Ask HN: Techies, how do you keep yourself physically engaged? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Techies, how do you keep yourself physically engaged?

5 pointsakira_f31 comments

Greetings HN Community,

As we approach the end of the year and contemplate resolutions for a healthier and more balanced lifestyle, I'm curious about how my fellow tech enthusiasts tackle one of our common challenges: staying physically active amidst a predominantly sedentary tech lifestyle. How do you get motivated, and what routines or activities have you found effective in maintaining your physical and mental wellbeing?

This past year, I took a somewhat unconventional path for someone in our field—I started learning ballet. As a software developer and writer, I never imagined donning ballet shoes, but it's turned into an incredible journey. Ballet offers a unique and powerful blend of discipline, mental focus, and physical intensity that's not only improved my health but also brought a new dimension of creativity and performance into my work and personal life.

I've shared my experiences and the surprising benefits I've discovered in a Medium post titled "Why I Started and Keep Learning Ballet at 40+." As New Year's Eve prompts us to reflect and set goals, I hope my story of embracing ballet might inspire you to consider new, perhaps unexpected, ways to stay active and engaged.

Here's my story: https://medium.com/geeky-regimen/why-i-started-and-keep-learning-ballet-at-40-14ee0663b25e

On the eve of a new year, I'd love to hear your strategies and stories. How do you balance the demands of our tech careers with the need for physical activity? What unexpected hobbies or passions have you pursued to stay active and how have they impacted your life?

I recently started playing padel. Much easier to start and more satisfying than tennis. It's a very sociable HIIT workout. Matches are organised on an app Playtomic and the court is only confirmed once all 4 players pay. I find it hard to play tennis as there is no Tinder-like match system for it. I've seen my skills improve from hand-eye coordination, reading trajectory and rebound.

I also tap dance. It's a very technical and movement-dense dance where different combinations of steps are put together and can be in different styles by varying the rhythm and body movements.

Sailing is my new passion. Dinghy mainly and also some yachting. Dinghy racing combines adventure, a thrilling workout (pulling the trailer and the core workout of hiking) and STEM split-second decisions in a race like computing a self-driving car. Also great for mental health and like a support group as through yachting I've met career changers who are running away from depression.

You must be enjoying the fun of all these cool games!

The possibility for doing sailing and yachting for you is really fantastic! I grew up in a harbour city, I love almost any activities in water, and was a very decent swimmer as a child. But where I live now is far from sea. Learning sailing is still possible in a local lake, but it's cold here in winter, normally the sailing courses are only offered in summer. Yachting is so fancy I'd like to try it out when there is a chance.

Happy exercising and practicing whatever you like in the new year and beyond!

I run 1mi/day. On average, meaning that I don’t run every day.

I’ve done it for the past 5y. The first 2 were the hardest. This year I run over 500mi (and in Mar & Apr I practically didn’t run). This is just to say that the key is consistency, if you can make it a habit then it’ll stay a habit.

Run works for me, but bike or push ups might be an alternative if you hate running.

If you start from 0, account for your growth. For example if you can’t run 1mi now, don’t set your target to 1mi/day. Set it to 2mi/week or so. To give you a sense, when I run I typically do 5mi, so I only have to run twice a week to stick with my goal, and I can catch up if I fall behind.

This year I’m prob trying 10 pull ups/day, just for a change. (I’ll keep running oc)

Your running pattern is inline with the best practices I've heard in expert podcasts: start small, build up the capability gradually, prioritize rest and recovery(you do not run everyday), and do catch up if fall behind. This is really healthy!

Wish you success with your pull ups this year!

My watch tells me when to run and how much to run. I feel good after each run so I follow its instructions.

Tip: you don't need gear or even shoes to run, just run to the office or chase the kids.

Great tip! I lost about 25kg chasing my son daily when he was a toddler, without any diet or extra training. But then I slacked. The weight did not really come back quickly, but my fitness deteriorated so much. Running became too challenging for me. But now I am reclaiming my energy, hopefully I can also enjoy running soon!

Running to office is not practical for me, I always have bags on my way to office. How do you run to office?

Stationary bike with automatic resistance and various apps to ride real routes or 3D ones with friends and family. I lost 2st last year without trying, which I gained during COVID. Now at 91% lean mass and in the shape of my life.

The key thing is finding people to be competitive and supportive with. My partner has been an excellent source of motivation as we are both very competitive in outdoing each other in time and power.

10 miles in an hour, do it a few times per week, you'll be on top of your self.

Wow, admire your physical capability and lean mass!

Yes, an encouraging and supportive social environment is really important. After I started building my exercise habit, my husband bought a walking band and started walking at home too. We agreed to hike together in the new year and I really look forward to it!

I have a small home-gym that consists of a bench for press and leg curls, abs bench, old and ugly stationary bike that does the job, some push up bars and a pull up bar.

I also tend to walk everywhere.

As soon as I finish working it is training time. When I'm busy or out for a few days I take the push up bars with me. Sometimes I also do some push ups while working.

After work I usually find myself too tired for high intensity exercises. So I experimented with exercising in the morning. It worked and I can sleep well in the evening!

After work I usually practicing my music instrument for a while until dinner. Our dinner is usually simple so it doesn't take too much time to prepare.

I'm not able to do a single push up yet, but I'm doing planking deligently. Hopefully one day I can also do push ups like you!

Push ups are hard for some people. You can start training against the wall or on the floor using your knees.

Climbing obviously lol. Walking my dog. Also lifting weights and signing up for marathons/half marathons to train for. And snowboarding when I can get it.

Some of it's fun, but a lot of it really is just unpleasant exercise. I hate it, but I stick to it for the positive side effects. In my mind, the only way to it is to do it.

If your goal is to keep yourself healthy and fit, you can really focus on the quality of training rather than quantity. Choose something that has the highest benefit-density and you can bear with, and then just do that. Climbing and walking your dog can already keep you fit. Stick to them . Do other activities just for fun, no need to push yourself too hard. :-)

And you think climbing is easy? Maybe for beginners. But you will definitely need some other trainings to enable advanced climbing. This activity alone will keep you busy for very long.

THere seem to be a lot of engineering & technical people doing martial arts - perhaps because we believe in the efficacy of technique. It's also good for getting hour head out of abstraction and focusing on the present.

Classes provide structure and a community. Maybe not too different from ballet.

So true! Besides the efficacy of technique, techies tend to seek intellectual stimulation constantly. Complex sequences of martial arts and ballet appear more interesting to them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVlL3SATRPw

Good performances of of martial arts and ballet both value high in aesthetics. In east Asia it is common to perform choreographed martial arts in parties or galas, this is not too different from dancing! Quite a few contemporary young actors in China are former full-time ballet dancers, because they can execute the fighting sequences in films or TV plays beautifully.

I get into the gym 5x a week. It is a non-negotiable part of my schedule. I sign up for running events that are 12-16 weeks out and then use training plans like Run with Hal or Nike Run Club to figure out what I need to do daily.

Good for you and keep doing it!

How do you climbers stop forward head posture from climbing emphasising the pre-existing muscle imbalances of nerd neck? The prevalence of this in my climbing gym (70% of the climbers) put me off the sport.

I think attending ballet lessons for beginners will help fix your nerd neck. The first thing a ballet instructor teaches is how to hold your head correctly and how to stand correctly. They will definitely train the strength of your ankles and feet too. You will like it!

For the past few months I’ve been working out for 5 minutes every 30 minutes while working. It’s been a huge help to my productivity and fitness at the same time.

Yeah! Benefits of small activities do accumulate and compound! One of my favorite exercise is the ballet elevé and relevé. These really can be done anywhere, even in a fully stuffed long-haul plane. Yes they can be huge help!

I’ve actually been doing that in my routine, but for rock climbing instead of ballet! I can finally climb without hurting my toes because they are strong enough to not completely flex back when I put weight on them now.

Ha, have a look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BALLET/comments/18vom3k/i_recently_...

Honestly crossfit has been great (as long as you can swing the monthly). I do the group classes and it's great because (1) instructors take care of the programming, (2) they offer modifications if you really need them, (3) people are generally pretty chill (def less roid rage than at the gym), (4) I feel like I learned a ton of skills I can take with me traveling and I'm stuck with bad hotel gyms that have a couple dumbbells and kettlebells.

Yes crossfit is very effective! The program I am taking at home has many elements from crossfit. Plank or push-up for example, really does not require equipment and so effective for strengthening the core! All professional ballet dancers do that. I will soon be traveling for a week. My daily training program (TLB from https://trainlikeaballerina.com/ ) can be accessed online. I can do the exercise in any hotel. Elevé, relevé, tendu, frappé, slow motion fondue, and many streching exercises are even doable in a fully stuffed long-haul plane. Let's train into a healthy and prosperous 2024!

I walk 3 miles a day, takes about 45-50 minutes.

Daily walking has a low hurdle for getting started and renders huge benefit in the long run. Good for you!

I have to walk when I'm traveling for business or shop groceries during the weekend too. Usually there is some weight on my back in such contexts, I'm too lazy to bear the weight so I often ride scooters nowadays. But I do enjoy hiking. Last year did four 16-km day-hiking with minimum weight on my back in a hiking group. Loved it and this year I'll hike again.

You just do.

For some people, before they get the hang of physical activity, they need tremendous burst of motivation or willpower to start moving their bodies. I am one of these people. I was more excited after my code got running than I myself did some running. This kept me sticking to my chair and fiddling with code. And, initial phase of physical training is not always comfortable or pleasant for a beginner. Benefits will only become obvious if one could persist through some critical threshold. Some people just retract again and again before they could easily "just do" physical exercise. I started to seriously consider exercising after suffering from years of chronic fatigue, which undermined my mind sharpness.

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