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Comment by chickenzzzzu | Hacker News Reader

Until you injure something particularly nasty, like a joint, tendon, muscle tear, etc...

I'd rather be outside exercising / having fun and get the occasional twisted ankle or whatever, then staying home sitting on the couch and feeling like crap.

Personally the only, very minor, sports injury I have had is jamming my thumb pretty badly when my skis came off (poor bindings). Was better in a couple of weeks - no big deal. I'm 64 and started skiing 6-7 years ago, now happily going down blacks.

I did partially tear my shoulder muscle off the bone (rotator cuff tear), but that wasn't due to sports - was due to carrying my daughter around for too long (as she got bigger/heavier) with one arm and the constant bouncing. Painful at the time, but not a big deal - got better in the end just by using it and building up the joint strength again. You could also twist an ankle at home tripping over the dog - stuff happens.

Due to age/genetics I don't have the best knees, but still run, just on a rubber running track rather than on the road/sidewalk which is too jolting. You adapt.

Hmm, what else ... I have an occasional inner ear balance issue (age again?) that gets brought on by too rapid head movement or jolts, so I just avoid that. I swim outdoors in the summer all the time, and just avoid the crawl since side breathing is the kind of thing that may cause it. Again, not even caused by sports, and swimming has to be about as safe a type of exercise as you can get.

Get out there and enjoy yourself, and get some exercise!

Now tell me how many years extra you live compared to the you that just eats healthy but doesn't exercise outside of 3000 steps a day (not bedridden, not intentionally exercising)

I think it's more about quality of life rather than extending it - enjoying outdoor activities (skiing is a blast!), enjoying looking good and being in shape, able to do all my own yard work and snow shovelling etc without it being an effort.

Now, while I choose to do things that I enjoy (and the skiing is purely for enjoyment, even though it requires a lot of energy), I will say that part of the motivation for wanting to keep in good shape is seeing what happened to my Dad who had an office job (professor) and didn't exercise at all other than a bit of walking to the grocery store etc, and in his old age had all sorts of pinched nerve and mobility issues due to lack of muscle tone and strength, and realized it was too late to do anything about it.

I injured my knees by running more than my knees could handle. Instead of never exercising again, after a 2 month long break I started incorporating other forms of exercise in my run schedule. Now I run longer and have other parts of my body feel better.

There’s a hundred reasons to not exercise but you only need to focus on the one reason why you need to keep doing it.

Use it or lose it!

Lack of exercise is vastly more likely to cause injury to your body than exercise is.

Unless you're an elite athlete pushing your body beyond what is reasonable, but that really doesn't apply to most people.

Exercising wrong is more likely to cause you injury than either of those things. Do a bit, and do it carefully

Such platitudes are legitimately useless as nearly everyone who injured themselves while exercising immediately sees the error in their ways, but that doesn't help them undo the permanent damage they've done

Most people who injure themselves exercising go to PT and then go straight back to exercising because they know how important it is and how good it feels.

You're physically lazy and unmotivated, we get it. Hiding behind "but maybe I can get hurt" is not going to make you better or improve your health. Go do something hard and stop being afraid of living life.

Pretty much the worst thing you can do exercising is an ACL tear or an Achilles tendon rupture. Both of these are absolutely awful injuries to pick up (whoever designed the human body really phoned it in at the knee joint IMO). Both are usually solved with surgery, and will massively impact your life for 9-12 months. But the real fix to those injuries is to get back exercising again. If Tom Brady can play NFL football after an ACL tear and surgery, you can probably go back running with the right advice.

The only way to avoid injury is to not use your body at all but your muscles will atrophy and you’ll end up injured _anyway_ that way.

A safer option is rebounding. Every time you land, every muscle in your body is exercised. It's also easy on the joints and you can do it inside if the weather is bad.

Back in the 1970's, NASA studied rebounding as a way to help astronauts recover after being in space. They found 10 minutes of rebounding to be equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging[1].

It's also good for the elderly and disabled because you can sit to do it or even someone else can bounce you and you will still benefit from it.

My dad is 81 and is still rebounding. His core is strong and he can move around like when he was in his 60's.

[1] https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/fitness/forget-running-na...

Then we switch sports and start rehab. Aerobic exercise can be done in so many ways.

You can also walk and bike, it doesn't need to be crazy intensive.

As if no one, ever, in the history of time, was injured by walking or biking?

The vast vast majority of injuries are recoverable from and you will be able to return to what you did before. There are some bad ones, but even people with hip replacements, ACL tears and all sorts of nasty “career ending” injuries will be able to run/bike/play tennis/golf/weightlift.

It’s pretty well understood that stopping moving is incredibly bad for your body, and modern recoveries focus on pain management, pain avoidance and getting you moving again as quickly as possible.

A proper training plan makes you more injury resistant and makes it easier to bounce back from injuries if you do happen to get hurt.

For example, just look at the data for sarcopenia: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9654071

It will happen. But, that’s part of the game. The alternative? A mind in a useless body.

Love the description!

There will be mind but not a healthy one.

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