An unhealthy addiction to Linux? How do you guys stay healthy?

[Intertricity]

I know I'm skinny to my friends, but sitting here for so long.. I can almost feel my belly grow. I just know that I'm on the brink of trouble when I've been sitting here for hours, and then finding a doc on python sockets, and getting excited, willing to spend another several hours.

I think this might go from hobby to unhealthy addiction ^_^;; how do you keep this kind of thing in check?

[SoulinEther]

Avoid the forums unless you need help or you want to help, because places like the Cafe will really get you! I know I've been suckered, hehe! :)

Wow good question... uhm, try totally erasing a random directory and having to fix your mistake. That'll make you leery of using your computer excessively for a good few days, haha. (Don't do that, you might not be able to fix it :S)

[Stew2]

I get exercise by getting up for snacks and refreshments. Wait a sec... I guess that doesn't really help does it? :D

[Intertricity]

Not unless you can manage to use up more calories getting that snack than that snack contains. So that's what... maybe a tiny corner of a graham cracker? :D

[fuscia]

i work out, every day.

[Intertricity]

I used to work out, but working out has always been a big affair for me. When I go running, its for about a half hour, and then a 10-20minute resistance workout consisting of pushups, situps etc. later on that day or something-- but then there always must be a shower after that workout in addition to the one I may have taken in the morning. Then I need to make sure I eat enough so that workout doesn't in fact make me weaker.

The whole affair tends to saturate at least an hour and a half to 2.5 hours out of the day. 3 if you include the cleanup after the meal.

[init1]

I know I'm skinny to my friends, but sitting here for so long.. I can almost feel my belly grow. I just know that I'm on the brink of trouble when I've been sitting here for hours, and then finding a doc on python sockets, and getting excited, willing to spend another several hours.

I think this might go from hobby to unhealthy addiction ^_^;; how do you keep this kind of thing in check?
I have spent entire DAYS on my laptop, only leaving for food, bathroom, and an occasional break.

[NeoLithium]

I take my healthy walks to the washroom, fridge and occasional trip to the store...so...****, I guess we're all in the same category. LOL!

[justin whitaker]

i work out, every day.

Yep, so do I. I work out 45-90 minutes each day, depending on what else I have going on. I get off work, go across the street to the gym, kick my own ***, and then ride back on the Train and have dinner. Then it's surf city!:p

[Adamant1988]

I know I'm skinny to my friends, but sitting here for so long.. I can almost feel my belly grow. I just know that I'm on the brink of trouble when I've been sitting here for hours, and then finding a doc on python sockets, and getting excited, willing to spend another several hours.

I think this might go from hobby to unhealthy addiction ^_^;; how do you keep this kind of thing in check?

Typically, I try do keep a daily exercise regiment going on. I, too, can spend hours at my computer without a second thought, so daily I try to do at least:

50 pushups in 90 seconds or less (Don't want to push myself too hard, lol)
100-125 jumping jacks (gets the heart rate up and really burns off the excess fat and calories without any unnecessary work)
30 or so sit-ups in 90 seconds or less
3 sets of 30 crunches
3 sets of 30 reverse crunches
5 minutes on lifting a 15 lbs weight with each arm.


I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not. I can probably do the whole bit in 20-30 minutes with a few small breaks.

Mind you, those are pretty much all things that can be done on a whim whenever you get up from your computer. I try to run a couple miles wherever possible, but with the temperatures and the weather being how they have been here, I haven't been able to.

Anyway, the point is to take a few minutes to exercise and burn off any excess fat, while getting yourself in decent shape.

[ThinkBuntu]

Ride a bike for trips under five miles, It'll take longer, save money, give you a workout, and most importantly, be a lot of fun.

[Adamant1988]

Ride a bike for trips under five miles, It'll take longer, save money, give you a workout, and most importantly, be a lot of fun.

God, that makes me wish I had a bike :(

[Sunflower1970]

I try to do some sort of exercise every day. During the workdays I get two 15 min breaks and an hour lunch. I try to spend all the breaks and 30-45 mins of my lunch walking. Then, either early in the morning, before work, or after work (depending on whether I wanna get out of bed or not) I try to go to our gym for about 35 minutes. I also try, during the week, if I need just a few items from the grocery store, to use my bike and a back pack. On weekends, hubby and I will bike to go see a movie, or have a quick dinner, or just take a bike ride. Too bad I don't look as athletic as I feel...There's muscle there, but seems to be covered in this freakin' layer of fat that refuses to go away. *sigh*

[SoulinEther]

Hell you wanted this to be about PHYSICAL fitness? Crap I got no idea.... buy one of those stations where you set a computer or laptop up in front of a treadmill, so you'll be constantly moving while using your computer.

You don't notice it because you won't really get sore from constant walking at a slow pace. And your arms, hands, wrists and fingers will adjust...

Treadmill not included. :S

[ThinkBuntu]

God, that makes me wish I had a bike :(

I've held out for the past year since I moved out of my parents' house (just a month out of HS at the time...guess I'm addicted to independence!) but after I finished paying off my car, I just splurged $600 on a lovely little bike. It's been giving me serious problems though, so I may return it soon for a more practical hybrid bike. I guess to get a real utility bike I'll need import from Europe... :^(

[Adamant1988]

I've held out for the past year since I moved out of my parents' house (just a month out of HS...guess I'm addicted to independence!) but after I finished paying off my car, I just splurged $600 on a lovely little bike. It's been giving me serious problems though, so I may return it soon for a more practical hybrid bike. I guess to get a real utility bike I'll need import from Europe... :^(

Well, I prefer to run to the local Wal-Mart and back (probably about a 5 mile round trip) so It's not the workout I need, it's just those damned gas prices... you know?

[ThinkBuntu]

Well, I prefer to run to the local Wal-Mart and back (probably about a 5 mile round trip) so It's not the workout I need, it's just those damned gas prices... you know?
My vaunted little 4-door gets 30 miles to the gallon at times, but factoring in my commute and everything, I go through a tank a week at minimum.

[Adamant1988]

My vaunted little 4-door gets 30 miles to the gallon at times, but factoring in my commute and everything, I go through a tank a week at minimum.

Mine gets about 28, so not too bad. The problem is that I'm in a rural area and nothing is really close by, and I have no job right now :(

[Celegorm]

Well, I have to walk to classes every day, and considering how big my campus is, and how very far away from everything all the technical/engineering type buildings are, I get quite the workout just with that. I also don't have a car, so I have to walk or bike to the nearest grocery store or anywhere else I want to go. So even though I'd rather be a lump sitting in front of a computer screen I am forced to get some amount of physical exercise anyway :o

[Tundro Walker]

As the one poster pointed out, exercise can take a lot of time. If you really want to get anal about working out the most efficiently, then focus on high-intensity interval training (HIIT) & cross-training.

There are 2 areas of working out

1) resistance/weights (isometric, which is immobile resistance, or isotonic which is actual weight-lifting).

2) cardio

Resistance Training

HIIT is pretty straight forward when focusing on resistance / weight training, because that's pretty much what weight training is...you lift weights till failure for short periods, then rest. Longer rests in between sets focus on strength (smaller, but stronger muscles). Shorter rests between sets focus on bulk (your muscles have to be bigger to recover faster and store more glycogen during the anaerobic work.)

You can experiment with resistance training. Most folks do longer reps (10-20) which focuses on muscular endurance (toning). Shorter reps focus on strength again.

Likewise, you can experiment with how fast you lift the weight. The muscles are comprised of 2 types of muscle fibers, type 1 fast twitch, and type 2 slow endurance. The type 1 fibers are what boxers work on when they're working over the speed-bag. You can work these over by using an explosive movement with the weights, using a 1 sec count to lift the weight. By slowing the movement of the lift, you'll work type 2 fibers more. Most folks don't need to worry about fast speed, so focusing on slow, controlled lifts is probably more beneficial, because you'll have more time under tension.


Cardio Training

A lot of folks like a good jog. But as you get better and better at it, you need to either increase the time or the intensity. Most folks increase the time, and thus job 5, 10, 15, etc miles... You can reduce your cardio work-out time by increasing intensity, though. Basically, do more running or sprinting instead of jogging.

HIIT cardio is where you sprint like crazy until failure (exhaustion) which shouldn't take more than 30 secs max. Then, you walk/jog to cool down for a minute or so. Then, wash, rinse, repeat for 10 reps or so. Cool down for 5 min, then start another "set".

You can experiment with this, too, perhaps mixing and matching the sprinting and jogging/walking in different ways.

Cross-Training

When you perform an exercise, you're putting stress on the body. The body responds by not only repairing any damage that you caused, but reinforcing whatever is necessary to make you better at that exercise again. That's why weight-lifters get bigger muscles, and long distance runners get smaller muscles. The body is repairing and acclimating to the type of work it's doing.

The purpose of cross-training is to keep your muscles from acclimating to one exercise so much that you no longer gain any benefit out of it other than maintenance. EG: While a normal person may burn let's say 300 calories running a mile, long distance runners have done it so long, their bodies are optimied, and thus only burn 50-100 calories per mile.

So, you may HIIT jog one day, then HIIT bike another day, then HIIT swim another day. Each one focuses on intense cardio, but utilize the body in different ways.

Same with weight-lifting or isometrics. You can change up the exercises to use different groups of muscles, or use them in different ways.


Plyometrics

Plyometrics are an oft overlooked area of exercise. A lot of time is spent focusing on muscles and cardio, but your body has a whole skelatal, joint, tendon, ligament, etc infrastructure that supports all that. Plyometrics are things like fat-man squatting jumps, or up-downs on/off a box which create shock impact on the body, helping it get used to such. When I was in track, we always had 30 minutes of plyometrics 3x / week. It was essentially an obstacle course we had to run, where we'd hop up onto boxes, then off onto the balls of our feet, then jumps across a field, etc, etc. It was basically HIIT for the joints.

Ok, so which is it, Running, Weights? What helps me lose the most weight?

This is actually a mis-perception caused by the exercise experts. What helps you lose weight is HIIT, regardless of whether you do it cardio or resistance.

The purpose of HIIT is to cause enough stress on your body to illicit a repair response. IE: it'll make you sore the next day (not immediately, that means you tore something). Generally, if you had a good work-out, IE: you worked something better than you usually do, or you worked something you NEVER work, you'll be sore after 24 hours. This soreness will generally go away in 48-72 hours (at least to the point where you can stretch comfortably...if you've never worked out, you might want to start slow and give yourself a week to break yourself in).

The repair response is what a lot of folks don't factor into their weight-loss calculations. They simply see the 100-200 calories they spent doing the exercise as all they "got" out of it. Let's look at it this way...

EG: Joe Average goes out and runs a mile. He's a couch-potato, and hasn't run a mile in a long time, so when he does, he's huffing and puffing the whole way. His body isn't used to it, so he's probably wasted 200-300 calories just performing the activity. When he gets home, he sacks out and is sore the next day. That soreness doesn't just magically appear. That's your body mobilizing resources to tear down and rebuild muscle. Doing so uses up energy, more than Joe Averages normal sedentary lifestyle requires. So, in the 72 hours, just to fully recover from the stress, his body may burn an additional 1000-2000 calories. This is used for the tear-down, repair and reinforcement.

However, over time, there is diminishing returns from repeat action. As Joe A. keeps up with his 1 mile jogs, he no longer sucks wind, and he's no longer sore. His body is now used to the activity. It only costs about 100 cals to do the work-out, and probably only 100-200 additional cals after the exercise for his body to repair and recover. Whoopee. What Joe needs to do is either

1) Change the intensity
2) Change the duration
3) Change the activity

So, he can start jogging faster...do the mile in 7 minutes instead of 8. Or, he can jog 2 miles instead of 1. Or, he can try swimming a mile at the pool. Each one of these changes it up. However, increasing intensity is almost always the way to go, since it pushes the body harder, faster then if you increased duration alone. After you increase the (whatever), then your body will need to acclimate again, illiciting another repair response that causes more calories to get burned recovering from the activity then were actually burned on the actual activity.

The problem with jogging is that most folks fall into the "distance runner" trap, where by they increase duration/distance. The body acclimates by shedding excess weight so there's less to carry over distance. The weight loss is both fat AND muscle. That's why distance runners are lanky. Really good distance runners have a hard time doing pushups or pullups.

If you take the other approach of increasing intensity, you focus on a sprinter's body, which has powerful legs, and a somewhat powerful upper-body (because you have to pump the arms to sprint fast).

Weight-lifting usually focuses on intensity, and on constantly increasing the intensity/weight (instead of running which usually focuses on increasing duration/distance). Intensity is always better to increase vs. time, which is why folks starting a running program see results but they taper off quickly while folks starting a weight-lifting program see continual results over several months. But, weight-lifting can fall into the trap of constantly doing the same exercises time and time again. This is where you need to mix it up (cross-train) by doing isometric resistance training instead of isotonic weight lifting. Or, do other weight exercises. EG: instead of a straight bench press, use the dumb-bells so you can bring them together in front of your chest, which focuses more on inner pectoral muscle.

To wrap-up the weight-lifting talk, I'd say that you should never increase "duration" (reps/sets) over 3 sets. Some folks in the 70's had this idea that you could get really huge or what-not by doing 5 or more sets of gruelling weight. If you're doing more than 3 sets without being some kind of sore after 24 hours, then you need to either increase the weight, or do a different exercise that focuses on that body part. Or, change the speed of the lift (or try negatives, where you bring it in quickly, then lower it very slowly...generally lifting uses a 1 sec up, 2 secs down movement, but you can try a 5 sec up, 5 sec down, or whatever...experiment).

In all of these cases, you mix up the exercise to constantly keep your body "guessing".

Man, that sounds like a lot of work..sprinting, weight-lifting, I hate that stuff!

All the exercise science in the world doesn't mean jack squat if you won't get off your butt. So, here's the de facto rule #1 secret to exercise...

1) Do what you love / do what motivates you

If you love jogging, and you experiment with HIIT sprint/jog intervals and find you absolutely hate it, then don't do it...just jog. If you love weight-lifting 10-20 reps for 3 sets, then do that. If you love sitting on the exercise bike for 2 hours reading your magazines, then do that. Do what you love, but see if you can do it better.

For folks that don't like to exercise, try to find what motivates you. For some guys, it could be simply getting involved in a little trash-talking and taking it to the court. You'll get involved in a group activity, get some exercise, and it's all motivated by you wanting to prove how mad your skills are with the b-ball. If that motivates you, then good. If you're not the competetive type, but like to socialize with friends, try something less competetive, like a softball team. Or, instead of having a daily chat with your co-worker by the water-cooler (near the snack machines), go for a walk outside with them. Do what you love and do what motivates you.

Practical Exercise

Depending on your "body" goals, you should perform exercise that gets you there. For instance, I doubt most folks say "I want to look like a lanky runner!" But, a lot of folks start jogging as their main exercise...and, they look like a lanky runner over time as their body sheds muscle.

However, for a rounded exercise routine, check out the Marine Corp Work Out. I got a version of this book a long time ago (about 10 years ago). The goal of the Marines is not to create Arnold / Terminator brutes. It's to create lean, fit troops in short amounts of time, and to make it easy and time-efficient to maintain the results.

It basically focused on cardio & resistance training, and did everything in 3's. EG: When doing cardio, you run 1 mile, then rest, run another mile, then rest, run a 3rd mile, and you're done. Note the pattern? Yes, it's HIIT. You're supposed to interval the training.

The resistance exercises were all able to be performed without weights, and with minimal "extra equipment". EG: pushups, pullups, dips, etc. They had starter positions, intermediate and advanced. I recommend it because it focused on practical exercises that can be done in practical amounts of time. And, it works for most folks if they team up with buddies so they can compete with each other, motivate each other, and generally make a social activity out of it all (because folks are more likely to show up to something if it's fun and if they don't want to let their buds down).

[Ripfox]

12 ounce curls. Nuff said.

[neoflight]

rpm dependency hell...?

[Intertricity]

Wow, Tundro, nice post! I'm saving this for future reference =)

[LightB]

I jog a few miles, depends how much I keep it up. I sometimes get weird looks from people because I am thin, too thin; I'm not doing it to lose weight. Not intensity jogging in any way, just to clear my mind. I also hit a bag, both arms and legs and try to maintain flexibility. Nothing really impressive, just so I don't waste away if I'm going to be sitting long periods of time at the computer.

[bullgr]

if you eat healthy (not junk food) and with 20 minutes workout (jog, bike) you are ok...
you don't need to workout until you drop down.
the key is what you eat. we say "you are what you eat"...

[Dragonbite]

I haven't lately, but I did do Fencing 2x a week for 2-4 hours. Physically it can be very demanding because it is constant go-stop-go-pause-go-Go-GO!! And if I'm fencing somebody 1/2 my age it's a REAL workout (but remember

Old age and treachery
shall overcome
youth and ambition.

Of course this time of the year there is mowing the lawn.

And then there is chasing the kids, picking up thrashing, tantruming kids, and pulling out hair trying to get them to go to bed!!

Does any of that count?

[ThinkBuntu]

I haven't lately, but I did do Fencing 2x a week for 2-4 hours. Physically it can be very demanding because it is constant go-stop-go-pause-go-Go-GO!! And if I'm fencing somebody 1/2 my age it's a REAL workout (but remember

Old age and treachery
shall overcome
youth and ambition.

Of course this time of the year there is mowing the lawn.

And then there is chasing the kids, picking up thrashing, tantruming kids, and pulling out hair trying to get them to go to bed!!

Does any of that count?
Someone from Connecticut fencing...do you play polo, foxhunting, croquet, and bridge too? Just kidding, but a mention of fencing makes me chuckle.

[Dragonbite]

Someone from Connecticut fencing...do you play polo, foxhunting, croquet, and bridge too? Just kidding, but a mention of fencing makes me chuckle.My wife did the horseback riding, and my parents did the bridge and an ex-girlfriend would only let me wear Polo calogne (does that count? ;) )

Actually, Fencing is one of the fastest growing sports (in America at least); getting TV time at the Olympics and more and more colleges are doing fencing: (Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Notre Dame, Brown, MIT, Cornell, Vassar, Wellesley, Tufts, Sacred Heart, Air Force, Ohio State, Brandeis, Drew, West Point, Johns Hopkins, Haverford, NJIT, Stanford, James Madison, Lafayette, Cleveland State, St. Johns, Marist, Stevens Tech, Princeton, Boston College, Boston Univ., UNH, U Mass, Hunter, Yeshiva, Rutgers, Northwestern, Penn State, UNC, Case Western Reserve and University of Pennsylvania. list taken from my club's website (http://www.candlewoodfencing.com))

[Tundro Walker]

I jog a few miles, depends how much I keep it up. I sometimes get weird looks from people because I am thin, too thin; I'm not doing it to lose weight. Not intensity jogging in any way, just to clear my mind. I also hit a bag, both arms and legs and try to maintain flexibility. Nothing really impressive, just so I don't waste away if I'm going to be sitting long periods of time at the computer.

Some people are built for certain types of exercising. Skinny "grey hound" folks usually excel at running. Stocky "barrel chested" folks usually excel at weight-lifting. However, the human body can acclimate to stress. It's just a matter of getting good rest and recovery afterwards.

When I was getting into computer games real heavy, I noticed I was putting on some weight. So, I had to make a bit of a sub-game out of it. After each "deathmatch", I'd drop and do some pushups and situps, up until 3 sets. So, basically 3 rounds of deathmatch on a FPS would have my basics in. After the next rounds, I'd focus on some isometrics...like standing next to the kitchen counter, arms on it, knees slightly bent, and trying to push down as hard as I could. Or, hands under the lip of the counter and trying to pull up as hard as I could.

We all have time for exercise, it's just do we have the inclination. The Joel guy from "Joel on Software" commented about a group of programmers that would go hit the sit up board at their job whenever they were compiling large projects. They had to baby-sit the compile, but needed to kill time. So, they exercised. After a few months of that, the formerly fat and flabby programming team had killer abs...lol!

Again, you do what you like to do, and make it fun. If it seems like work, then folks are less inclined to do it. However, some folks do sign up for "boot camp" exercise programs, where some former army drill instructor comes to their house, drags their butt outta bed, and yells at them to run and do exercises. Hey, some folks won't do it for themselves, so if it motivates them to do it for whomever is yelling at them, so be it.

Stretching

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention stretching. I used to stretch before I worked out, but always kinda felt it was odd, because my muscles were always so stiff. I always felt I got a better stretch after a work-out since they were already loosened up. When I took martial arts, I noticed how we always stretched at the end of the work outs, too. I asked the instructor why, and he said its because you get a better, deeper stretch then. But, I asked him isn't the risk for pulling something greater if you don't stretch early? He didn't have a clear answer for that. But, I did notice that while the stretching was better at the end, mid-way on the work-outs, sometimes I'd feel something pull a bit if we were really into something.

Later, I stumbled across a book by Rob Faigin called "Natural Hormonal Enhancement". Rob's basically a guy who went to school to become a lawyer, then split his time learning all kinds of nutritional & exercise info while he was at it. He basically confirmed what I believed the whole time...never stretch a cold muscle. Wait until after your warm up (if you have an intense work-out ahead) or after the entire work-out (if it's a light one) to do your stretching. This lets the muscles get warmed up, limber, and you don't risk pulling or tearing them as easily. I've done such since, and it's worked fine. It also explained why during the martial arts I'd pull something; stretching before the warm-up wasn't worth it (the purpose of the warm-up is to loosen you up), but we hadn't stopped to stretch before going into the intense parts, which was a no-no.

Since then, depending on my work-out, I usually do a warm-up first, then stretching before the intense part, then (if I'm not lazy), I stretch at the end. If it's a light work-out, like just a bit of jogging or light weights, I just do the work-out and stretch at the end.