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Comment by andrewvc | Hacker News Reader

While this may or may not be true hacker news is particularly susceptible to exercise fads with unconventional scientific explanations.

I think it'd be easier to convince the readership of HN to lose weight and get fit by eating live maggots whilst suspended upside down in a vat of soylent than to just show up to the gym 3x a week.

The most important way to get fit is to show up and do work. The virtues of a programmer (laziness, impatience, hubris), are the opposite of what you need to succeed at physical fitness.

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"Showing up to the gym 3x a week" is also quite a lazy prescription. That doesn't even actually take exercise into account, nevermind diet.

Also, "weight loss" is a lazy metric for fitness success. Body fat %, for most, would be better, just as one example.

Plus, in this case, taking cold showers could be completely supplemental to a real plan. If nothing else, you would increase your self-discipline.

I do agree with you in the sense that people (in general) are susceptible to exercise fads, but I don't think HN is more than average. Hackers are curious, though - and so you get the interest in the off-beat stuff.

> If nothing else, you would increase your self-discipline

If you subscribe to the theory of ego depletion, it could also weaken your resolve for some time.

Ok but when I'm showering up at the gym - is a cold shower better? Will I see better/faster/more lasting results?

Seriously. I shower at the gym pre-work, so I'm usually taking a cool shower as it is, but I hadn't heard of cold showers being a thing before this.

Look it up, but it's possible that cold showers are not good post-exercise due to them hindering blood flow and preventing removal of waste materials from muscles.

Cold showers will not leave you as clean. There's a reason you wash your dishes,hands, and underwear on hot water cycles.

Due to the anti-inflammatory effect of low temperature, cold showers soon after resistance exercise may be attenuating muscle hypertrophy response.

Of course, as with most factors other than sleep and nutrition, the magnitude of that effect will likely be unnoticeable to all but elite athletes striving for that 0.5% edge over the competition.

I train with weights once in 5-7 days with 8-10 minutes of time under load and 20-25 minutes in the gym. It has been enough to steadily improve my results for the last 3 years. So I suspect that so-called lack of will power is just a signal from the body that one doing something too often.

That's a super-efficient approach for busy people there! (I've long suspected that most bodybuilding-inspired weight-training schedules are overkill for people content with growing at a less rapid pace.) How many exercises do you fit into 8-10 minutes? Don't say "just benching" ;)

I got my exercise list from [1]. Per training I typically do 3-4 different exercises with one or two sets. I do not do any warm ups or stretching. I train mostly with machines as that is safer for me. Training purely with barbell inevitably triggers back pain.

[1] - http://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Trainin...

The most effective way to lose weight is to fix your diet and eat less than your total daily calorie limit.

Exercise is great, but it can't fix a broken diet.

Agreed but to add onto this I would mention that running a calorie deficit is only 50% of the battle since cardiovascular/muscular/bone health is important for long term health.

To be cute, diet is great but it can't fix a broken (nonexistent) exercise routine.

It is all that is required to lose weight. Add exercise for better health, more sex, etc

While fixing the diet is important, the total calorie limit is meaningless. What one eats strongly influence metabolism pathways and the amount of energy that is dissipated as excessive heat.

For example, the body cannot store in any large amounts carbohydrates. So those have to be converted into fat first. Yet compared with pigs humans luck efficient enzymes for that conversion and it takes up to 30% of calories to convert carbohydrates into body fat. Compare that with fat where a typical cost of storage is just 1% of energy.

Define "succeeding at physical fitness".

It's different for everybody.

I walk about 2 hours per day and stretch whenever I can remember and I would consider my current state of physical fitness a success.

You don't have to hit the gym 3x a week to be fit.

I completely agree, actually. The "best" diet and exercise routine is the one you're going to actually do and adhere to long term. Almost any validated diet (low carb [atkins, keto, paleo], low fat, calorie counting, IIFYM, zone blah blah) combined with any validated exercise routine will help people lose weight and get in better shape. Just pick one and do it. Do the work.

If we were to go by those values, I should be an excellent programmer!

Unfortunately, I am far more proficient in fitness & health than software development.

And/or make the time to take walks or do other forms of outdoor activities. Cook meals rather than just grabbing some pizza. Etc.

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