More seriously though, I really find no pleasure in exercise and would like to approach it in the most cost-effective way (i.e. maximum benefit for minimum time used). Any hints on exercise regime optimised for that? I heard weightlifting is good.
I've been very a active exerciser my whole adult life. It's part of my identity.
Last year I started suffering from chronic fatigue. Exercise began to hurt. It hurt when I did it. It hurt afterward. I was tired all the time. I was gaining weight. I stopped exercising. It brought me no relief. Only resting did.
I knew something was wrong. Went to Doctor. Treated me like I'm a lazy ass who doesn't know how to care for myself. Fuck that dr.
I was on my own to figure this. I finally found out a treatment that works. Salt supplements and licorice root to address adrenal insufficiency. Day and night difference.
I feel bad for anyone who goes through something like that. It's not fair. And many people are dismissed by the medical establishment when they need help and compassion. It's awful how people get treated when they are sick but don't have the standard common diseases. The whole system sucks.
If it weren't for a long history of excellent health and fitness, I might thought I just don't like exercise. And never have the motivation to figure out how to get better.
But it could also just be that I never started to like exercising in the first place. I have myopia since early childhood - so from the first years in school, glasses gave me logistical problems on PE lessons. It was especially problematic during team games - when I took the glass off, I was the worst player in class. When I left them on, I could play somewhat well, but I was risking breaking them when hit by a ball (it actually happened). So I ended up avoiding team sports as much as I could, and there a negative feedback loop starts (not playing made me only suck more and be less willing to play).
Anyway, thanks for the advice :).
But not painful. Afterward you should feel alert and relaxed. And in reasonable amounts it should feel like it is increasing what you can get done. Usually anyway.
If not, something is wrong. Hopefully something that can be treated.
Good luck to you! Health can be very tricky. In so many ways health and wellness is still in the dark ages. So many incomplete models and misinformation. I've been there and feel bad for anyone else bewildered because they don't fit into mainstream ideas of how their bodies are supposed to work.
How did you find out this is what you needed?
Thought maybe I had mold in my house. Tested that. Maybe I'm allergic to my bedding. Got s new mattress and beefing.
Thought it might be kidney related since I had back pain in my flanks. Thought it might be my gallbladder. Thought it might be my liver. Tried various foods and supplements. Nothing helped.
Thought it might be thyroid related perhaps due to iodine deficiency. So I started taking table salt that has iodine in it. Started feeling less muscle pain immediately. Then started iodine tablet supplements. Pain returned. Then tried just salt tablets. Found relief. Then researched and found adrenals regulate sodium. Then found out licorice root blocks an enzyme that metabolizes cortisol, which is produced by your adrenal glands. Tried that. Fatigue disappeared. Sleep improved. Pain gone. Started losing weight.
So basically trial and error over many months. I'm only mentioning a small number of things I tried. Doctor was no help. But a better Doctor probably would have suggested better tests and things to try. But how would a normal person know their doctor is letting them down? Shit is hard.
3 days/week. Takes about 30-45 minutes. Alternate A/B each week. So week 1 is ABA, week 2 is BAB, repeating.
A: Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts
B: Squats, Brench Press, Barbell Row
Ignore the marketing speak: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ - has all the info you'd need and a free app to track your exercises. I highly recommend it.
Still tiring. Not painful unless you have bad form, and 3 hours/week isn't that time consuming (IMO).
You might not necessarily lose a ton of weight - but you will feel stronger. And you'll notice when you go from struggling with light weights to effortlessly lifting triple that.
I don't think anyone who has done weightlifting would say you can do it quickly or that it takes minimal time or effort.
For many, doing a 10 minute mile for 30 minutes can be quite challenging.
If I recall correctly, it monitored ~20000 people over ~19 years, and provided bell curves of the best benefit.
I used to jog every day for an hour, and it was bliss. I miss it. Any day I don't get up and go for a run, I feel like I am worse off for it. But I'm trying to migrate to the above.
"Body by Science", easily. No need to read the book, just the chapter on the protocol. The protocol is 12 minutes all-out effort, ONCE a week.
As far as exercise related pain goes, the general rule is that sharp pains are bad (e.g. go see a doctor and get an xray/mri/scan) and dull throbbing pains are okay. Weight lifting can bring out dormant injuries as inactive muscles become activated and the body recomposes itself. These usually are treated with stretching, trigger point therapy, cupping and with time diminish significantly.
The Wendler 5/3/1 Program is very time efficient. There's an explanation of the program here in an interview with body builder by the name of Matt Ogus. http://www.simplyshredded.com/rising-star-natural-bodybuilde...
There's thousands of variations of exercise "programs" out there but the fundamentals are the same.
1. show up consistently 2. move weight at high intensities (>60%) to induce muscle hypertrophy 3. eat a lot (to gain muscle) || eat a little less (to lose fat) || eat adequately to maintain. (caloric surplus/deficit/maintenance)
Intensity refers to a percentage of your maximal weight that can be moved once. There are some calculators that can also calculate your 1-repetition-max based on the maximum.
One other piece of advice for myself is that I have very dry skin and using any type of soap on a daily basis dries out my skin pretty badly. As an Asian that lacks the specific type of sweat glands with BO, I've made showers that are time efficient by merely washing with water only. Soap is used sporadically, but 98% of daily showers are with water only. Anecdotally, other nationalities on reddit have reported success with water-only showering.
I can drive to the gym in 5 minutes, do several sets in 20-45 minutes depending on which compounds I am targeting, then be back home and spend another 5-10 minutes on a shower. Time is further made efficient by standardizing my tops with black t-shirts, so very little time is spent on choosing clothing.
Home versions of this is possible has well with a set of dumbbells, but if you have any strength, it is quite possible to outgrow the dumbbells in relatively short amount of time.
Glasses also don't get in the way of weights, other than wiping sweat underneath them between sets, but there aren't swift fast movements that jerk the face such that glasses are flying off of the face or a ball will knock one's glasses off.
For chronic conditions that inhibit intense activity, it may be worth looking at the concepts introduced by Terry Wahls in her Ted talk: http://terrywahls.com/minding-your-mitochondria-dr-terry-wah...
I got her book and it is repetitive, but the basic premise from this MD is that the body is a chemical environment and chemical deficiencies lead to malfunctions. As it is obvious that plants won't thrive without fertilizer and water, the same goes for human nutrition. Her solution is consuming food sources with 2-3 cups each of greens, 2-3 cups of sulfur (broccoli, cabbage, etc), 2-3 cups of color (blueberries, tomatoes, blackberries) & 4-6 oz of nutrient dense meat on a daily basis.
I found a tremendous amount of quality of life improvement by adding the greens/sulfur/color just several times a week as well.
It then focuses on deadlifts being one of the exercises that engage about 80% of the body's muscles and focuses on a short deadlift workout on a consistent basis.