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Comment by fab1an | Hacker News Reader

Is this a Peloton ad?

Here's a more straightforward hack that worked wonders for me:

you simply run every single day - no excuses* - but only for 10 minutes. You may absolutely run longer if you wish, but the minimum quota is 10 minutes. It's simple: everyone can do 10 minutes, regardless of your current shape. Everyone _has_ 10 minutes, even Jeff Bezos. No excuses: 10 min every day.

After 2 years of doing this, I am the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. :)

No real source on this, but I assume that this is some sort of 80/20 thing, where a 10-15 min run will yield about 80% of the health benefits of a 1h run.

*except when you suffer from any type of viral infection - don't run with a viral infection.

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> You may absolutely run longer if you wish, but the minimum quota is 10 minutes.

I've found it helps to actually not overdo it.

When I started running again and was fairly out of shape, I did this 10 minute thing. The second or third day I felt great, figured I'd run longer. Next day I was so beat that I didn't go out at all. And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.

I think that in the beginning regularity is paramount. This helps build the habit, which is the kind of "discipline" that actually helps you get out there, as opposed to "will power to force yourself to move", which may fail for random reasons (feeling under the weather, being randomly tired, wanting to finish just this one thing, etc).

It did not helped me, it lead to actually overdoing exercising in my case.

> And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.

Why? I run every other day for longer distances (10k or so) and imagine that the benefits of running for 10k are greater than 5k twice. I notice that my heart rate tends to be higher toward the end of a longer run - presumably because my muscles are more fatigued. Pushing to fatigue (but not so much as to lose running form) seems to be the best way to get muscles to adapt.

As others have said, this is in the context of someone who is just starting out and looking to establish a habit, not a debate about which running program is better for health – I don't know anything about that.

So I stand by what I've said: I think that in the beginning it's very important to establish a habit, and for that, running every day a little is better that running once a lot, and then never running again for a long time (because the "habit" didn't stick). I've also found that running every day works better for establishing the habit than "once a week" or whatever, since it's easier to be tempted to shuffle the day around and in the end not do anything.

I think that if you're considering whether you should run 5k every day or 10k every other day, you probably don't have an issue with actually getting out there, in which case this is a whole other debate, and I have nothing to add to it seeing how I'd have a hard time running a 10k.

Also, if you've got some other motivation source (say you absolutely want to run a marathon, or whatever) and you don't need a "hack" or to "trick yourself into liking running", this debate doesn't really concern you since it's about a problem you don't have.

My “hack” that I wish someone had told me when I started running: focus on Zone 2 training. Super slow and easy with zero pain afterward. Ever since I started doing that, my distances have gone up significantly, I feel better afterward, and consequently don’t dread the run or procrastinate.

Longer runs are great, but you do hit a point of diminishing returns. I tell anyone looking to get into running long distance that after a half marathon you are no longer really doing it for fitness, it is about the personal challenge, which is great, but it is important not to trick yourself into thinking more will always be better for you with running.

There are also pros and cons of shorter and longer distances. Ideally you are running faster on shorter runs and a bit slower on longer runs. Getting in HITs occasionally will improve your long speed and help prevent injury. It is also a great thing to do on days you only have 10 minutes.

I run every other day for longer distances (10k or so) and imagine that the benefits of running for 10k are greater than 5k twice.

You can also ask “Why?” about this assumption.

Is it in the next sentence about muscles reaching fatigue toward the end of a 10k run, and that fatigued muscles are where adaptation occurs.

It depends on what kind of adaptation you want.

I personally view cardio as just a means to improve my cardiovascular system, not muscles. So I just do boring steady-state (where I can easily rap out a song or sing Bob Dylan's lyrics).

If I want increased mitochondria and the size of the muscle cells, then nothing beats an even more efficient method of strength training. Just 5 minutes of work (1 minute per set) of lifting a heavy weight for 5 times. But even here there's concept of RPE where you don't accumulate as much fatigue as you might think.

I first did strength training and my resting heart beat dropped from 75 to 60 after about 8 months. After that I started doing steady-state cardio of 30 minutes on rest days and it's now at 55 after 3 years.

You could run say, a short warm up jog if 800m, a couple of warm up sprints of 200m, and then a few sprints at MAX effort. 60s break after each run. About 2km total. Your legs and lungs will be severely taxed. If they aren’t, you ran too slow.

You can easily take a 5km run and increase the effectiveness: go faster.

Fitness runners always fixate on distance. No speed, power or agility training.

I think there is a difference between running short bouts of Max speed sprinting versus running long periods at a lower effort. It is the difference between zone 2 and zone 4/5 running, taxing different systems (aerobic vs anaerobic).

I am not saying there is a need for speed, power, agility training as well, but I think it is achieving different things than long, slower runs.

I think parent meant "not doing it again" with "nothing at all".

It’s the same way I managed to start exercising, with extremely low-effort, easy and short exercises. I now do app-selected exercises that challenge me, but I never before was able to stick to those, doing "too easy" exercises was what helped me manage to actually get into a routine.

My heart rate goes up as I get warmer more than from fatigue.

Much of the health benefit from running is also available from briskly walking a couple of miles on a regular basis. Higher intensity training builds cardiovascular capacity, but the health benefits happen at intensity levels that don't really do that.

That's an advice to help people that's not into running. Consistency is much better to help people stick with a habit than trying to push themselves to the limit.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read on HN.

https://www.active.com/health/articles/why-too-much-running-...

You should see the anorexic-looking treadmill runners at my gym who have no muscle type IIB. I bet they already have cardiomyopathies / hypertrophies and will regret their extremist, extremely-unwise lifestyles when their joints need to be replaced in 20 years.

> Everyone _has_ 10 minutes

But it takes more than 10 minutes to run 10 minutes. You might want to change clothes, get to a suitable place for running, run, get back, take a shower, change clothes again, get back up to speed with whatever you left in the middle of, etc…

C'mon. I run in mostly the same crappy clothes every day - either I get out of bed, drink an espresso shot and go for a quick run then, or I take my lil one to her daycare and do my run on the way back. Do I shower afterwards? Yes, and I would even without running. If you feel that you don't have 10-15 min for that, you could always get up 10-15 min earlier, and voila, you just found the time! :)

EDIT: I agree that some folks may live in places where you just can't go for a run outside of your house. Different situation for sure.

It’s like those recipes that are supposed to take less than 15 minutes, but then the first step is to put finely chopped onions in a pan. That on its own normally takes at least 5-10 minutes to prepare for me.

Not sure if this is helpful or not - but it was intended to be so.

Finley chopping an onion shouldn’t take long. You just need a very sharp chefs knife and the right technique.

Cut the top off, then peel, then cut in half, then cut in fine slices, keeping the bottom intact to hold the onion together, then do one cut across the middle horizontally keeping the bottom intact. Then cut back towards the bottom making fine dice. The real trick is holding the base of the blade rather than just the handle to make the knife more rigid and your cut more precise and using the knuckle on your non dominant hand as a guide, after a while you should be able to cut sequentially without looking because your off hand should all be behind your knuckle of your index finger. Shouldn’t take more than a minute with sufficient practice.

Yes, with enough practice you can get an onion chopped in less than a minute, and for what it’s worth I do it more or less the way you describe.

But we have the same problem again: chopping an onion for one minute takes more than one minute. I probably need to spend a few minutes clearing some space, because my kitchen is small and tends to be in less than perfect order. Do I have a clean chopping board to use? No, then I need to clean one. Is my preferred knife for chopping onions clean? Same thing. What about the onions, what type of onion was I supposed to use, and how many? Better check the recipe again. Then I need to check the onions I have, pick which ones to use, do they look ok or did they start to spoil? And sometimes they’re just terribly hard to peel. Then after I’m done I need to collect all the little peels and other leftover bits and put them in the composter - which is getting full so I should probably change it.

Add this up, consider that I needed to chop more than one onion and that my technique is less than perfect, and it easily takes 5–10 minutes.

There's a great saying: “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes everyday - unless you're too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” ;)

Good post, this is exactly where i'm starting. After many years of being lazy, plus having to move because of divorce, i'm simply unfit so last week I decided to just go for a walk at 6am.

When I was a teenager I used to walk/run marathon distances every other day with the same proviso, and the rule that i'd always go further tomorrow (round the next corner, wherever) but didn't need to run or beat a time - I could simply walk it if I wasn't feeling too good.

It was wonderful - I remember going past a shop that sold old jukeboxes (this is in the UK) and stopping to look at them for a bit. No stress, just always go a bit further, even if only a metre.

Thank you.

1) It takes me 15 minutes just go get warmed up. The first 15 minutes are a nightmare.

2) It's never 10 minutes. The nearest place I can run which isn't on the sidewalk is a 10 minute bike ride away. Add to that the time it takes to get prepped and shower... It's a no go.

3) What worked for me is not doing any running but HIIT at home with kettlebells. Takes 15 minutes, with a 5-7 minute warmup.

Running becomes a habit and the more you do it the easier it gets. The 10 minute rule is a great way to approach it, because on the journey to getting into running shape you will have days where your body just doesn’t really want to do it, but the important thing is that you lace up your sneakers and try to do it. Eventually the days where it feels good and you are running longer distances will come.

Also maintenance is easier than letting yourself getting out of shape, so try to do that 10 minutes a day. With that said, sometimes life gets in way and you do get out of shape. Just no you can always work your way back, no matter how tough it is in the interim.

man you must like pain.

the first half mile of any run always sucks. Why do the worst part over and over without rest days and never enjoy the glory of being warmed up and just humming along for miles?

Exercise is my favorite example of "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly".

As someone who got injury and sickness and could not recover from them for long, dont do "no excuses" nor "every day" things.

It is very easy to increasy workload and overdo it and crack something if you create systems that dont take recovery seriously. And sometimes you really really should stay in bed whole day.

Cause otherwise you may end up with months (well over year in my case with no or only interminnent activity).

I absolutely can not do 10 minutes. I can barely run for 2 minutes without gasping for breath. I’d wager a majority of Americans are in the same boat as me. The obesity epidemic here is real. This solution is not as universal as you may think.

You are running too fast. If you are running so hard you can't have a light conversation, slow down. If your speed approaches walking speed, that's fine.

If you otherwise are reasonably healthy, I promise you that if you get out every day, in your running shoes, for ten minutes and run a bit and walk briskly when you can’t run, you’ll run those ten minutes within a few weeks.

Then you should absolutely not be running. Just walk for 10 mins.

I did it opposite. I only ran on Saturdays and increased distance every week. I ran slow and walked when needed. After 8 months I finished my first marathon. After a year I ran 50k in the mountains. During the week I only did weightlifting. Different routines work for different people.

> you simply run every single day - no excuses* - but only for 10 minutes.

Same kind of thing but for me it was "at least 1km (preferably running but walking counted if required)". After a few months of that, I was definitely fitter and running better than for a long time.

this is excellent advice and one of the ways i have gotten back on the horse after falling off is to restrain myself from feeling guilty for easing back into it by only running 10 minutes or so on a mostly level route. running a little every day is much much better than not running at all

What about a bacterial infection?

Good point. I find it very relaxing to go outside when nauseous from an infection. But not for running. For walking. The fresh air and body movement is great.

Instead of going every day 10 min you can use a scheme. Some apps help with that, but you can make your own as well (e.g. spreadsheet). You slowly build up with that via intervals, you do it every other day with one day extra rest in a week. In 12 weeks you can run 5 km straight. I do get the complexity might put one off tho.

most mild infections are viral, and I'd assume most folks with bacterial infections would not be in a place where they think about running..

You would be in real trouble if you have a bacterial infection. You will need to on some kind of antibiotic.

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