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Comment by choeger | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how many people have been forced into a "sedentary" life style by COVID-19...

Outside medical complications caused by actually getting COVID-19, nobody.

It is perfectly possible to get tons of exercise in your own home or apartment with no specific equipment. With an internet connection and free YouTube videos (dance, body weight training tutorials, et al) it is even pleasant.

People often make a big song and dance about how they "need" that $400 bike or $1500 running machine, or "need" gym access to do anything. This is all a self-induced fiction (although marketers likely deserve blame here too).

There might be limited truth for the top-1% of athletes who require highly regimented training routines; but for the general public nah. COVID didn't make you sedentary, you made you sedentary.

PS - I too don't get enough exercise. I'm not throwing stones here. My point is that I don't blame COVID-19 for my own [bad] choices. I could freely exceed all recommendations if I choose to without stepping foot outside but I don't, and I have to live with that.

You can definitely still get a workout, and I get probably about as much exercise now as I did before. But I don't have anything like the same strength training equipment so I think I've definitely lost a lot of strength as I can't do any heavy lifting.

Did you lift above your total body weight before? Below that body weight exercises can maintain strength, and above that weighted vests can assist.

Well, forced is maybe too strong of a word. If people have the kind of exercise they enjoy and do consistently but are now prevented from doing it - it's fair to say that they are sedentary due to COVID.

I hear this opinion on Reddit as well. Yes, it is possible to get "tons of exercise" on your own using body weight, but it is not the same as barbell strength training. You are much more limited because actual strength training is a somewhat scientific process of progressive overload--adding 2-5 pounds per workout to an exercise. You cannot do this easily/precisely with body weight exercises, and additionally there is a reason the barbell is shaped as it is--to maximize the ability to support and balance the weight.

The argument that nobody "needs" gym access is akin to arguing nobody "needs" restaurants--they can all just cook their own food. Or nobody "needs" grocery stores--they can just grow/raise all their own food.

It's also not just about gyms. People who did sports (even if it was just playing badminton with buddies) have nothing that's even close.

That's not what this comment thread is discussing though. Nobody claims you can swim just as well at home as you can in a swimming pool. What is being discussed was this:

> I wonder how many people have been forced into a "sedentary" life style by COVID-19...

So to go from "you're forced to be sedentary" to "but you cannot badminton, so this is wrong" is a strange non sequitur.

It is what the comment I was responding to was discussing. It acknowledges in it's second sentence that it's possible to get some kind of exercise but states that it's different enough that it makes perfect sense to say that COVID caused some people to become sedentary.

it's absurd to say that you're limited by body weight exercises. there are so many "scientific process" body weight regimes to choose from. barbell training has such a high barrier for entry for so many people when really most people just need to do something.

Irrelevant. Here’s the original comment:

> I wonder how many people have been forced into a "sedentary" life style by COVID-19...

You are not forced into a sedentary lifestyle if you have the time and space to do bodyweight exercises.

I've just kept going to the gym. If your local gyms are closed, obviously that isn't an option though.

I'm certainly not a top 1% athlete. I might be top 1% in athleticism, but if you're restricting to athletes... Definitely not. There is no way I could make the same progress at home as I've been getting with my trainer for the past couple of years. Not a chance. Luckily he has a private gym where only one client is there at a time since covid times started, so I haven't had to test this.

But... Having your program tweaked constantly, form improved constantly, diet examined regularly, etc... Youtube isn't a substitute. And without equipment? With my trainer helping, maybe... With youtube? My fitness would definitely be worse.

What about older people who couldn't even have their daily walks for several months? Should they be squatting in their tiny apartments holding water bottles instead? I'm sure there are plenty of people who can work out at home, but I believe there are plenty of people who can't, or at least is a lot harder, for a variety of reasons.

> What about older people who couldn't even have their daily walks for several months?

Why can't they? Health officials have said that outside walking (with a mask if near others) is reasonably safe, or you can pace walk in much smaller spaces if one wished.

Plus walking isn't the only exercise available to older people. They don't have to remain sedentary simply because their normal walking route closed.

I think this post is just ignoring some of the realities that a lot of people have gone through. In many places you weren't allowed to leave your home at all. In spain, only one adult member of your household was allowed to go outside for basic necessities, without leaving your neighborhood, for 3 months. For about another 3 months you were limited to certain times and areas, which made having social distancing for walking/running practically impossible. Couple that with the fact that in some cities people live crammed in small rooms in shared apartments, the access for healthy movement for a lot of people was greatly impacted.

> Outside medical complications caused by actually getting COVID-19, nobody.

Sort of. I’m a working parent with a baby — his other parent is also working full time and we don’t have child care. Between full time engineering and full time stay at home parenting and doing minimum necessary chores to survive, I haven’t had a full night sleep in months (see: baby). Thanks to COVID I don’t have the time to work out as much as I’d want to.

Bodyweight HIT are pretty ideal in that situation. They are short, "interruptible" if baby needs something sooner then anticipated, can be done next to baby in same or adjacent room and require no setup.

For workouts I tried several apps from playstore till I found some that suited me.

I was not talking about exercise. I was talking about your normal life being altered from more than 5k steps taken to less.

For instance, I need about 1k steps to the subway and I bring kids to the kindergarten or pick them up for, say, 2k steps. So on a normal workday, I get 4k steps just by getting to and from work. That's missing now. Consequently I have to start exercising just to keep the status quo ante.

I was already fairly active before COVID (distance running 4-5 times/week) but actually became even more active after picking skateboarding back up a few months into quarantine. Several of my friends also started exercising more, though the ones that lifted lost some gains but broke through plateaus once they were able to get back in.

Echoing other sentiments here, if exercise is important enough you'll carve out the time for it no matter the circumstance.

I tried to replace going to the gym by working out at home, invested in some weights etc. But at the end of the day, my motivation to work out at home is much lower.

Same here. I kinda liked swimming but now that pools are closed, apart from a short walk at lunch time (we have curfew in the evening) I don't do anything. Tried yoga but always scared to hurt myself, also I have very little room in my apartment to move... I can't run also because of body pain.

I'm surprised I only gained 4kg. But my whole body is itching and aching and I'm really feeling the effects of less physical activity.

Try P90X. There is one X3 workout called The Warrior specifically designed for tight spaces.

Look up Tony Horton on YouTube for some ideas.

Quite a few - a big part of working out and sticking with it is social aspect for some - if you can get that - fun workout group - you are golden and chance of sticking with plan goes way up.

Plenty of studies back this up [1]

Comments that downplay this may not be from folks with fun and healthy workout patterns

Anyways - at least for me it’s been disruptive

https://experiencelife.com/article/strength-in-numbers-the-i...

People who do exercise regularly even if fun friends group is not available do have healthy workout patterns. And if they do it long term likely do have fun for them pattern.

Yes, friends group help with motivation. But if you are completely dependent on them, your exercise pattern will break with any larger lifestyle changes - like when you travel or when you have kids or when friends don't have time anymore.

For me it’s the opposite. I can spend the time usually spent sitting in a car( which is very bad for my back) being more active.

I do more sport then before. Sport requires time and mind to do it. I have both more then before.

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