How Do Geeks Exercise? 1806
An anonymous reader writes "I have always been thin but all the sitting in front of the PC is taking its toll now that I'm getting older. I have begun to get a little heavier around the waist. I don't eat a lot but the weight seems to stay on these days. Most of the time I don't have the luxury of just getting out of the house/office. And being an introvert, I'm not enamored of the idea of exercising in full view of *shudder* people. I regularly do press-ups (60 per night) and sit-ups (30 per night) and some fetching and carrying, but that is all and these days it isn't enough. I need a solid and effective routine that will tone all my muscle groups efficiently. Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?"
Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
Bike to work. (Make living close enough to bike a priority.)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Agreed. I bike 30 miles every other day and that was enough, along with a sensible diet, to get me from a peak of 180 pounds down to a more healthy 155. Now I'm steady at 155 but can still eat more than I normally could without the exercise. Plus it's good for the heart.
Maintaining weight is a matter of how many calories you consume and how many your burn. Weight training will build muscle but doesn't burn a lot of calories. Things like running, swimming, and biking are the kinds of things that burn calories.
I'm sorry you're an introvert. Make time for your health and enjoy the great outdoors. You can always get a stationary bike but, having one of those that I use in the winter, I can assure you that a real bike out in the real world is MUCH more rewarding and it will help you relax mentally as well as keep you in shape physically.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Weight training will build muscle but doesn't burn a lot of calories. Things like running, swimming, and biking are the kinds of things that burn calories.
You'd be surprised. Not only does resistance training burn kilojoules at a sufficient rate to lose weight (depending on your eating habits), but also the increase in metabolism (due to increased muscle mass) means that your BMR will be higher than if you only engaged in aerobic training. In other words, you'll burn more kilojoules at rest.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
A good mix is obviously best. But if he wants to burn calories, I stand by my assertion that traditional exercises such as running, swimming, and cycling are more efficient at burning calories than weight training unless you're doing some ungodly effort on the weight training.
As an example, this link [healthdiscovery.net] suggest that at 155 pounds and 60 minutes, I'd burn about 744 calories per hour cycling at 14-15.9mph. Meanwhile, general weightlifting comes in at 223 calories and vigorous weightlifting comes in at 446 calories. And it's a lot more reasonable for most people to do an hour on a bike than a constant productive hour of weight training.
If he wants to lose weight, he should do these kinds of activities (biking, running, etc.). If he is looking for muscle mass then obviously weight training is an obvious choice. And if he wants both, well, he's going to have to do both.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Following-up, I found this link [pponline.co.uk] which says:
If this person dos moderate weight training then over time (the increased MBR is not immediate) he might burn an extra 143 calories per day. That pretty much supports my position that if he wants to lose weight, he needs to be on a bike burning 400-740 calories per hour rather than 223 calories per hour of weightlifting. So if he does two hours of weight training to my two hours of biking, he'll burn maybe 223 * 2 + 143 = 589 calories per day in his exercise while I burn close to 1,480 even if I don't get any increased muscle mass from biking (which I do, albeit to a lesser extent than a good weight training program).
If you want to burn calories: Run or bike, or similar cardio exercises. Of course a balanced workout including weight training is obviously the final goal. But if the immediate goal is weight loss, weight training isn't going to accomplish it nearly as fast as running or biking.
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Insightful)
A lot of good suggestions here, but what you people are also missing (amongst other things) is the number of calories that get used up building extra muscle. It takes something like 24 calories to build a gram of muscle which would only yield 4 calories if eaten (insert cannibal jokes here), so there's a lot more to the weight-training-picture than all of the above posts take into account by focusing on the number of calories that get used in the activity.
Also, people who only focus on calories are missing 90% of the nutrition picture. If calories were the only thing that mattered when it came to body composition, then we could all drink vegetable oil and eat sugar without any worries. There is a lot more to the nutritional picture than calories, such as vitamins, minerals and the "side effects" and chemical interaction of any food upon the body. For example one can obtain amino-acids from nuts or tobacco leaves but I can guess which one we would all prefer.
When it comes to diet, just try and eat "clean" i.e. stay away from food you haven't prepared yourself and learn to read food labels. This will generally keep a lot of hidden crap out of ones diet. Learn to like rice, lean meats/fish, raw/lightly cooked veges and fruits. Eating a good deal of fibre and nutrient-rich food will go a long way toward moving ones body composition in a favourable direction, and in my experience will solve 90% of the problem
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
There are some great ideas here as you say but there are also some dangerous ones from my learning experiences. I will quantify/qualify...
I went through about 13 years as a NON-PROFESSIONAL body builder. Not a weight lifter. (spacing intentional) At my peak I managed to hit 198 pounds with a 3% body fat. (For those interested in the perspective I'm a hair under 5' 10" tall.) At that time I was spending two to four hours a day in a gym and actually striving to get in a couple hours a day of some other heavy physical activity such as running or playing a sport. It was an obsession, prior to this I had been fat.
I will NOT say that I know what I'm talking about because at 33 years old I suddenly started getting chubby but, by that time, I was already down to 172 pounds, not muscle, but chub. If I'd chopped the chub off (cardio) I'd have been nothing but 152 pounds.
There are reasons at both ends of the spectrum for me.
The first is diet and exercise. I ate well, I ate a lot. I ate healthy. During build cycles I'd consume 10k calories a day and think nothing of it. (I still love me some peanut butter.)
The second, latter days, is due to lack of diet and lack of exercise.
Today I've gotten to a healthy weight of 165.5 pounds (went to the doctor's this week) and pretty much sit there. I'd estimate that I engage in some sort of low impact exercise two to three times per week.
However, I only eat two meals a day and only have two snacks per day. My caloric intake from beer is enough to maintain the weight and my limited activity keeps me from sagging.
I would say that diet, nothing else, is more important than any other aspect of weight control. For each person it WILL be different. The idea that we, as geeks, can apply metrics is patently absurd because the human body ranges in scope from person to person to such wildly different degrees that we simply can't.
This being said, I'm not a doctor and a doctor is the best choice to start with. Look to see what you're healthy enough to do and to find the best methods to achieve your weight control goals. To put it into geek terms there is no right choice nor a better choice for an OS/app but the one that works best for you. In my case it has always been diet constraints/allowances as the single most important factor.
For anyone else it may be different.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
That's simply not true. Muscle mass burns calories all day long while aerobics only burns while you perform that particular exercise. Metabolic rate is increased around 11hrs post-resistance training & only 1 hr aerobically. You really need to do both to be fit though, as well as the 3rd piece of the puzzle - flexibility.
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Informative)
Some of this isn't really a specific reply.
Unless a person is really out of shape he or she isn't going to be losing weight during resistance training. It's not going to happen typically unless you're doing something wrong. It's definitely possible to put on 20lbs., of muscle without losing even 1 lbs., of fat.
The thing to sort of watch for is that the body composition should be changing to favor muscle over fat. A person can still carry quite a bit of fat whilst still weight training if they aren't careful about caloric intake. The natural tendency is to increase calories by enough to offset the difference.
Weights are a great invert exercise set, just as long as there are no barbells involved. A good set of dumbbells can more than do the trick when used properly.
The ultimate dumbbell guide by Myatt Murphy is probably the best guide book I've ever read. It's quite to the point and leaves little to be desired in terms of the actual lifts.
Depending upon the situation cardio work tends to be the more difficult thing to do without a gym. I say depending, if a person is able to get outside to do things like running, biking or handle jump rope, that's going to be a good choice.
For the rest of us it's treadmills or trainers in doors.
In terms of diet, one doesn't typically need to add much protein at all in order to gain weight. The general rule is protein before and carbs after. The reason being that protein eaten after a workout isn't broken down and into the muscle while it's still building the bulk of the muscle. The carbs are mostly there to ensure that you're not burning protein for energy.
Typical water consumption is about 1 oz., per pound of weight. I don't really know how that translates to the metric system. Specifically, I'm not feeling like doing the conversion there.
The more accurate method is do a weigh before and after and then drink the amount of water necessary to make up the weight difference. It's not exact, but it'll typically be pretty close.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Have you considered selling your body to science? I mean by studying the way you can spend 3000 to 4000 calories while eating only 1200 calories could lead to a perpetual machine or something!
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
The minimum caloric needs of your 380 lb corpulence are ~2700 calories/day. Any less than that and your body starts raiding your fat rolls like your raid bakery rolls.
You are full of shit; that may explain your obesity.
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Funny)
You are full of shit; that may explain your obesity.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the TV show "Scrubs" by Dr. Cox:
"Well here's the deal you are what you eat so you clearly must have gone out and devoured a big fat guy!"
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
"The minimum caloric needs of your 380 lb corpulence are ~2700 calories/day. Any less than that and your body starts raiding your fat rolls like your raid bakery rolls."
perhaps, the fault doesn't lie in the AC, but rather in the information he's using to obtain his calories? I for one have noticed that food packaging, while usually having truthful nutrition facts labels, have downright false of misleading front of package portion numbers, the worst offender was 'great value' brand products, their microwave bacon claims the same number of ounces as their competitor, hormel, yet if you go by the nutrition facts label, and do the math you wind up with double the number of grams of meat as on the front of the package. if you go by calories per gram, and multiply by the front of the package, you'd only come up with 50% of the actual calories.
now myself, the only diet i use is pretty simple. 1. restrict sugar. sugar is evil, and i avoid sugary foods wherever possible. 2. snack healthy this means, for me, popcorn, pork rinds, whole grain baked snack chips, 1% fat cottage cheese, or small quantities of peanut butter + wheat bread (like a fold over sandwich)
anything high in protein is a priority over other snacking options carb based snacks are highly limited, once in a while for a treat i'll get a 99 cent sized potato/dorrito chip bag, or a candy bar, mostly the only other treat i allow is stride gum, which uses more carbs in chewing that chewing gum gives calories.
Since i can't tolerate asperatame (headaches) that means i'm stuck with sucralose or stevia for low carb flavored drinks. luckily a very nice sucralose based powdered drink mix is on the market under 2 brand names propel, and fulfill. for $2.50/10 pack and $2/10 pack respectively. This is my primary daily drink although i'm likely getting over vitaminized by this but they're water soluble vitamins...
since my food is also on a budget, i've been relying on some fairly cheap, but not as good for me products, and i shop almost exclusively at the local wal-mart. i was having weight gain problems when i was eating breakfast cereal daily, and i have trouble following my diet on vacations, since my relatives have no sane diet restrictions... but since i cut the breakfast cereal, my weight has stabilized. i only eat breakfast (microwave ones, though) on my grocery shopping day, so i'm not shopping on an empty stomach. i allow allow myself about 16 ounces of sugar sweetened soda(actually 1/4 a 2-liter), per day maximum, skipping days whenever possible through will power, etc.
and i sit all day in front of a computer, and don't exercise.
it's totally unhealthy, to not exercise, but i always justify my life style with the 'you can't live forever' argument.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Now, if our AC troll friend can derive more energy from food than the bomb calorimeter can, he is, quite literally, Mr. Fusion.
* As such, it follows that people do not actually require 2000 kCal (on average) per day; however, that is how much energy needs to be in the food so that the ~35% efficient catabolic pathways can derive enough useful energy from the food to power the body. 35% efficiency is extremely high (the most efficient internal combustion engines get ~25-30%); it is the result of literally billions of years of evolution because deriving energy from a substrate is a requirement of life, so the whole complicated mess has been around from the beginning. Therefore, Nature has optimized the crap out of it. Unless Mr. Fusion up there has different catabolic pathways than the rest of life on earth there is no way that he could be that more efficient than everyone else.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
The minimum caloric needs of your 380 lb corpulence are ~2700 calories/day.
I've seen other people make similar reports. You're quoting an average number, but I've never seen good data on the outliers, which this guy could well be.
Also, data like that you quote is generally taken from people on normal diets. The body has a number of low-calorie adaptations do deal with times of famine.
Although the AC you reply to is not typical, you won't be able to know that he's actually wrong until you get him in a lab for a week. Which, given that you feel confident enough to be a total dick about it, I'm sure you've already done, right?
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
I got frustrated and decided to get scientific about it. When I did the maths I was surprised that my daily base intake should be 8000 kj - about twice of what I was getting. I realised that my body was probably in starvation mode and my metabolism was very slow.
Currently, I'm working on an energy intake of about 6000-8000 kj and letting the exercise I do increase my metabolism and burn it off slowly. Consider upping your intake to 1500 calories a day and see how your metabolism reacts.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a myth that's been going around for quite some time...there's absolutely no basis for claiming that a well muscled person burns more calories when sitting on the couch.
How about the fucking laws of a physics? If that extra muscle isn't decaying, and is being maintained alive, it takes energy to do so.
The same thing is true for fatter people too. They burn more energy just sitting around. It's one of the reason for the yo-yo dieting. They lower their food intake, lose weight, thus their body requires less energy for maintenance of their thinner body. Now their lower intake of food isn't enough to make them lose weight at the same rate, and eventually they'll stop losing weight altogether. This causes them to becomes disheartened, they quit the diet thinking their new weight is good enough, and start eating at their older levels. Except that their older levels is far more energy than they need and they quickly gain the weight again.
Advice to everyone who intends to lose weight. This sucks, but until you accept this as the truth, you'll never succeed: you don't go on a diet until you lose the weight and then it's over. You go on a diet, you lose weight. If you stop losing weight, it means you'll have to cut more calories. Eventually you'll reach the weight you want. Then you don't get to eat any more calories. You just found your equilibrium calorie point. That's the maximum you get to eat forever.
Unless you put on some muscle and do enough cardio to burn more calories. Then you get to eat a bit more.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Technical explanation; didn't rtfa. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Technical explanation; didn't rtfa. (Score:4, Funny)
(Disclaimer: I'm no scientist. Well, a computer scientist. But that doesn't apply here.)
Don't you mean "Damn it, I'm a computer scientist, not a doctor"?
Re:Technical explanation; didn't rtfa. (Score:5, Informative)
Having greater muscle volume does lead to greater calories burned without doing anything. This however is a pretty small gain. With aerobic exercise you can burn a ton of calories and most importantly you directly burn fat. When you burn the short term energy stores (sugar) of the body it effects you hunger. When you directly burn fat you feel less hungry after working out. This is why aerobic exercise is best for losing weight. Resistance training will work but it takes more will power.
Re:Technical explanation; didn't rtfa. (Score:5, Informative)
To specifically address the question posed (what do we, the Slashdot readers, do to stay in shape):
I eat vegetarian; low dairy, lots of beans, tempeh, and seasonal fruits/veggies. I bring my lunch to work every day which is cheaper and more nutritious than buying it.
I lift weights three times a week for an hour emphasizing multi-join and body-weight-resistance exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, dips, incline and hanging crunches, etc.
I bike to work whenever the weather permits.
I run 5 km at least once a week (though bad knees sometimes demand that I go for a long walk instead).
All of this combined yields a weekly time commitment of about 3.5 hours of exercise plus 90 minutes of biking to and from work (2 mi each way). I'm 185 lbs, 6'1", and I fill out my nerdy T-shirts in the shoulders, not the belly. I don't have six-pack, but I certainly don't have a gut. All around I feel very health even though the vast, vast, majority of my time is spent sitting on my ass in front of a computer at work.
I don't care whose biology teacher told them what about which calories are burned by how many muscles, but my whopping 3.5 hours a week of exercise entitles me to all the beer I can drink and stuffing my face with burritos to my heart's content without gaining a fraction of an inch around my waste line (which hasn't changed in 15 years). And no, I'm not one of those skinny nerds than can eat Taco Bell every day and still look like a bent coat hanger.
I think that the big trick to staying healthy is sticking with your routine, whatever it is. Don't just go on a diet and start running in response to feeling fat and out of shape. Biking to work is a great way to start and, depending on where you live, has the added benefit of being faster than driving.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Food is equally important, for it affects directly your performance in everything. You need to eat MASSES of veg and salad and fruits. And by MASSES I mean they have to be the bulk of your diet. Don't consume many carbs the days you're working out, do mostly veg & protein. No fats. Replenish the days you're resting with eating a bit more carbs. Brown rice, wholewheat bread, cereals such as oats, porridge, wheetabix.
Have breakfast in the form of cereals I said earlier. Eat some protein right after working out. If you feel peckish, nibble on apples. Leave bananas and melon fo "once in a while" as they contain masses of sugar, nevertheless you still need to eat them. Substitute meat by white or blue fish. Eat oily fish twice a week; red meat once, white meat twice.
Water. At least 2 litres a day, specially when you workout. Reason being, all the fat & energy your body is burning leaves debris, and guess how you expel it... hydration is not also important for that, but also to keep your brain's and body performance; and your skin will be so much better. Water. Not diet coke, yes? And forget by the way about coke & fanta. 125kcal every 1/3 litre (one can). Dude, that is well bad. It takes 12m on a medium sized person running at 9 km/h to burn all that.
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
I think you are trying to say that one should strive for balance between weight/resistance training and aerobic excercise?
I'm male, approaching 40. At 30 I joined the armed forces and had an ongoing battle with weight and fitness for 4 years until I left. I learned (in no particular order after the first one):
1. To lose weight requires that you burn more calories than you consume.
2. After 30, men need to lift weights to maintain muscle mass.
3. Don't run two days in a row.
4. Muscle burns more calories than fat.
5. If you dramatically increase your exercise, your appetite will increase.
6. Change gradually and consult a physician.
7. Running shoes are not one size fits all.
8. "Fat burns in a fire fueled by carbs" (don't go on 0 carb diets, you'll burn muscle mass before you burn fat.)
Sensible portions at meals, avoid sugary foods and highly processed flour, eat balanced meals, err towards more fruit and green leafy vegetables, exercise for stress relief and burning calories.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry you're an introvert.
Don't be sorry for us (you insensitive clod!)
It's not like it's a disease, bad in anyway, or meaning that one does not enjoy being outside.
It's probably different for everyone - for me it means that I don't like being in crowds and
am more likely to relax being alone or with (a few) close friends.
But I digress.
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Funny)
It's not like it's a disease, bad in anyway, or meaning that one does not enjoy being outside. It's probably different for everyone - for me it means that I don't like being in crowds and am more likely to relax being alone or with (a few) close friends.
You know what would be great ? All us introverts should get together some time. No party people allowed. And then we'll have a party. In other news, I may need medication :P
Left foot braking (Score:5, Funny)
This way my left leg/foot gets more exercise when driving an automatic, otherwise a heavy clutch does the trick.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Insightful)
and makes you better than everyone else.
I laughed at this, but why do some cyclists have that attitude? I'm talking about the type who scream at motorists to "share the road" because "bikes have the same rights as motor vehicles," and then proceed to run the next four red lights.
/rant
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Insightful)
See, the thing about sharing is that you don't get to do whatever you damn well please whenever you want to. That's what makes it sharing rather than being selfish.
Do you feel the same way about school busses? You'll share the road with school busses and children when they travel at 30mph without stopping or crossing the road? I presume you also think that anyone over 60 should have their licenses confiscated because they rarely travel at the speed limit. And while we're at it, let's get rid of all heavy vehicles, all tourists who are confused about where they are and drive slowly looking for street signs, all people driving slowly looking for a parking spot, and all learner drivers. I'm sure that will solve all your problems.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
I really hate the holier than thou attitude as well. I'll gladly share the road with cyclists... when they start going the speed limit instead of doing 20mph in the middle of the road with a posted 30 mph speed limit - thus holding everyone behind them up.
This is a nonsense argument anyway, because in urban traffic a cyclist is almost always faster than a car. What's slowing you down is not cyclists, it's congestion. A cyclist uses a lot less road space than a car, so if everyone got out of their cars and onto bikes there would be a lot less congestion and everyone would get to their destinations faster (and in better temper).
But - at least in the UK and most other English-speaking countries - cyclists use the road by right while motorists use it by license. The point about a license is you don't have a right - that it can be taken away from you.
Motorists are allowed on the road as long as they play nice with the people who have a right to be there - and no longer.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
you'd find you're more likely to get hit by a car when you're in one rather than on a bicycle
Not in Beijing.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
From a quick search, unverified stats show that bikes make up 2% (just like milk) of vehicle fatalities:
From:
http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html [bicycleuniverse.info]
How many cyclists die
Deaths per year. 725, 629, 665, 732, and 693 cyclists died per year in 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000 respectively, and were about 89% male. (National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration, and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
An average of 16.5 cyclists per million die every year in the U.S. (For motorists, it's 19.9 motorists per million.) (National Safety Council 1988)
Cyclists are 2% of road deaths & injuries. The 761 cyclists killed in 1996 accounted for 2% of traffic fatalities, and the 59,000 cyclists injured made up 2% of all traffic injuries. (5)
They also state later:
Health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks. "The gain of 'life years' through improved fitness among regular cyclists, and thus their increased longevity exceeds the loss of 'life years' in cycle fatalities (British Medical Association, 1992). An analysis based on the life expectancy of each cyclist killed in road accidents using actuarial data, and the increased longevity of those engaging in exercise regimes several times a week compared with those leading relatively sedentary lives, has shown that, even in the current cycle hostile environment, the benefits in terms of life years gained, outweigh life years lost in cycling fatalities by a factor of around 20 to 1." -- Mayer Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Policy Studies Institute, and British Medical Association researcher (7, 8)
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
Bike to work. (Make living close enough to bike a priority.)
I want to start doing, but I work in an office where they'd care if I came to work sweaty and stinky. What's the solution to this?
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Just bike home from work, instead?
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
This was said in jest, but if your city's busses are good enough to include bike racks, and you are able to find a bus route that will take you close to where you work, you can take the bike with you, and just bike home.
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Bike to work (Score:4, Informative)
Get them to install a shower and be 10 minutes early. My work has a full bathroom for this, and they even supply a personal trainer once a week!
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
Shower before work and put on clean clothes before you leave. The clothes are (for your purposes anyways) sterile, as is your body. Just like you can't make a green oasis of a field from parched desert from an hour's rain, you can't stink from an hour's exercise right out of the shower. I'd recommend a shower after biking home from work however!
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Interesting)
Other than that, I stretch, do crunches, and do pushups every morning when I wake up. This is not only stay-in-shape exercise, it's also wake-me-up exercise - double benefits! On the weekents, I ride my bike to In N Out - the benefits may cancel out with the calories, but at least I'm getting exercise.
To speak to your specific questions, you may want to consider pilates in the home. That gives you a pretty full body workout. You can get private pilates lessons (about $40/hour around here) to help you build a routine, and then go from there exercising at home. I tried that, but frankly I didn't like putting in half an hour to an hour per day.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I went from 250 to 180 after biking to work. The weight has been off for several years. I'm 5'11" and 31 years old. My BMI is 25.00 (measured today).
I bike about 45 minutes a day and my bike route is primarily trails. There are minor sections on low-traffic roads.
I've also been using a Wii Fit at night. I've lost an additional 5 pounds since starting that routine a month ago. (Today was day 30.)
As for working out in front of people, gym memberships are almost always a rip-off. I had to close a bank account
Re:Bike to work (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, because finding a new job and home is such an easy thing to do.
Leave the car at home (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty much what the title says. Leave the car at home if you can. If you take public transportation, walking to the bus stop (rushing so you don't miss it =P), running down the stairs of the subway station (not using those fancy high tech automated ones! /cough), and so on, the pounds go away quite fast.
That is if you live somewhere where its possible. I've melted a lot doing that.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Get outside (Score:5, Funny)
Video Games, of course (Score:3, Insightful)
Well not quite, BUT... (Score:5, Informative)
#1 - Yourself Fitness. PC, PS2, Xbox all options for it (and the ps2 and xbox titles are both compatible with their "upgraded" counterparts).
#2 - Wii Fit. Surprisingly effective if you discipline yourself to doing it. Downside: not as organized.
And now we get to some of the better stuff.
#3 - Find a local swimming pool, strap on a pair of rollerblades, get a bicycle.
#4 - Join a sports league. Your local parks & recreation department is a good start here and can steer you to local team sports if nothing else. This will also help with your "introverted" problem.
#5 - Once you take care of the "introverted" problem... get a girlfriend and do a lot of the world's #1 calorie-burning exercise.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Being an introvert is not a problem. Letting it rule your life may be, but then letting any one characteristic rule your life is a problem.
A sports league is good, but it is not what the questioner asked for: regular, daily, exercise. It's usually twice a week at best. For all you know he may actually be part of a sports league, and just not consider it to be enough exercise to be worth mentioning in his post.
Re:Well not quite, BUT... (Score:5, Funny)
#3 - Find a local swimming pool, strap on a pair of rollerblades, get a bicycle.
I actually tried this and found I worked up a sweat very quickly. But a word of warning -- when cycling with rollerblades in a swimming pool, stay in the shallow end. The deep can be treacherous and the bike will weigh you down like you wouldn't believe.
Re:Well not quite, BUT... (Score:5, Funny)
#5 - Once you take care of the "introverted" problem... get a girlfriend and do a lot of the world's #1 calorie-burning exercise.
Your girlfriend makes you take her shopping too, eh? I don't care what she says -- the only thing getting thinner is my wallet.
Re:Well not quite, BUT... (Score:5, Funny)
#3 - Find a local swimming pool, strap on a pair of rollerblades, get a bicycle.
I don't know what sport you're describing there, but it sounds pretty sweet.
Re:Well not quite, BUT... (Score:5, Funny)
If you're in it for the calories, you might as well jog(which burns 286 calories per half hour) as opposed to sex(which burns 173 per half hour).
That's not very impressive sex.
Three Exercises, No Equipment (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Hindu push-ups, Hindu squats, back bridge. For more information: http://cbass.com/Furey.htm [cbass.com] [cbass.com].
That was not the kama sutra link I was looking for...
...and a couple of MAJOR caveats (Score:5, Informative)
Those exercises are not for beginners, though. If you aren't already in pretty good shape, two of them are outright dangerous: the bridge will wreck your neck, and squats with the heels coming up will wreck your knees. And even if you're in good shape, I've never met either a qualified doctor, physio or professional sports coach who advocates bridging, because of the risk of neck injury.
Sex (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sex (Score:5, Funny)
The question was:
"Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?"
Let me translate that for us true nerds (Score:5, Funny)
cosin() is more fun than sin()...
Kayaking (Score:5, Informative)
You have to get out of the house, but to suit the introvert, you can go where most people can't. You also get to wear PFD as well as and a baggy dry suit to cover up the unsightlyness if you need it in your area.
Aerobics Necessary (Score:5, Informative)
You very much need aerobic exercise to supplement your muscular-oriented exercise. Aerobic exercise works the heart, lungs, and circulatory system--very critical subsystems.
I'd recommend a treadmill or a bike with a trainer hooked up to it. Have a TV in front of you. After reading a couple books about it, use a heart rate monitor to keep from pushing too hard or too easy.
Try to build up to one hour per day. Don't discontinue your calisthenics. Read about exercise.
Re:Aerobics Necessary (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll add my experience into this. I'm currently getting caught up on 24. I missed a few episodes way back in Season 1, and so I stopped watching it. I use it to get roughly the same amount of time in on the treadmill each session (42:30, give or take a minute or so), and since I've just reached 4pm in Season 1, I still have a long way to go, even daily, to finish it out.
Pick a series that you've missed, one that you can get a little lost in. Press play on the DVD remote and press the start button on the treadmill at the same time. Anything that goes for a total of 30 minutes or more (any hour-timeslot TV show from The Sopranos to The Wire to West Wing works perfectly) will keep you diverted from the effort itself enough that you'll be able to pass the time without much notice.
I've only been doing this for a couple of months (started 24 a little into it), and I've managed to have to stay off of it due to foot injuries for a week at a time twice (get good new running shoes from a sporting good store!), but I'm averaging about 450 calories burned according to the built-in meter without too much stress, and I've dropped 14 pounds from my peak. I have a goal of dropping another eight pounds by October, which should be easily done well before, and may push on for another five after that, but that puts me at 140, and my family complains when I'm that low.
If you're a complete geek, graph everything available. I track time, distance, average speed, calories burned, and fat calories burned, as well as pounds burned (based on 3600 calories per pound), average per session, number of sessions, weight each day, and the approximate target date the goal will be reached. All of these are graphed, so I can see my weight dropping and my efforts returning improved numbers.
Another key point is to watch your calorie intake. I've tried doing the diet tracking and getting proper nutrition or leaving out fats or whatever, and I find that I stop this after a couple of weeks. It's much easier to track calories instead, and you don't stress over what you eat for dinner. I've read that it the average metabolism burn about 12 calories per pound per day, so if you weigh 160 pounds and can keep your intake below 1920 calories per day, you're going to do well. It's not at all difficult to maintain 1600 calories per day without much discipline, and it doesn't send your body into a crash that causes it to horde fat. It also gives you room for the occasional pizza day.
One of the things that I do to help stave off the occasional hunger is to drink more fluids. I've found that the low-calorie Crystal Light mixes give me a good variety with little hassle and little cost. If it works for you, try Diet Coke Plus. It's not everyone's favorite flavor, but it's different from regular Diet Coke, and I use it to douse my occasional soda cravings.
Martial arts (Score:5, Insightful)
They're cool enough to do in front of other people, no matter how bad you are, and you have something to show off to your friends. It's a win-win scenario.
Re:Martial arts (Score:5, Funny)
They're cool enough to do in front of other people, no matter how bad you are, and you have something to show off to your friends.
You've never been beatten up by a twelve year old girl, have you? Say, while testing for my yellow belt. Err, your yellow belt.
Re:Tai Chi (Score:5, Informative)
Tai Chi is essentially a form of Kung Fu slowed down to maximize the exercise potential and lessen the strain on your body.
Once you have learned the essential 108 movements (its all one long cycle that puts you back where you are started, but is learned as 108 or so individual moves), you have a routine that will exercise pretty much every muscle in your body, looks cool, and requires no equipment to perform in, any stretch of ground/grass/parkinglot with a roughly 15x15 ft area free would probably do.
Its been very popular in China for centuries and obviously works quite well, given the number of old people you see doing it in droves there.
And it requires some thought! (Score:4, Informative)
The primary reasons martial arts are my preferred form of exercise:
1. You have to actually think about what you're doing quite often. You're not just doing mindless aerobics.
2. The group situation pushes you farther than you'd normally push yourself, and encourages you to reach new plateaus.
3. Classes are generally directed at all times. It's kind of like having personal trainers with you at all times, in that there's always a series of directed activities and you're not casting about for what to do next.
With that said, there are MANY bad martial arts schools out there. I generally avoid any place that doesn't seem to have any women or older men participating, that sees fit to display huge numbers of trophies on entry, or that has a master whose personality I don't think I could get along with. There are a lot of arrogant pricks in the martial arts world, and there's no need to pay for and encourage them. Similarly, there are plenty of schools out there that seem to exist so that young 20s males can beat the crap out of each other. Let them... and go somewhere else.
I am in the same boat, here's what I do: (Score:4, Informative)
I went and picked up a cheap yet sturdy bike ($500.00 Specialized Hard Core Comp), and I take the train to work. from train stations in either direction it's about a 10 minute ride (20 total one way), however I can bike down to farther train stations to get a real benefit from it.
So the next train station from my work is about a 45 minute bike ride away, while the first one is ten.
The one after that is about an hour and a half away, and so on an so forth.
You can do this with bus stops too.
It's uncomfortable at first getting used to the bike, so pick up Mtn Bike shorts (They aren't the spandex ones, they look like regular shorts), and get used to it, then have at it. I love it now, and I royally hate working out in front of people.
Good luck!
Wii Sports (Score:4, Interesting)
If you play it right, it's a workout. You won't get as good scores at the weenies who sit on the couch and twitch the controllers, but who cares?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
To the OP, I'd suggest both biking and running. I'm an introvert and I have no problem doing either of those things (of course, everyone is different). I mean, once you get out there and start moving, it's not like you're actually around th
Rowing (Score:4, Informative)
If you live in a city with a rowing club, you could take up one-person sculling. It's non-impact, relaxing, and you get out in the fresh air. Unfortunately, you can't do it in the winter, and it's really difficult to carry the boat to the water on your own, so you have to have some social interaction. The solitude out on the water is nice though.
Treadmill + Laptop (Score:3, Interesting)
Two things... (Score:3, Informative)
Ride a bike as much as possible - if you need to run a local errand, hop on the bike. After a few weeks it's easy - often much easier than dealing with a car.
For more regular workouts, 3-4 years ago my girlfriend discovered Yourself Fitness - she hates gyms, is in good shape, but wanted a more structured way to work out at home - like the gym, but in private. Yourself Fitness is an Xbox title - not sure if it runs on Xbox 360 - and is like having a personal aerobics and yoga instructor at home. I was little shy of aerobics in general at first, but once I got into it, learned the various moves without looking like an idiot, I was hooked. In the first year I lost 30 pounds (which was my target) and I felt 1000 times better.
I'm sure similar results could be found with any aerobic exercise, but as someone who hates the gym scene, and for whom time is tight, Yourself Fitness was a godsend.
Both of our old Xboxes are dying, the disc itself is a bit scratched up and sometimes flakey, so we're just hoping for a new release on one of the current consoles. We've got a Wii and Wii Fit too, and like it a lot, but don't think Wii Fit is as convenient - a lot of time just navigating the app, haven't found a really good guided training mode... we use the Wii Fit to break up the routine of Yourself Fitness now and then, and it's a blast too... but at least for us, nowhere near as effective as YF on Xbox - and these days you should be able to pick up both items for $100 or so total.
Walk (Score:3, Insightful)
Marine Corps training, sir!! (Score:4, Informative)
Here, I can attest that this routine was what worked while I was with the Marines; there's no reason you couldn't do most of it indoors. Find a doorway in your home where you can hang a pull-up bar. Do the pushups and crunches at the recommended intervals and train up. You might even work in reverse crunches while laying facedown halfway off the bed with your feet secured by a friend.
The only thing you might have to do in public is running. For me, there's no better exercise than running.
http://oneweb.utc.edu/~semperfi/physical.htm [utc.edu]
All Muscle Groups (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you've got the luxury of a huge amount of space, the only way you're going to come close to exercising all groups is via free weights.
Multi exercise machines don't even come close (more on that later). Treadmills/stationary bikes are great for burning calories which'll do most of your weight loss goals but you're asking about all muscle groups. BOSU balls, steps, jump ropes are all more limited in application. The other great full body exercise, swimming, isn't really an option in the privacy of your own home unless you're rich enough to have a good sized pool.
The problem with free weights, and this comes from being married to a physical therapist who's also an ACE certified personal trainer, is: You're doing it wrong.
Don't feel bad. Just about everyone does. From the Navy guys I've watched prepping for their PRTs by holding a dumbell in one position and flapping their elbows like chickens to those who swing weights and let the momentum carry them through the weak spots to those who only really focus on a few core groups.
This is what a good personal trainer will do for you (and, yes, I hate the idea of paying the meathead ones too). A good one will slow you down and perfect your form: meaning you're actually building the weak points not just swinging past them. A good one will start you on machines (really good for isolating the exact form you need but lousy at exercising all of the supporting groups) and then slowly move you over to free weights (really good at exercising a lot of supporting groups, lousy at teaching you good form). A good one will also teach you a whole range of exercises so you're not just bulking your biceps with no work on your triceps, strengthening abs without matching your lats, working on your upper body with no attention to your chicken legs (yes, you, 95% of guys in gyms).
Look at it this way...
How good of a coder would you be if you never learned from other people's code and never had anyone review yours? Sure, you might be a prodigy and do some cool trick most people have never thought of. More likely, you'll write messy, inefficient code that seems like it works while leaving memory leaks everywhere.
In the same way, you might manage to learn everything about lifting from message boards and videos. More likely, you'll get a fair amount right but still be doing a few gastly things that it never occurs to you they're wrong.
This is why we suck it up, venture in to a gym, find a good trainer (being willing to fire the bad ones until we get that one we vibe with), and learn the technique first... so we can then get it right in our splendid isolation.
aerobic keyboard (Score:3, Funny)
If someone has not patented it already, I put the Idea of an aerobic keyboard and aerobic editor into the public domain! An aerobic keyboard's keys are huge, can be activated by arms an feet and require large leg and arm movements to press them. Such a keyboard will allow a geek to continue to edit while doing his exercises!
Of course specialized editors will be used to take advantage of the aerobic keyboard. I can hardly wait till emacs is modified for the aerobic keyboard, but I expect some atheists will want to use vi.
How do I publish this idea so no one else can patent it? Or is there prior art?
Exercise in front of people anyway (Score:5, Insightful)
So you're an introvert. Big deal! Exercise in front of people anyway.
Look, no one's going to make fun of you for going to the gym; in fact, they are more likely to make fun of someone who needs exercise and doesn't go to the gym.
The gym isn't Counter-Strike. No one cares if you're an exercise n00b. In fact, in my experience if you screw up at the gym, someone who knows what they're doing will show you the proper way to exercise so you don't injure yourself.
If you can afford it, and if you really care about your fitness and attractiveness, there is no reason not to go to the gym.
Hacker Diet? (Score:5, Informative)
How come nobody has mentioned this one yet? I mean, come on! It has fitness tips as well as diet since you really need both to get the pounds off.
Hacker Diet [fourmilab.ch]
As Geekily as Possible -- with the right equipment (Score:3, Interesting)
What turned me on to regular, healthful exercise was to have the right gadget. I worked for an outfit that makes consumer-grade heart rate monitors, so I got to keep one for myself while I wrote out the documentation.
I was very impressed with this gadget. It did wonders for getting me off my duff and tracking my exercise.
Seriously. It's the toys, guys. Having a little bleeping widget on my wrist made a huge difference.
So, even though I don't work for them any more, I'll totally shill for the Polar F11 HRM [polarusa.com]. It figured out an appropriate exercise schedule for me, it monitors the intensity of my workouts to keep me on target, and it tracks my progress over months. It's geared toward cardio, so it really excels at aerobic stuff like cross-country simulators and standing bikes. The pounds just melt away, though, and I'm toning up nicely.
If you're interested in getting one, I recommend going to your local gym to see if they have a partnership with Polar, because the personal trainers there will help you learn how to use the thing to maximum effectiveness. The thing is pretty simple to use anyway, though.
Okay. Done.
You are probably pre-diabetic (Score:3, Informative)
There are no drugs that can fully fix this, though metformin can help if your syndrome is advanced. You mainly have to adopt an atkins-like diet which avoids anything that spikes your glucose level over 140 mg/dl. That will cut out just about all bread, pasta, potatoes, and other starches. But in my case the gout was also a consideration, so I'm highly motivated to stick to it.
Cycling is great for geeks and introverts (Score:4, Insightful)
Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?
I literally just got back from a cycling workout - for me this means thrashing around town for an hour during the evening/night. OK, so it isn't in the privacy of the home, but regular cyclists know too well that nobody pays much attention to them :)
Cycling is familiar territory for geeks since it involves a machine that's easy to tweak and upgrade components for performance and a lot of technology surrounds it. Cycling also suits introverts since it doesn't require much human interaction or a gym.
Thougths from an ex-overweight guy (Score:5, Informative)
Until the start of 2008 I was about 90 lbs overweight and morbidly obese. Throughout the year I have lost 70 lbs, and I am on my way to having a healthy BMI.
Here are my thoughts:
You don't have to go to a gym, but it really helps to have access to nice array of equipment. Get over your fear of going to the gym. No one gives a crap about you --except for when you may be using equipment they want to use. If you want to avoid socializing, wear headphones or go during off hours. If you are afraid of the locker room (that's normal it takes sometime to get used to), then don't use it.
Now on to to the technical stuff: You need to do a moderate to strenuous aerobic activity at least ~30 minutes a day 3 days a week (5 is better) for the rest of your life. I like to run, row, hike up mountains and occasionally use the elliptical machine. This is necessary for good cardiovascular health, and will help you in your later years. It will also as a side effect help you loose weight.
You need to do some basic weight training. You seem to favor body weight exercises, keep doing push ups, try increasing the reps, or difficulty by doing them on an incline. Learn to do pullups/dips also. Finally buy a few dumbbells, going up to 35-40 lbs in weight. Learn to do basic curls, and some presses. Later on read some fitness books, or go to a couple of fitness blogs to learn how to do lifts and presses that work your big muscle groups --think squats, and dead lifts. Doing this won't make you a huge muscle guy (believe me the gains are not that great) but you'll be happy with your increased strength. It will also help to keep you from looking flabby.
One more thing. The key to loosing weight is your diet. Good weight loss is slow, and steady. Cut 500-1000 calories from your diet, and you'll loose 2 lbs a week. However, you need to combine it with exercise or you'll have to keep "dieting" for the rest of your life to maintain your weight. That won't happen, so creating a nice caloric deficit through working out 3-5 times a day will help you maintain a healthy weight once you've reached it.
Battle of the bulge (Score:5, Informative)
Personally, I go to a gym. But then, I live in a small town so I don't see very many *people*. Incidentally, I've always gone to a gym, even when I lived in a slightly larger town of Philadelphia.
The key to the middle parts is: it's the last fat to go.
You don't say how old you are, but the fact is you're getting older and your metabolism continues to slow each year. You can combat that by moving (aka exercise) and eating. Yes, eating. If you don't take in enough calories - the right calories - your body will react by storing what it can, usually in your middle. Unfortunately, your middle is the last place you lose from.
Muscles burn calories. You can increase your resting metabolic rate by building muscle. Just having more muscle mass == more calories burned sitting on your butt. It's a vicious cycle though, if you don't maintain the muscle (aka exercise) you'll lose it through catabolism (body breaks it down for energy).
There's a godzillion things you can do at home, but the easiest way to start is with push-ups and sit-ups. Buy an exercise ball, one of those big funny-looking rubber balls. There are dozens of different exercises you can do with those. They're cheap and they're extremely versatile. You don't necessarily need weights if you're a beginner, or even intermediate. You just need to use your body as the weight and do _something_ to trick your body into building some muscle mass. (You won't build a ton just doing pushups, but you'd be suprised how quickly it works) Consistency is key - 3 times per week on the "weights". You need a day in-between to allow your body to recover and actually build the muscle.
This one goes without saying: Eat healthy!
If you have the means, i.e. space and money, get a treadmill. Use it 30 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week.
The bottom line is, you have to burn calories and build some muscle. The only way to do either one is to _move_ a lot.
Yoga. (Score:3, Insightful)
Look up The Hacker's Diet, by John Walker (Score:4, Informative)
Somewhere in fourmilab.ch, there's a free book about weight loss from a geek perspective which includes an exercise program which is
o quick, under 15 minutes to complete
o private
o works with no special equipment
o is not suitable if you have back problems, get professional advice if you do.
If you live in a hilly area then walking can get your heart rate into the aerobic training range. Aerobic exercise has cognitive benefits too.
Lots of people have reported good results from Dance Dance Revolution.
Sounds like you've solved the #1 problem, motivation. It's a miracle that any geeks retain any interest in fitness after the physical "education" classes in school. But you're already familiar with the fact that your brain feels better in a body that goes when you step on the gas. The other way to look at it is that your body is like a Swiss Army knife, it's the tool you always have with you, so it might as well be functional.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) absolutely (Score:5, Informative)
I have a health condition that makes it extremely difficult and stressful for me to leave the house to exercise... I do enjoy a good cardio workout, and was feeling quite unhappy about being unable to engage in a regular routinized exercise session that I enjoyed (because aerobics, yoga, pilates, etc. tapes just aren't that much fun to me), so I decided to see what the hype was about last Christmas and I picked up a DDR game.
Now I'm an avid DDRer, and I must say that it can be a fantastic workout, especially if you play doubles (i.e. two mats) as you move your centre of gravity much more often, and if you work yourself up to the harder levels, which get you moving faster. I can burn an estimated 1000 calories per session, and those sessions just fly by because I'm really enjoying myself. You don't only see your improvement in the game, but the improvement in your appearance, too. My stomach is trim now, and I have that nice abdominal V that some fit people get.
If you haven't tried DDR, I highly recommend it. Get a PS2 game, get a couple cheap mats, and give it a go. If DDR isn't your cup of tea, find an exercise routine that you can do at home that you enjoy so that you actually feel inclined to do it more than a few times. You'll never keep up a regime that bores, intimidates, or embarrasses you.
Zen and the Art of Self-Resistence (Score:5, Interesting)
Self-resistence [angelfire.com] isometric and isotonic training. Costs nothing, builds muscle efficiently, surprises your friends and balances your life. Also, you can do it while posting to /. from your basement ;)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
What I meant to say: there is no reason you need to exercise in your house.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Crossfit (Score:5, Insightful)
Just want to put another nod out there for crossfit, I'm going to a crossfit gym but if you're the introvert type and can handle being extra careful to observe good proper form on your own, doing the WOD (workout of the day - scaled to your fitness level) will give you a good all around workout over time.
I watched most of the theory vids before deciding to try it out:
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Clips
I'd recommend starting with the video "intro to intensity"
l4h
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Pushups. (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh hell. Ignore above link.
http://hundredpushups.com/ [hundredpushups.com]