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Comment by staysaasy | Hacker News Reader

One tip that helped me a ton – if you're WFH, turn your former commute (or some % of your former commute), and force yourself to work out during this time. I started that at the beginning of COVID and without exaggeration it's been life-changing.

I put 0 pressure on myself to hit goals, I just run / do pushups / walk briskly, but I make sure to use the commute time on that rather than working more or browsing the internet.

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I've changed to work out in the middle of the day (thanks flexible job) which is a fun but challenging diversion from work. For me it's super tough to do morning workouts, and after work I want to relax, but in the middle of the day I'm still in my work mindset so it's been a nice change.

I actually do the same, I also feel like it helps me work better afterwards.

I started doing midday workouts for exactly the same reason as yours and it has made a massive difference to me. It also helped me cut down on sometimes unhealthy cafeteria lunch (back when things were normal) in favor of salad/smoothie post workout, so I count that as a win-win.

I've done something similar - working out 3 days a week in the evening during my commute time. I've gained a little bit of muscle and lost a couple of pounds since this madness started.

I didn't start off this way though. At the beginning I was paralyzed, staring at my phone and laptop screen. I was tragically distracted and just... stuck. Doomscrolling is the new word that I can totally relate to. I was swirling in emotion.

But I just decided I'd had enough one day. It was actually a goofy book that some rando twitter handle sent me one day that gave a step by step "leveling up" process. It was one of those right place, right time things so I just went with it.

I started meditating with the "Waking Up" app, drinking water, working out, and kicked my side project back off. It's been a real journey now that I've decided to use this extra time for good rather than just emoting.

That's what I do -- I used to keep an hour blocked off of my calendar for "commute time", now I use that time to workout.

At the beginning of the quarantine, I bought a spinning bike (I've been thinking about getting one for over a year, but going to the gym spinning classes a couple times a week was relatively convenient since the gym was near work). I also invested in a set of dumbbells.

Now I work out 5 days a week -- alternating between spinning and strength training. If I miss the morning exercise for any reason, it's easy to fit in a 15 minute session sometime during the day, something that was much harder to do when I was going to the gym for exercise.

I don't think I'll ever return to the gym now that I've experienced the convenience of working out at home in a virtual online class.

I hear you! As a lazy slob, I find that it's really important to remove any possible obstacle to working out that my mind can latch onto. So being locked down with nothing fun to do and time back from my commute has actually been a godsend for my physical fitness.

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