Useful Self-Improvement Interventions (2013) | Hacker News Reader

Useful Self-Improvement Interventions (2013)

lincolnquirk.com

92 pointsluu37 comments

IMO, push-ups are a quicker way to build muscles and self-esteem than weightlifting. That exercise is one of the most complete[1] and you can avoid damaging your carpal tunnel with a cheap pair of handles.

It takes 6 week to go from being barely able to do 5 consecutives push-ups to being able to do a series of 100.[2] But if you had abdominal surgery check with your doctor before embarking/restarting that journey, I learn this the painfull way ...

Finally, the number of push-ups a middle-aged men is able to do is inversely correlated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. According to that research[3], it's at least as good as the treadmill test.

1- https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/health-benefits-push-...

2- https://hundredpushups.com/week1.html

3- https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/push-ups-...

I worry your third paragraph is mostly correlation: conditioned on someone being able to do a lot of push ups they are likely to be healthy and active rather than just someone who trains push ups.

I am pretty sure that the firefighters in that 10y long study are already likely to be healthy and active. But your argument is sounds and it's only one health study, so I should have said correlated.

But in my defense I used the same terminology as the article I linked to.

edit: I did not used the terminology from the articles but I said correlated instead of predictor... I should have re-read my post before replying... anyway I agree with you ;)

Pushups arguably _are_ weightlifting, it's just that you're lifting your bodyweight. Pretty similar movement to a bench press, just upside down.

I like lifting "actual" weights more than I like bodyweight because it's extremely easy to quantify your increase in strength. But any kind of weighted exercise is amazingly fun and effective once you get into it.

You can always increase your reps or add extra weight to your body (weight vest, etc). Both are very quantifiable.

My body weight fluctuates from day to day and throughout the day. If I use the same weights, or well calibrated weights, the weight I'm moving is consistent every time.

Sample size of one, but in my younger and less careful days I have managed to injure my shoulders overdoing both push-ups and dumbbell bench press. I managed to injure my shoulders much faster doing push-ups, likely because there was no way for me to ramp up the weights slowly, since push-ups are always minimum body weight. With bench press, I injured myself when I got impatient and ramped up the weights too fast. With push-ups, I injured myself when I got greedy and did too many sets throughout the day, since it's easy to do and do twenty whenever there's a few minutes of free time.

There are various ways to modify a pushup. The absolute easiest that I know of being a standing push up -- stand, plant your hands on a wall, and do the push up motion. Horizontal pushups can also be made easier.

Feels dissatisfying to not even do a "real" pushup, but on the other hand, shoulder injuries are hell.

> But if you had abdominal surgery check with your doctor before embarking/restarting that journey, I learn this the painfull way

Would you care to elaborate? I've had open abdominal surgery and am starting exercise once again. I used to go to the gym for a while some years ago and nothing bad happened, but I'm always afraid of a hernia.

I had an extremely painful sensation that persisted for a week, it was the start of an hernia and had I push through the pain it would have required additional surgery.

My surgeon had a look at the training program and told me to skip the initial exhaustion test, do it in 18 weeks instead of 6 by increasing the number of reps only once a week and remove the plus from the number of reps in the last series.

It's crazy how fast unsed muscles atrophy when you're past 40, I only stopped for 8 months (the recovery from my surgery) and I had to start back at day one.

I had a serious hernia, but I was in jail, so I couldn't get it fixed for six years. I decided to be careful and just continue working out. I can't recommend it for everyone, but I think the body is capable of more than most people would realize. I assume hernia surgery is a fairly modern invention.

After surgery it was fairly painful for a few weeks. Since recovery I've worked out hard and not had any trouble. I'm a sample size of one.

Rather than just pushups, one should try the big 6 from convict conditioning. Pushups, squats, pullups, bridges, handstand push-ups and leg lifts. That way they're conditioning more of their total body.

Functional muscle certainly, but as someone who did bodyweight exercises most of his life and then tried weightlifting, there is definitely a cosmetic difference to the muscles produced by the latter.

I hear this a lot, but doesn’t corroborate with my experience seeing folks at calisthenics parks.

This [1] is what I look like with only body weight training. Even if I could, I intentional don’t want to get any bigger given how it affects other sports I play and my current preferences (slightly impacted by my partner’s).

1 - https://www.instagram.com/p/CbKPiVsoSN-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Interesting, maybe it's a function of body type? I naturally have an extremely slim build. Even lifting heavy every day I had less visible muscle than you, though it was noticeably more than when I was only lifting myself.

Great thing about push-ups is you don’t have to go to the gym or buy equipment, so no excuses! And they are great for core. Planks you can do anywhere too.

That said, I’m benching 120lb and aiming for being able to bench my weight and curl 45lbs again. =)

Beware of muscle imbalances on a pushup-only regimen.

Pushups only is bad, but pushups with pull-ups in particular are a great pair. I learned this in my youth when I found the Armstrong program to be particularly useful. [1] I would also take a moment to emphasize the importance of stretching in muscle formation and recovery as well as injury prevention. I'm serious about the stretching, at 5 minutes per muscle about 1hr per day is a decent start.

1. https://savannahstate.edu/cost/nrotc/documents/Inform2010-th...

Dude, that study is _garbage_.

> The researchers analyzed health data from 1,104 active male firefighters collected from 2000 to 2010.

Active male firefighters? You mean people whose entire job is predicated upon physical strength? People for whom pushups are essentially an aerobic exercise? People who are in no way representative of the population at large???

Stupid issue, but : if you are in a really bad shape and obese, making a push-up (or even something slightly resembling it) is really hard, when simple weightlifting exercises are almost always possible.

Pushups can be made easier by leaning on the wall. Or on a raised platform like the edge of a table or a chair (assuming the platform is stable). They get more difficult the higher the feet are compared to the hands. The culmination is the handstand against the wall.

Weight lift involves muscles differently. I liked pushups better before but lifting helps a lot everywhere else.

The practicing a habit example is great, it has been nearly impossible to quit cracking my knuckles because, like the author, I would only notice when it was too late. Practicing by fake-starting to do the bad habit and then doing a replacement seems like a great way to get around that

It reminds me of what a friend called the "Pavlovian alarm clock training".

Set an alarm clock for five minutes, jumps onto the bed pretending to sleep, and when the alarm goes off, immediately get up and walk around. Do this several times every day and for a few days, and you'll have an easier time getting up to the alarm in the morning. And it worked for me.

It's fortunate that I don't have to resort to this anymore (plenty of sleeping time, now). But it was pretty useful when I during middle school, especially at the end of long vacations.

These are typical recommendations for fighting obsessive-compulsive behaviors. It's been a long time but I recall reading something like this in The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force (2003) by J.M. Schwartz - seems like he has some more recent books out that specifically prescribe remedies (I assume are along these lines).

biased i am, but you can use pavlok to #1 automate awareness with a vibration, based on hand motion, and #2 snap out and reduce automatic habits with the electric shock. Usually takes about 3-5 days for our knuckle cracking users (and smokers) to quit for good

Here’s one more:

If you don’t know what you want in life, there’s two reasons:

1. You already have it or don’t know you already have it.

2. You don’t know yourself as well as you think you do.

Whenever in doubt, you’ll find more clarity through working to be a better person and getting to know yourself more in the process.

You do that by improving yourself in someway everyday.

This post is nearly 10 years old. I wonder how well these techniques have worked out for the author in the time since. Certainly I’ve seen plenty of interesting posts on their blog and some refer to some kind of habit forming behaviours.

I stopped biting my nails entirely the day my front teeth started to break because of it. Believe me, once that starts to happen, you never ever do it again.

Believe me, that has been happening to me and I have not stopped biting my nails.

Same here. I just bite with my canines now. They seem to be indestructible so far.

I can recommend this product whole-heartedly. Mavala Stop Deterrent Nail Polish Treatment.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000YUXI0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Thank you. My parents used to try something similar when I was 7. After a while I got used to it's taste and would bite anyway. I wonder how I would deal with it as an adult, tho.

For many years I have tried to lift weight and be healthy but I have always failed at establishing it as a core habit/hobby. But I really want to.

What can I do to build the habit of weight lifting? If I go to gym 6 days a week what is the least amount of workout that I can do to build the habit.

I think it depends on your goals, but finding a hobby that you like that works you out as a side effect is probably better for you than straight weight lifting. Like, say, rock climbing.

Then eventually you can start doing other exercises (like presses, in this example) not for their own sake but to support your climbing hobby (with antagonistic training.)

There are a million examples. Don’t worry about being the most fit, start with something you enjoy that works you out a little bit and that you look forward to doing, and go from there. My humble advice.

3x/week is fine and also much easier to attain than 6x. Rest days are important for muscle growth!

if you have the funds, spend them on a trainer who will both cause you to have an appointment to meet and also teach you what’s good and safe for you.

Go monday wednesday friday, take the weekends off. Do it for 3 months and you’ll never stop, or you’ll be able to reestablish the habit again if you do.

The habit to focus on the most would be simply going to the gym. Even if you don’t do much, that’s probably the biggest thing you’d need to get into a routine.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com