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How Do Geeks Exercise?

Posted by kdawson on from the assuming-they-do dept.

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?"

8 of 1,806 comments (clear)

  1. Bike to work by evw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bike to work. (Make living close enough to bike a priority.)

    1. Re:Bike to work by Anonymous Coward · · 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

    2. Re:Bike to work by Flapjack · · 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.

      --
      More is Better.
    3. Re:Bike to work by u.hertlein · · 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.

      --
      Geek by Nature - Linux by Choice.
    4. Re:Bike to work by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    5. Re:Bike to work by KGIII · · 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.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. All Muscle Groups by nick_davison · · 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.

  3. Exercise in front of people anyway by rickward · · 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.