lifestyle and health risk factors such as smoking, obesity, HTN, and DM. It is not clear, however, how much running is safe and efficacious and whether it is possible to perform an excessive amount of exercise. Also, running may have the most public health benefits, but is not the best exercise for everyone since orthopedic or other medical conditions can restrict its use by many individuals.
TIL (!). I deadlift (amongst other things), as I believe it's a fundamental movement (what Dan John calls "pick heavy stuff off the floor").
Here's a writeup Taleb did about strength training (whether I agree or disagree in totality is a separate issue, but we can all agree to 80% and disagree on the rest):
I'm not sure that I agree with a lot of that article, but one piece really resonates with me. I had a chronic hamstring injury from sprinting (tendinitis, with a couple recurring minor pulls over the years) and physical therapy was a complete waste of time. The first physical therapist I went to told me that it would take over a year of sessions to recover from a grade 1 tear (which is absolute bullshit). She had me doing a bunch of different weird balancing exercises and working with elastic bands. I dealt with this injury for years until I started doing 1) foam rolling and myofascial release, and more importantly 2) squatting, deadlifting, and olympic lifts. The difference was almost overnight, and I haven't had a single issue with my hamstring in years now.
Purely anecdotal: I'm in my early 30s and find a brisk run to have a huge positive effect on my mental function and general energy levels for the rest of my day (I work in biotech and spend half my day in the lab, half behind a screen). In fact, I noticed this difference my very first (pitiful) day of running.
"randomisation; allocation concealment; blinding of therapists (intervention supervisors); blinding of participants; blinding of outcome assessors; handling of incomplete data (use of intention-to-treat analysis); selective reporting and any other risk of bias." [1]
Also, the result was only statistically significant for poor quality control groups that didn't engage in any shared activity:
"When the control group involved either no contact (eg, waiting list, usual care; p<0.01) or education (eg, computer course, health lectures; p=0.01) the estimate was statistically significant. Where the control condition was exposed to an active control (eg, stretching; p=0.17) or social group (p=0.62), the effect size was still positive but no longer statistically significant." [1]
In summary, a few poor quality studies with large bias account for most if not all of the effect reported in this meta-analysis.
[1] http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2017/03/30/bjsports-2016-0...