Exercise More to Hack Better

Same thing here. Stopped running, restarted 3 days ago, feeling better already.

Although I do think that doing something like painting a house or doing gardening for a couple hours would also do the trick.

As a rule of thumb, the best predictor of your mental health is what you do physically, and the best predictor of your physical health is what you spend all day thinking about.[1] Kind of funny how that works.

[1] Assuming you're not outright poisoning yourself or something.

You are so right of course. Even a few breaks throughout the day - increases my coding. If I forgo any kind of exercise - it's a fast downward cycle.

Try a sport!

I too hate treadmills and lifting weights -- it's just dreadfully boring. However, if you pick up a sport, you can hone your coordination skills and progress to become a better player. I find that it's much more motivating when you're competing with people. And, I feel much better knowing that I am acquiring a useful skill that can be measured against in competition.

Personally, I play competitive table tennis (very unlike garage ping pong). What's good is that you can actually do this inside, and, it's cheap to play at clubs. It's also a sport that keeps your mind sharp. I even wrote a whole article about why I think it's a great hacker sport: http://jamesyu.org/2009/01/11/why-table-tennis-is-a-great-ha...

I used to think EXACTLY like you. I'm not kidding, exactly.

A friend got me into the gym, and it turns out it's a hell of a lot different than I thought. Lifting 10-lb dumbbells forever will make your brain go numb, but if you boost the weight up to the point you can only do 3x5 or 5x5 (3 or 5 sets of 5), the weight becomes the purpose. I don't know how to put it better than that- once you're halfway through a rep, you have to devote all your ability to getting the damn thing back in the air.

The first 1-2 trips will not be very exciting because you'll be learning technique and starting with low weights so as not to overshoot your abilities, but give it a shot and stick it out for 2-3 weeks, and see how it goes.

(It will get to the point where you don't want to go or you don't want to do the next set because it's hard- but that is easier to get past than the frustration with pointless menial labor)

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra...

p.s. as noted in the article, the gym is not quite the same as exercise, but this was in response to your specific point.

So you buy a watermelon every day? No. That is the problem with your method, you really should be doing something every day.

And if you are not sweating, it is not exercise. Make as many excuses as you want, lots of people do, but you will feel better if you do actually exercise.

"Picking up a chunk of iron just to put it back down again"

Then you sort of missed the point a bit. The point of the exercise is

a) to challenge your physical, and yes, mental limits in a ways nothing else in the modern world really does, and b) master the form of the exercises, which can be surprisingly intricate, and c) become stronger, moving on to ever more challenging weights.

I find that biking works well if you get bored of exercising for only exercise sakes.

1) Commute with it rather than taking a car or bus

2) Explore the neighborhood / local trails /etc with it.

Do you have any sort of physical or fitness-related goals you could set for yourself for your exercise? Working towards a goal makes all the difference.

A goal could be anything from training to run a 5K, a marathon, being able to squat your body weight, be able to do five pull-ups, lose 10 pounds etc...

That is why I started surfing. Nothing motivates you to max your heart rate than another set coming that will put you through a spin cycle if you don't get back outside the impact zone before it arrives. It has to be a part of your life.

I love lifting weights. Particularly the lack of thought and physicality that is required. It's a tremendous break from my norm.

I'll second everything said here. "The gym doesn't count" is an utter lie. If you've led a multiple-year sedentary lifestyle, a mere 15 minutes on a treadmill in the morning will show you an immediate difference in your motivation and mental clarity.

Also, fat-asses: you don't have to kill yourself at the gym. Look up on the internet what your target heart rate should be, and stick to it. If you feel like you're going to fall over and die, you're making it too hard on yourself.

If you're just getting started, developing the habit of going regularly (at least 3x/week) is immensely more important than minutes ran, reps, or pounds lifted.

It's incredibly hard to start and stick to a routine if you're not used to it. I've only done it three times in my life, but it paid off every time. And the years in between were racked with life-altering depression and failure.

I have found weight lifting to be the best kind of exercising for me. When I was at studying and working part-time I found that if I went jogging I'd still continue thinking about work and school stuff. When I'm lifting, thats the only thing I'm concerned about. When you have squatted down with heavy weight on your back, you don't stress about anything else than getting back up. Strength training can also help prevent typical physical problems hackers face, such as neck and back pains.

The World Health Organization predicts that depression will create the second greatest burden of disease by 2020, requiring cost-effective prevention and intervention strategies. The evidence to support the benefits of exercise in offering protection from depression and as an intervention in the treatment of mental illness is growing. The literature is reviewed with 11 prospective longitudinal studies that include measures of physical activity and depression at two or more time points showing a protective effect from physical activity. Fifteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and three meta- analyses provide evidence that exercise can reduce depression and that it can be as effective as cognitive therapy. Four RCTs report exercise as an intervention in alcohol addiction and two RCTs in the use of illicit drugs. While many of the studies reviewed have methodological weaknesses, including lack of concealment in randomization, limited use of intention to treat and blinding, the benefits of exercise far outweigh the risks. There is evidence that exercise protects against depression and is an effective intervention and adjunctive intervention for the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Exercise provides some health and psychological benefits as an adjunct to treatment in complex mental health problems such as alcohol and drug rehabilitation. [1]

[1] MARIE E. DONAGHY School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University, Leith Campus, Edinburgh

Agree 100%. Also caffeine. Not doing anything, and getting pep from caffeine is like a recipe for a Paxil prescription.

Walking around for a couple hours is not really exercise, it's normal human behavior. For instance, my 86 year old grandfather does this every day. If you aren't exaggerating you might want to see a doctor. That level of exercise intolerance is a key indicator in a number of severe health disorders, such as morbid obesity, congestive heart failure and multiple sclerosis.

Having seen the way you look in not-too-old videos, you look overweight, and your upper-body looks rather weak. That makes me fear for your life expectancy. I love your work, and it may be crucial that you don't stop cold until at least your eighties.

Of course, getting in good physical shape won't be easy. It takes time, and may even slow down your work, at first. But you may want to seriously consider the long term trade-off.

Try swimming 20 laps in an indoor pool then? Or something else not in the hot sun. Several hours in the hot sun is draining to anyone, regardless of your penchant for exercise.

Same here; exercise does nothing for me mentally other than making me tired. I still do it because I want to improve my health and appearance, but apparently I'm not getting the endorphin release or whatever it is that makes everybody else feel better. Or it could be a placebo effect that works for most people and not me.

You have to do it regularly. :) It sucks at first.

Drink more water. Dehydration is your enemy.

Just exercise in the end of the day, and then you can sleep if you feel like.

I believe there's a hockey stick there. I too had such experiences regarding exercises a few year back then, but after I decided to stick to it things started to improve, and now I do get more energetic even after rigorous workouts. I would theorizes that if you don't really exercise that regularly, exercise is indeed more a burden at first, and you need to work on it until it becomes 'profitable' one day.

Two hours is kinda long if you aren't used to it. I would try to build it up from half an hour or so upwards. Though I don't believe in any (continuous) exercise that is supposed to take more than an hour or so.

Get up off your ass, get out there and just do it!

In northern California, it's often cool enough to require covering most of your skin. A person surfing at Linda Mar is almost certainly wearing a wetsuit and gloves. This covers almost all of the body and drastically reduces vitamin D production.

To reliably get vitamin D, take a supplement. Exercising outside is more fun than a gym, but it won't make you any healthier than doing the same thing indoors.

Definitely going outside is required. The gym does not give you the same benefit, imo. Its definitely also about connecting with nature.

Editing now to clarify, thanks!

Obsessive behaviour can be remedied. If you want.

It could be your shoes as well. I've been running for a couple years, and take frequent breaks now.

Vary your run; do different distances, speeds etc. But don't neglect shoes; indulge in a new one every 500 Km.

If by 'pain' you're referring to the bone and joint pain alot of runners eventually incur, try swimming an/or biking too. I find you can get the same cardio workout minus the pounding and wear & tear.

Same here. People don't know how high one can get just with running.

...and don't buy expensive running shoes. The more padding a shoe has the more it leads to bad technique that actually increases the impact on joints. Humans are made to run, go thin-sole or 5fingers to teach yourself proper technique.

Mine is short intense workouts early in the morning. 3 birds with 1 stone.

Go outside.