Ask HN: Why is it so difficult to achieve a fitness habit?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8854902

by pabloarteel • 12 years ago

11 28 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

When we are deciding whether or not to exercise, we use a present-biased mentality. We don't see big short-term benefits (although there are), and definitely don't see short-term costs of not going. (It's easier to stay in the couch than going to the gym).

byoung22• 12 years ago

For me the hardest part was just getting started. I had been putting off going to the gym for years. Every few years I'd sign up for a membership and then never end up going. I'd be too busy, too tired, you name it. Then 6 months ago I just walked into the gym and hired a personal trainer on the spot. I've been working out 3-4 times a week since. Now it feels weird if I miss a day. So far I've lost 35 pounds, 6 inches from my waist, and my bodyfat % is down from 26% to 21%. The hardest part was just walking into the gym that first day.

jzwinck2• 12 years ago

It sounds like part of it was also hiring a trainer. Many people seem to experience something like that: without a social component, like someone to encourage you, you don't bother. But a trainer, or a partner, or an opponent can easily keep you on track--even if they don't really "do" anything other than make you show up.

sgdesign• 12 years ago

It's difficult for you.

This means there are specific, identifiable factors in your life that make it harder for you to exercise. Maybe you live far from a gym, or you don't have time during the week, or you have back pain that prevents you from exercising.

My point is that you're not going to do any progress until you make concrete changes based on your own specific situation.

So I guess my answer would be that it's hard because most people think it's a matter of motivation and self-control, whereas small, practical changes to your environment (for example, buying a bike) are actually much more effective.

ferrari8608• 12 years ago

Can you give some more examples on productive environmental changes? In my personal experience, it really seems like what makes me stop working out after a few days or a month is simply lack of motivation.

jzwinck2• 12 years ago

Move so that your home and office are 20 minutes apart by walking. You will walk to and from work, guaranteed, because it's the most efficient of time in that scenario. Maybe even 30 minutes, but beyond that most people will fall back to driving or taking mass transit.

When you plan vacations, decide to only go to places where you will be active. Walk, swim, hike, surf, bike, whatever. Don't go on a cruise. Don't go somewhere just because it has good food and shopping. Go somewhere where exercise will be inevitable, part of the experience. If you do this four weeks a year, it makes a difference.

byoung22• 12 years ago

I lived in a condo for 4 years and the building had a gym downstairs. It couldn't have been more convenient to workout every day, and yet I only worked out a handful of times. For me, it was just a matter of finding the motivation.

pizza• 12 years ago

Ever been like, "Damn, I'm going through this bag of chips really quickly", made a mental effort to eat a little slower, and still continue to eat at the same rate? If so, it's probably because you held the bag of chips in your hands.

Now, if you were sitting at a table or something, and perhaps put the bag of chips under the table, you'd have to make a little more effort to get the chips (reach under the table, extend arms and so on) and you'd most likely eat a little slower.

My theory is that habit-space is hyperbolic (close is close, far is v. far, etc.). So perhaps if you had a fitness habit that was easy to keep up wherever you spend most of your time, it would become easier.

Am I out of mistaken in presuming that you don't have a way to achieve your habit from within your household? Maybe that could be a way to start.

mingusdew• 12 years ago

For me its difficult to quit. If I don't do any moderate/intense physical activity for a day, I become unbelievably restless and all I can think about is going on that next run or hitting the gym.

Basically its just another habit you need to do consistently if you want to be able to stick with it long term.

companyhen• 12 years ago

My co-worker started taking me after work 3-4 days a week and after a couple months it became a habit. Feels weird when I don't go now. Before, I had no clue about a routine, but thanks to him I developed a good one.

Mon and Th I will do Chest and Shoulders Tue and Fri I will do Back and Legs

If I only go M-W-F, I'll hit everything each day (called Starting Strength) with Bench (flat and incline), Squats, and Deadlifts.. among a few other things depending on what parts I want to work on.

r/gainit on reddit was also a helpful place for me, as I am one of those people with a super fast metabolism and have a hard time gaining weight.

ohnoesmyscv• 12 years ago

Habits are easier to form if the person somehow derives a sense of enjoyment from it, or if there isnt too large of an obstacle, or if it's subconscious. Even if you live next to a gym, going there means making the effort to change to gym clothes, break from your usual routine and take time off - time that you couldve used watching tv for example.

What would help is if the act of going to gym does not void you of your usual joys. For example, if you were to watch a tv show, watch it at the gym while you're working out. Like hanging out with friends? Bring one to the gym with you.

joshschreuder• 12 years ago

Good point. I found that changing what I was doing was a massive help. For instance, I don't enjoy running, so I started reading up on Stronglifts / Starting Strength and got into weight training. I log what I do on Fitocracy to track personal bests as I tend to get addicted to quantified life type stuff.

Replace weights with sports (especially group sports where you are accountable to others), cycling, running or whatever you enjoy.

zacoder5• 12 years ago

Because you lack discipline. You never learned to accept pain and effort now for a valuable gain in the future. You're chasing pleasure and trying to avoid pain. And you're simply living in the present, satisfying every random whim and craving.

Every good thing in your life comes at a price. You may not see it yet, but there are no freebies. If you want a fitness habit, you need to pay for it with time and effort. There are no magic solutions. You simply need to force yourself to suffer. Embrace the pain. If you're not feeling like you're dying, you're doing it wrong.

Go do 10 push-ups right now. Get up from your chair and do them. There is nothing really stopping you. Only the excuses you make for yourself.

cafard2• 12 years ago

And then shout "Oorah!"?

I have certain fitness habits, but they have modified over time, and I can think of certain matters that have interrupted them: sore knees, sore shoulders, work, school, family, travel. I don't know what the OP's interruptions are. Do you?

zacoder5• 12 years ago

I'm not impressed by the excuses you give to yourself.

coralreef4• 12 years ago

Discipline is only a small part of the answer and IMO the wrong place to start with, especially for people who have never had good fitness habits. You can only begrudgingly force yourself to do difficult tasks for so long. That's why fitness gyms see big influxes during the new year and then traffic dies off a month later. It's not necessarily that people aren't disciplined, its that they're bored.

What's more important is finding activities that are naturally motivating and fun to do. These habits are far easier to build when they are more rewarding. Rock climbing, squash, swimming, martial arts. If its fun, then you WANT to go more often. You actually think about improving your skills. And then you naturally build discipline because the cost of missing out becomes more expensive to you.

zacoder5• 12 years ago

I know you love talking out of your ass. But if you ever decide to push yourself for more than two months, you will understand that a fitness habit never feels forced. You will chase it in an active manner because you will love it.

Ask any fit or sporty individual you know. They don't do it because they have to. They do it because they want to.

The boredom you mentioned is natural. Everybody gets it at the exact same strength and at the exact same moments. The difference is that some people are disciplined enough to continue and burn through it. And only then you get to see the fun and enjoyment part.

Discipline is king. With anything else you're just lying to yourself. Nobody will create the perfect environment for you to be comfortable with physical effort. You're the one that has to do it.

juleska• 12 years ago

First, sorry for my bad english.

It's because working out is againts the human race, we will "crafted" in a time that se haven't nothing, in a misery age back then and we were built to livre, which means that tour body will work to keep you alive. You will never see a Lion for example running to loose his belly fat, animals just spend energy for 3 things: food, sex and running from a predator, basicaly.

So, to achieve this habit, you have to have a "military" willing, because your nature will always fight against you.

HarryPPotter• 12 years ago

Because lacking such a habit is not a problem. People tend to focus on and solve problem because they are comfortable when spotting the cause of problem and then solving it.

FlopV• 12 years ago

Chances are you're showing up to the gym without a clear intention of why you're there and what you're doing there. Do you have a plan to follow? Do you have goals you are working towards and a way to measure you're progress?

Don't fly blind. Make a plan, execute on that plan. Make short term goals you can achieve to get you towards a bigger achievement. Work towards something, make a plan that can get you there. It's not a habit its a journey to an achievement of some kind (running a mile under 6 minutes, benching 225, completing a race, losing a few inches on your gut).

kyllo• 12 years ago

Exercising is difficult because you're doing it for fitness, not enjoying the act of exercising itself.

Play a sport instead, that way you get exercise and the time passes much more quickly because it's fun.

nicholas73• 12 years ago

A fitness habit is unnatural. We are not designed to be motivated by exercise, but by goals, fun, necessity. So, to keep up a "workout" routine is something that takes serious discipline. It is the hard way.

When I was younger and had more time, I had a body you could put a muscle chart on (I did grappling sports). Yet, I'm terrible about actually going to a gym, and I eat whatever I want. I simply did what I had fun doing, was motivated by competing with others, and that was also intellectually interesting to me.

Ask HN: Why is it so difficult to achieve a fitness habit?

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