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Comment by krallja | Hacker News Reader

And if I would just exercise I would remember that exercise would solve the problem... but I don't have the mental foresight to do so, so I let it go for another day, and another...

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You have to make it an automatic habit rather than something you remember to do.

Yes, this helps a lot! For me, it also helps to have a training plan, or simply calendar events that remind me what exercise I should do at a given day. Usually this allows me to trick my mind and avoids the decision whether or not I should exercise and I will "stupidly" do what the calendar says. This made it much easier to develop a habit.

I agree with this. I hate exercise so I go into the office a few days a week and I cycle to get there and back which is roughly 10 miles in total. Without that commute I'd be too tempted to do nothing by way of exercise.

Currently working through an 18month training plan - every day has some work out.

This everyday-ness has been huge for installing it as an automatic habit.

Is it a plan that requires going to the gym or more like running & home exercises? Mind sharing if it is the latter?

All running.

Chapter 10 in Hal Higdon's 'How to Train'.

The entire book is filled with training plans I hadn't even considered before - this particular one has worked really well for me in a way other plans have not.

I think you just have to make yourself do it for a prolonged period of time, all the while making sure that you do not overexert yourself. Make it pleasant on every occasion, and lower the intensity once it starts feeling like a struggle. There are theories on how long it takes to establish a new habit. The numbers may vary, but I'd say if you can keep at it for around three months, it should be possible, for anyone really, to establish regular exercise as a habit that you both enjoy and look forward to, rather than something that you dread or put off.

Having a schedule really helps. For years I’ve just promised myself that I’d work on my physical practices at least 4x per week — if I’ve gotten to Wednesday and I haven’t done anything, that means Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday I need to do something. And because you need rest days, you end up just planning to spread things out. Stick to it for a few months and all of a sudden it’s been years and you can’t imagine not doing it.

Just make sure it’s a thing you really enjoy, and think of it more as practicing getting really good at something rather than a chore.

Just set multiple reminders on your phone throughout the day to get up and do a little bit of exercise. A five minute walk, two minutes of jumping jacks, and three push-ups are better than nothing.

Get a cheap magnetic exercise bike (Sunny has a good one) and start with 10 (or even 5) minutes a day at the same time (or event, waking up, finishing work, something like that) every day.

10 minutes is nothing, especially if you read or watch TV while doing it.

It'll get easy eventually, and the habit will be established. Then you up it to 15, and keep doing that until you hit at least 30 mins every day.

Then you have a nice habitual time period that you can add, swap, or integrate other exercises into.

You probably answered why people don't maintain a healthy routine for decades.

A gerbil-wheel exercise in extreme environments, perhaps (due to pollution, crime, extreme hot/cold weather, etc), but after an extended period, is that really how natural detergents in the body are made?

It's not about sticking with gerbil-wheel exercises, it's about developing the habit of scheduling exercise into one's day. Once one establishes the habit of scheduling exercise it makes sense this lowers the barrier to enriching exercise.

Although for me it's been the other way around: find an enriching exercise first and then schedule around performing it. For me, my only limit to participating in my exercise of choice is body recovery. If I had no recovery time I'd be in the gym for hours daily. As it is now I'm limited to 1.5-2.5 hrs every other day.

The lifestyle divide is obvious. If its not an enriching activity (or something you genuinely enjoy), its just a fad exercise to go with a fad diet.

I've been enjoying golf for 3 decades now and skipped the gym and other sports. I still embrace it like the 1st day.

Golf is unique though. It takes a genius to break their own body with such a beautiful sport :)

Golf can be a fun activity, but it doesn't really build much functional muscle strength or cardiovascular fitness. Most golf pros who stay on the tour for a while find it necessary to additional training to keep their bodies working well.

Recreational golfing is much more relaxing. I can chase personal goals while enjoying every minute of it.

We're all aware of Tiger blowing out a knee, but some stories coming out of the LPGA with pros living with excruciating pain from a relatively early age is just absurd:

Michelle Wie's interview this year with the statement of not being able to pickup her own child at times did not make sense.

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/05/26/lpga-michelle-wie-w...

There are a few more golfers in the LPGA with back injuries in their 20's, knowing they only have one back (J. Korda this week for example).

I saw a Seve Ballesteros documentary about his severe back pains on VHS and have fortunately avoided pushing past the breaking point for a few extra yards.

As a technology native, golf has always felt amazing with both hands. Even my glutes grew up my back without trying as well... Provided you know your own body :)

Effortless energy is a breath of fresh air. Not many sports have that.

I apologize but I think I'm missing what you're saying.

I'll just elaborate and say the key to what I said is making it habitual by adding into something you'd be doing anyway. The exercise bike is great because you can watch TV, read, or even play some types of games or other sedentary activities you may be doing anyway.

You probably answered the cognitive benefit aspects of exercise as well :/

I find the best part of exercise being not feeling like exercise at all and being well outside of my normal operating parameters.

I'm not following what you mean by "answered"

Sedentary multitasking :)

Habits are everything. If you make it something you can to make yourself do, it'll always be hard. Make it a daily or weekly activity. Start slow, and just make it routine. Then, after you're used to it you can increase the intensity.

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