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Comment by kyllo | Hacker News Reader

In my view, exercise is mandatory if you don't want serious health problems at a young age.

I could go on all day about which specific types of exercise are best, but it really depends on the person. The key is to find an exercise that YOU enjoy doing, and make the time to do it regularly.

Personally, I enjoy powerlifting and grappling. There are literally zero days where I drag my feet and have force myself to go to the weight room, or to jiu-jitsu class. I look forward to these activities all day while I'm at work. To me, they are fun and rewarding.

Find a sport or form of exercise that is fun to you, and just do it, a lot. Enter amateur competitions if you can. Doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it makes you sweat. It will help keep you fit, relieve stress, and even help you meet people and make friends, making you a happier person all around.

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I completely agree that doing something enjoyable is absolutely the best approach, and if you want to optimise for various things, that's great - but don't knock the millions of folk who are getting off their arses and actually moving about. (It also makes me happier to think of people out there enjoying exercise, than "putting in their time" on the treadmill like hamsters.)

Sadly, finding a form of exercise that fits is easier said than done, as with so many things.

If you are unfit, there are many barriers - both physical and mental - to just trying out new sports until you find the right one. Even less unfit people can be paralysed with fear of the unknown, over-abundance of choice, etc.

College and workplace activity offerings are great, as are good gyms, because you can just try out a bunch of classes once and see what works for you. But it took me many years to get to the point where I was brave enough to walk in the door of a Crossfit gym, which I now thoroughly enjoy.

Maybe the point here is that if you have friends or acquaintances that "don't like exercise", bring them along to something you love or have always wanted to try (ideally the latter - doing someone's favourite sport with them is way intimidating if you're new to exercise, failing together is much more enjoyable).

Yes, the older and more out-of-shape you are, the harder it can be to find a sport/exercise you like, and to form new, healthy habits and break old, unhealthy ones in general.

But a very common question that people ask of recreational sport coaches is some variation of "I don't think I'm fit enough to even do this yet, what should I do to get ready for it?" And unless you already have a serious medical condition, the answer is almost always "Just show up and give it a try."

Most people don't realize this, but even if you're overweight, slow and weak, you don't need to put yourself through a "training montage" in order to prepare for a sport. The best way to get in shape for a a particular sport, is just to start playing that sport. Just ease into it volume/intensity-wise as appropriate for your level of fitness.

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