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Thoughts on Working Out

Started by Cassia, October 24, 2020, 07:45:33 AM

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Cassia

I have been working out 'religiously' for decades. Running and lifting 6 days a week. I am always curious as to why some say they enjoy working out. I do not. Seems to me that I only get noticeable benefit when I reach an uncomfortable state. Reps until muscle burn/fail or run till difficulty in breathing. To get there I let my mind wander and try to find distant memories. Long walks may be nice, however I don't think they do that much if you are already fit. I also try not to eat unless I get a few pangs of hunger. Very hard to do if on a 9 to 5 job. I think challenging your body's cells on a daily basis results in an easier life for you in the long run.

Mr.Obvious

I don't like working out. But I liked being in shape. (still not too much out of shape but gained some weight during Corona)
I also remember what life was like when I was fat. A few hours of suffering on the treadmill or the bike is a much better alternative than being miserable all day.
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

Baruch

Exercise needs warm up, cool down, variety of forms.  Not just cardio (or so my daughter and I agree).  I also agree to let her do all the exercising ;-)

Marathoners "hit a wall" after a certain number of miles.  Of course you have to be fit enough to get that far in the first place.  Called "runners high".

"After a nice long bout of aerobic exercise, some people experience what's known as a “runner's high”: a feeling of euphoria coupled with reduced anxiety and a lessened ability to feel pain."  - Scientific American

"runner's high" may explain how some people are "ultra marathoners" or "tri-athletes".
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

I've never had to work out, I just worked, and that was enough excercize for me. All that physical labor left me with little energy for more.

I did lift weights when I played football in school, but that was a loooong time ago!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

SGOS

Does hiking, basketball, mountain climbing qualify?

Hydra009

#5
Admittedly, I'm not super duper into exercising and I've often come back from work exhausted and not up to it.  But I have made an effort to get into better shape, especially during coronapalooza.  I refuse to come out of quarantine with weight gain.

So I make an effort to go swimming for an hour at least 3 times a week, which I find to be as about as perfect an aerobic exercise as possible (works out the whole body, easy on joints, can't overheat, psychologically pleasant, etc)

I also try to go on fairly relaxed, 3-5 mile hikes in the park when I get the chance (which I sometimes use to think about the Blair Witch Project's pathfinding issues while nearly getting lost myself).  And I have free weights at home, which come in handy.

The other side of the equation is food and I am decidedly a hedonist in every sense of the word.  Fortunately, I love nearly all foods equally - so it's simply a matter of putting the right stuff in the fridge.  Circumstances have made fast-food decidedly undesirable and I already cut out a lot of sugars and infrequently have red meat.  I prefer eggs and tuna and mushrooms as red meat substitutes.  I had a pretty bad habit of late-night snacking, but even later-night acid reflux and chill more or less took care of that impulse.

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on October 24, 2020, 01:41:35 PM
I've never had to work out, I just worked, and that was enough excercize for me. All that physical labor left me with little energy for more.

I did lift weights when I played football in school, but that was a loooong time ago!

All men did prior to 220 years ago, because almost all work was manual work.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Mermaid

I loved to run. It was a meditation for me. I can't do it anymore because my knees are destroyed, and that's just sad.
I loved the post-run chills and endorphin rush.
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Cassia

Quote from: Mermaid on October 24, 2020, 03:55:45 PM
I loved to run. It was a meditation for me. I can't do it anymore because my knees are destroyed, and that's just sad.
I loved the post-run chills and endorphin rush.
Yeah, it's just a matter of time for our poor knees. I run in soft sand but at times they still ache so I take a few days off from jogging and swim or snorkel instead.

I was reading an interesting theory that early humans, being neither especially strong or fast, would relentlessly chase grazing animals for hours or days. The animals would sprint, rest, sprint, rest, and finally get so exhausted they were easy to take when the people finally got to them.

Baruch

#9
True.  Bushmen 100 years ago, their bows and arrows weren't a straight kill, they had to wound the gazelle, then chase after it as it bled to death.  They were ultra-marathoners.  We are the only land animal that can do that, other animals are better sprinters.  Rabbits are so pathetic that I know a guy not a Bushmen, who could run them down.  Bush-women are able to smell water and tubers underground.  Not a pea under mattresses.  Our gluteus maximus is our Bactrian camel hump for storing water.  But all the Bush-people are on a reservation now, they are unfit.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

GSOgymrat

I've exercised regularly since my freshman year in college. I enjoy weight training, trail jogging, and biking. There are times I enjoy exercise and other times I DRAAAAG myself out of my recliner. Due to the pandemic, this year has been the worst year of my life in terms of exercise. I really wish I could return to the gym but I just don't think it's safe at this point. One of my coworkers returned to the gym in July but says he is not going anymore. He says up until a month ago people were conscientious about cleaning equipment and wearing masks but he says now people have slacked off. He said the final straw was there was a guy working out beside him with no mask and coughing uncontrollably.

Hydra009

Quote from: GSOgymrat on October 26, 2020, 01:36:16 AMOne of my coworkers returned to the gym in July but says he is not going anymore. He says up until a month ago people were conscientious about cleaning equipment and wearing masks but he says now people have slacked off. He said the final straw was there was a guy working out beside him with no mask and coughing uncontrollably.
Uggh.  WTF.

Is it too late for us to adopt a less socially permissive approach?  I heard that in Japan, if you litter or otherwise become a nuisance, you run the risk of getting beaten up or similar.  Maybe not that far, but make being a jerk something you get flak for and get ashamed about, not something that you're proud of and something that gets you elected.

SGOS

If you want to open parts of the economy, at least do it with rules of safety.  There are essential things we need to do, like buying groceries, but at least reduce the dangers.  Talk about a compromise, not the best of two worlds, but still two worlds where safety and commerce coexist to the mutual benefit of each other.  But people don't want compromise.  Actually, I'm not big on it either, but since we need both, I'd be willing to consider it.  It's pig headed and senseless to insist on opening the economy without any safety precautions.

Back before the second wave of the pandemic, I heard governors reassuring that they were going to open the economy while keeping an eye (a close eye as I remember) on the pandemic.  Whatever the Hell that means, I don't know.  You can watch the pandemic surge until the cows come home, claiming you have your eye on it all the while.  Clearly, that reassurance was political bullshit that never meant to actually do a damn thing about the pandemic other than watching it surge.  "Don't worry folks.  I've go my eye on it."

SGOS

Quote from: SGOS on October 26, 2020, 06:34:02 AM
If you want to open parts of the economy, at least do it with rules of safety.  There are essential things we need to do, like buying groceries, but at least reduce the dangers.  Talk about a compromise, not the best of two worlds, but still two worlds where safety and commerce coexist to the mutual benefit of each other.  But people don't want compromise.  Actually, I'm not big on it either, but since we need both, I'd be willing to consider it.  It's pig headed and senseless to insist on opening the economy without any safety precautions.

Back before the second wave of the pandemic, I heard governors reassuring that they were going to open the economy while keeping an eye (a close eye as I remember) on the pandemic.  Whatever the Hell that means, I don't know.  You can watch the pandemic surge until the cows come home, claiming you have your eye on it all the while.  Clearly, that reassurance was political bullshit that never meant to actually do a damn thing about the pandemic other than watch it surge.  "Don't worry folks.  I've go my eye on it."


SGOS

While I spent a year in high school lifting weights in my basement, I seemed to naturally gravitate toward more active pursuits.  I wasn't fond of the repetitive and more stationary aspects of gym exercise.  Having said that, I noticed that after a year of weight training, I started to become more skilled at other athletic events, and I headed in that direction.  I credit much of that to the weight training, but whether that opened the door, I'm not sure.  I enjoy physical activity, sweating and breathing and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  I like getting tired.  Serious bike riding (going fast for long distances) was something I did for years.  I never stopped riding a bike when I got my driver's license, like all my friends did.  I got into it even more.

I think the stand in one place nature of weight training opened the door to basketball, hiking and then skiing.  Strength is obviously going to make these activates easier and more enjoyable.  But gym work isn't fun for me.  I don't like calisthenics either.  It's not like I rather do something else, although I definitely do, but I just find stationary bikes, rowing machines, and gym equipment boring.  Weight lifting wasn't boring, because I could watch myself get stronger, at least until I thought couldn't get any stronger.  Hiking was big for me. It served two needs: 1)getting out into the mountains and back country of Montana and 2)a tangible reason for pushing myself.  It helps pushing yourself if there is a reason like mountain lakes, campfires, bear and moose along the way, and I enjoyed both parts of that in hiking (and skiing too).