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Shaming Myself Into Exercise: [Armbands and Technology Halp]
Chanus
Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User, Moderator mod
Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User, Moderator mod
So
Nike Fuelband?
Jawbone Up?
Fitbit Flex/Force?
Something else?
Any of these worth it? Any of them shit? Any of them really good?
I have an iPhone 5s to synch with. I like the idea of the sleep tracker even though it's just going to make me mad at myself.
Which one is best in life?
Also, I'm a bit gassy this afternoon. Any recommendations?
But mostly the first thing, though.
Nike Fuelband?
Jawbone Up?
Fitbit Flex/Force?
Something else?
Any of these worth it? Any of them shit? Any of them really good?
I have an iPhone 5s to synch with. I like the idea of the sleep tracker even though it's just going to make me mad at myself.
Which one is best in life?
Also, I'm a bit gassy this afternoon. Any recommendations?
But mostly the first thing, though.
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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Compulsive gambling meets exercise. What could go wrong?
I dunno. If it had graphs and stuff my nerd would have gone into overdrive.
I suppose I could do it myself but I'm already exercising what more do you want from me? Gawl
The fundamentals of it borrow from some of the more demanding and intense fitness regiments (high protein, paleo-esque diet, strength training over cardio, etc), but the goals are incredibly achievable the workouts are minimalist in nature so other than just being lazy there's very little reason not to stick to it.
Coolies. I might look into that.
However, it is not magical, so it can not compel you to exercise.
If you don't want to do it, then you will always find reasons not to.
There is a app, My Fitness Pal, for the iPhone that works very well for tracking food. It even has a barcode reader to making logging food easier. Also, its free.
I have been in your place many times before. Always thinking, if I just had X then I would totally be motivated to work out. Be that a gym membership, a workout trinket, new workout clothes, new shoes, weights or exercise equipment at home. It all ends up as money spent, clutter accumulated, exercise not done!
I have had some success though. My wife & I did Nutrisystem a year ago for 4 months. The food is... edible. the program is expensive, but if you stick to the plan and don't cheat, it does work. There is no magic to it, its just a forced calorie reduction diet. The trick is that they take the thinking out of it for you. But, my wife & I lost 100lbs together before we could not stand it any more and went back to normal food.
Yeah, I'm just trying to find a way to get myself motivated to exercise. I do okay with the diet part and I'm not terribly overweight (6'4", 215lbs), just out of shape... though my blood pressure is magically good, so that's cool. I seem to always get going for a few weeks or months and then get sick and then stop completely. What I really need to do is stop seeing a missed day as a total failure. I quit smoking with the same mentality, why can't I apply it to exercise?
Also, I just love gadgets, so one of these armband things would just be neat :P
I took a peek at MyFitnessPal and it looked neat. I'll have to give it another look. The barcode scanner sounds like a nice addition to the normal apps like that where you have to figure it all out yourself.
Its a geolocation based alternate reality mmo that's spans the globe.
The point of the game is capturing and connecting portals that are everywhere around you. But you can only capture a portal when your near it (within 40 meters). So you have to walk / bike around. Its also very social because you need to team up to make higher lvl portals and make longer connection.
It won't make you buff but it will keep you walking and biking.
They said they would be bringing it to IOs "soon". But no timeframe has been given.
Having said all that I own a fuelband and I love that it lets me look back each week at how many days I was moving around a lot, and how many days I sat on my ass all day. And even though it's not great at exercise tracking, I strap it to my foot when I bicycle and it seems to do a decent job of telling me that on those days I had periods of more intense activities for certain lengths of time. Plus I am obsessed with completion and they created a ton of achievements that you can get, which has really made me become more active in my quest to collect em all if you will. Except for "every damn day" which sounds like a sweet achievement but fuck having to go 365 days straight without having 1 lazy day.
Maybe I should just stop being lazy slug. :P
For example,
I HATED working out with machines or traditional dumbbell/plate style weights. It just wasn't for me. As a result I NEVER worked out (literally I started for a couple months then stopped for about 10 years.) I joined a gym that was a kettle bell/indian club/body weight HIIT (High intensity interval training) gym and found that it was a lot more enjoyable (you won't find it at the big box gyms so you'll have to do a bit of research if its something you're interested in.) The thing I enjoyed about it was that with relatively short sessions (25 - 35 minutes) you could accomplish a lot more on the basis that you weren't using one machine then waiting for someone to get off your next one, and there was a cardio challenge to the HIIT side of it that you don't tend to get with 'regular' weight lifting.
Another example was with cardio. I hated running on a treadmill, but that is how I started. I did it because I *had* to (going through recruitment for a few military style careers) and found it difficult to stay on top of it. I started running with some friends in the park and that was fun but made it difficult to run alone when their schedules didn't allow them to join. Once I started getting ready to run Tough Mudder I started running trails with my team. Much harder at first, but also much more interesting. It feels like a more animalistic form of running because you have to dodge roots, jump over things, etc. Since then I generally only run trails and do so on a regular basis. It's something I can do whether I'm with people or alone, although I definitely recommend taking someone with you on your first few runs because it can be dangerous if you're not used to the level of attention you need to pay. Most places have some kind of trail not too far from town so you don't have to pay for one of the big mud runs. Of course I don't recommend it as a first run and I'm sure the 'get muddy and have to pay attention to a lot of little hazards the whole time you're running' isn't for everyone but what I'm trying to say is that even within something as simple as running there can be varying degrees of complexity that can help you develop an interest in something that you would otherwise have trouble motivating yourself to do.
Seriously, though, I did P90 for a couple months (not P90X but the babby version) and I liked most of it but it's really intense and once I stopped doing it, convincing myself to pick it back up is just really difficult because I know how hard it is. There were a few parts of it that I just couldn't do and I never really felt like I was getting closer to a point where I could do them. I would be using heavier weights for the lifting parts and keeping up a better pace for the cardio stuff, but then would hit these roadblocks where I'd just have to kind of futz through a section because I wasn't getting any better at them.
Kind of like trying to do a pull-up where it doesn't really work to do, like, 1/8th of a pull-up this week and 1/6th of one next week, and eventually get there.
I dunno... maybe I just need to look into different things and find a way to make a plan that works for me. I think the major issue is I'm really, really good at talking myself out of doing things I don't feel like doing right now... and then I never end up doing them.
There are so many different ways for people to keep themselves motivate, so I do think a big part of reaching success is finding what's right for you in particular.
If you're good at talking yourself out of doing things, what about modifying the situation so that you're talking someone else into doing things? Do you have a friend who really needs to get in better shape? Ideally someone who needs it even more than you do, and who wants to get better but has trouble staying motivated? Become that person's training buddy. Now if it's time for the Saturday morning workout, if your mind starts finding reasons why you don't really have to do that workout, you won't be able to escape all the reasons your friend really needs you.
I've tried doing stuff with the Lady occasionally but it's just not a good fit for me.
I sure do have a ton of excuses, huh?
The biggest motivator I've had is knowing that if I don't go to my class I've effectively just thrown money away.
Really the best advice is to find something you enjoy and block time every day/week to do it.
I'm fighting this myself
starting to feel like it's time for me to fit into the regime, rather than finding a regime that fits for me.
Right now, "fits for me" means "lazy as fuck" so pretty much no exercise regime is a good fit...
For me, the devil was in the details. For instance, even though I can use the gym at my school for free, I pay extra to go to a gym closer to my house. It's a steep price to pay over the 0 I would pay for my school's facilities, but it's still totally worth it because: 1) it makes the logistics of going to the gym easier because I don't need to plan ahead; 2) they have an indoor track; and 3) I have the peace of mind of not seeing or being distracted by people I know. Each item doesn't seem like much in of itself, but when you add them up it could mean the difference between "ah, fuck it I'll eat a pizza and masturbate" and "fiiine, let's just see what happens if I go". Look to see if there are small things impeding you from exercise, and destroy them. The easier it is, the less principal willpower you'll need to start.
That is how I got myself up and active. I had a very, very sedentary lifestyle. I was in a complete desk job, and given that my favourite activity was PC gaming, I was at my desk at home too.
So I wanted to do exercise. But I didn't want to do "exercise" the buzzword, like running (BORING), gym (BORING, STUPID, AND EXPENSIVE), home workouts (BORING, EXPENSIVE).
I solved it by getting started with tae kwon do, and getting back into basketball. I now exercise hard four times a week, two of each activity for a couple of hours each time. It doesn't even feel like I'm exercising because i'm having fun. Much better than forcing yourself to stare straight ahead while you mechanically flail about in a gym or at a park somewhere.
I need to get up earlier so I don't only have the minimum amount of time necessary to get ready for work. I'd like to exercise in the morning when the Lady is still asleep and the house is quiet and there aren't distractions. At least until I'm comfortable with a routine, I really don't want to be around other people. It's part silly embarrassment but it's also just distracting and I can't focus on what I'm doing.
But I can't do that if I'm staying up late for no good reason all the time... etc etc etc
1. Stand up desk ... with a bar stool for the occasional rest
2. Stop drinking calories ... or at least stop drinking non-alcoholic calories
I started both about 3 years ago, and the difference is definitely noticeable.
I hardly ever do leg exercises, yet my legs, stomach, and lower back are still plenty strong, all because I stand up at work about 90% of the time. I thought that I'd use the bar stool occasionally, but I find I rarely use it; if I'm sitting down during the day, I'm probably eating lunch. The studies I've seen suggest that you'll end up burning an extra 1500-2000 calories per week by just standing up at work vs sitting.
No drinking of calories should be obvious. Each can of soda is 140 calories, so 2 cans a day for a week is almost 2000 calories. That's like eating an extra lunch and an extra dinner every week. It takes a lot of exercise to burn off 2000 calories, so it's far better to just not drink them in the first place.
Notice how that's a potential 4000 calorie difference, per week, without any extra time commitment.
i tried giving that up but i love coffee too much and not all mornings mix well with black coffee
so there's that
standup desk wouldn't really work, but i used to go do a lap around the warehouse every hour or two... it would end up totalling about two miles a day... i should get back into that
Also, there's something with the water here at work. Even brands I know are good taste not as good here. I should just start making it at home, but then I have to remember to bring the mug back and forth and oh man that's just a whole new set of issues :P
I agree with Dhal here, find stuff that you like to do, then do that as your exercise. I also rock climb, and usually go 4-5 times a week because I genuinely enjoy it, and as a result I get into good shape.
I also run on occasion because I hate myself, but that's a different matter.
I will say that a huge piece is to just commit to "going" to work out (even if it's in your garage etc.) and set a minimum "working out time". One of the hardest things about working out is fitting it into your schedule, so if you just make the commitment to show up and do something at the gym for a half hour, it will quickly become a normal piece of your schedule. Showing up is the hard part, working out is the easy part.
Hey, self-hate is a much underrated great personal motivator in all aspects of life. Not enough love for self-hate.
None of my friends who depend on a gym buddy keep going for long
Armbands are shit, if you want health it's all about your food and your actions. Clothing is also pointless. I've been weightlifting in a $5 singlet and $10 shorts for 3 years
If it's real yoga that can be a good workout, and for extra fun try hot yoga sometime.