Exercise

[Mello]

The brain is nice and all, but what about the rest of your body?

Balance between the mind and body.

I'm not talking about working out your right hand either.

Do you exercise? Why or why not?

What exercises do you do?

I generally bike every day.

Spoiler

Pffft.. sensors.

 

[Architect]

Experimentally I've found, and studies show that diet is far more important than exercise in total health. Nevertheless it does make you feel good, so I bike (stationary) once a day and lift weights once a week. It is supposed to improve concentration.

 

[MissQuote]

I don't get enough exercise. I've been meaning to start walking and doing some strength exercises.

 

[Cognisant]

studies show that diet is far more important than exercise in total health.

What?
Everything I've read goes on and on about how important exercise is and how harmful dieting can be, not that you meant that, but still I've been lead to believe that exercise is still more important, within reason... Huh, I guess if you have a really poor diet it's true.

Were these US studies?

Edit: Long walks, relaxing, good for thinking.

 

[Turniphead]

If I don't exercise I start going crazy. Well, more crazy than usual anyway. I still have a hard time getting out and doing it though.

So I have a couple ways that make it easier get out and exercise:

One--> I don't own a motor vehicle. I either ride one of my bikes, or I walk. I hate buses, so I don't really have other options when I need to get somewhere.
I do this even in Manitoba -40 winters, otherwise I wouldn't get any winter exercise.

Two--> Fun exercise. I have ridden BMX and Trials bikes for many years as they are a way to exercise that doesn't feel like you are exercising. They also involve a lot of learning, progression and creative problem solving.

I've also recently taken up skateboarding. It's fun to start from a place of having no skills again. I've also had a hand injury for the last year, so the biking is getting less fun(lack of progression).

 

[Minuend]

I walk a lot and jog occasionally. I find jogging for about 15min two times a day better than once for 30mins. Running is fun, but after 15min you get bored of it. So I usually just jog around campus, from building to building. And sometimes up the long road to the main road.

I'm planning on starting a more scientific life style with a better diet and a better strength exercise program.

 

[Fukyo]

What?
Everything I've read goes on and on about how important exercise is and how harmful dieting can be, not that you meant that, but still I've been lead to believe that exercise is still more important, within reason... Huh, I guess if you have a really poor diet it's true.

Were these US studies?

Edit: Long walks, relaxing, good for thinking.

I don't think he meant fad diets and starving, but the quality of what you're eating, diet being a general term referring to your nutrition as a whole.

 

[Moocow]

If I really need it I'll go swim around .5 to 1 kilometer at the gym's pool. Otherwise, walking around the city for everything I need and stay somewhat mobile throughout my day is supposed to be good enough. Okinawans, reported to have some of the longest lifespans, do not exercise. They just have enough mobile, daily tasks that prevent a sedentary lifestyle.

Getting used to a good diet isn't too hard, and it definitely helps. I'd rather focus on that than exercise.

 

[HDINTP]

I have my own program and i try to follow it 3 times a week.

 

[Meer]

I walk everywhere.

And I use my left hand. The right hand is on the mouse, duh.

 

[Synthetix]

For the past few years I've been transitioning from routine to routine, I've done P90X and Insanity, both of which I highly recommend. Now I'm on a cardio and weight routine, meant to sculpt, cut, and build strength without much bulk.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
Light cardio
Clean and press- 2 sets, 8 reps
Pullover- 2 sets, 8 reps
Barbell curl- 2 sets, 8 reps
Bench press- 2 sets, 6 reps
Good mornings- 2 sets, 8 reps
Squats- 2 sets, 12 reps

I'll do abs these days as well, 5 exercises, 100 reps per exercise. So 500 reps of combined ab work.... The weight routine isn't meant for hypertrophy, so it's less intensity and you shouldn't be very sore afterwards or the next day. But it's meant to build power while keeping the bulk away.

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday:

These days I dedicate to intense cardio, two times a day, aiming at burning 1000 calories each session. My goal is 5% body fat, I'm currently at 9%.
I also get in about an hour of stretching a day.

My diet is getting better, it's more diet than exercise that helps you get ripped.

 

[Beholder]

I run, I don't know the distances, but I usually run for an hour to an hour and a half, at a pretty fast pace. And I walk a lot, probably 2 hours per day on average (not for exercise, just to get places, and sometimes out of boredom I'll just go out for a walk).

 

[Architect]

I don't think he meant fad diets and starving, but the quality of what you're eating, diet being a general term referring to your nutrition as a whole.

Correct, in particular the importance of caloric content.

What you generally read is the research from a decade ago, now we know diet is more important. It will become common knowledge in 5-10 years.

 

[nanook]

i like to push my bike. it's like walking with a touch of zen-archery. i can't explain.

 

[Stoic Beverage]

I'll occasionally bike ~10 miles to a game shop (tabletop games, not video games.)
Aside from that, I get no excercise whatsoever. I've been meaning to start working out, but, blegh...
It's good to be young. Despite never moving, I'm quite skinny.

 

[DetachedRetina]

Run or swim. I find both of these clear the cobwebs from my brain.

It seems INTPs like solitary cardio exercises.

 

[Mello]

Run or swim. I find both of these clear the cobwebs from my brain.

It seems INTPs like solitary cardio exercises.

We should start a frisbee club.

 

[DetachedRetina]

Or a boomerang club.

 

[Mello]

A boomerang frisbee club.

 

[crippli]

Seasonal dependent. During the winter I am in a slumber. Much like a bear, sleeping. But when the snow starts to melt I feel the limbs warm up, and I start to walk up on mountains(not very high though). It's rough going the first few weeks.

I'm considering to sell the moped and start to bicycle, to speed up the process.

I have a problem with exercise just to exercise. Lazy.

 

[Dragonmythos]

I exercise. It makes me feel happy and free.

 

[samjonathan]

when i was younger i used to swim competitively, towards the end i was swimming seven times a week for two and a half hours plus other "dry-land" exercise, which sucked because i have eczema, whenever i excercised my skin would stink of chlorine, the only thing that would make it not happen was putting vitamin C in my bath water
as a result of swimming i was constantly hungry, most of my hair fell out and my eczema was awful, the best year of my life so far was the year after my parents finally let me quit swimming

as a result of this unpleasant experience i find absolutely no joy in excercise of any form, whenever i have tried i have felt washed out and depressed, i just steer completely clear

exercise is evil

 

[Urraco]

It's so hard to stick to it. It doesn't take long to get results since I'm already skinny so it's easy to say "oh look, it's working" and stop. I'd love to jog but I have too much anxiety. Same with gyms. It makes me sad, I feel 1000x more confident when I'm in one of my somewhat toned phases.

 

[snafupants]

It's so hard to stick to it. It doesn't take long to get results since I'm already skinny so it's easy to say "oh look, it's working" and stop. I'd love to jog but I have too much anxiety. Same with gyms. It makes me sad, I feel 1000x more confident when I'm in one of my somewhat toned phases.

How does that inhibit you from jogging? Jogging relieves stress with endorphins and all that jazz. Do you have a hard time just getting going? I want to understand this predicament. Are you worried about figuratively bumping into other people whilst you jog? Do you have anxiety over being outside in the first place? Help me out here. The gym proviso you slipped in makes me think that it's about social anxiety or something.

 

[EvilBlitz]

Jogging and solo cardio can be quite boring to me. The mind numbing repetition of the movement that puts me off.

I play soccer in 2 indoor soccer leagues twice a week. Karate twice a week. Training for soccer/karate twice a week as well if I am not lazy or so pissed off I need to get boozed.

I find cardio especially helps with lessening the shit days and getting burnt out dealing with people too much.

 

[Urraco]

@snafupants Yeah, social anxiety. I'm anxious the moment I'm out the front door, although it changes in severity depending on where exactly I go. Jogging draws too much attention, or at least would feel like it. Same with the gym, there's no way in hell I can do any of that in front of other people unless I know all of them.

 

[DetachedRetina]

Surfing is probably the thing that makes me the happiest. It is like putting your soul through a washing machine or something. All the sun upping your serotonin levels, the seawater for your skin, paddling around is certainly good cardio and brings with it all the benefits of good cardio like endorphins and such. Not too mention a huge dopamine rush whenever you actually catch a wave.

But that is only when the waves are good.

I also like skating a lot, once you get over the pain and social anxiety part it can be great exercise and quite meditative. I like to go to this halfpipe at night and just carve around back and forth.

Jogging is good too. I actually kind of enjoy the physical repetitiveness and it gives me time to think things through. I can understand the complaint that it's boring though.

Swimming is okay, but I would rather be surfing. But sometimes I have to make due with swimming.

Biking is really fun but my bike sucks and I can't go very fast.

I even enjoy going to the gym because I'm pretty much obsessed with self improvement and I feel like if I lift enough weights my hormone levels will adjust and I'll be able to grow a beard one day.

But I dislike team sports quite a bit. This is pretty much for the same reason that I'm not an extrovert. I actually enjoy playing them, usually, but I don't like having to fraternize and chant and have other people depend on me.

Another thing I like to do is put a book on tape on my ipod and then walk or jog while I listen to it. Some books work quite well on tape, but some books I want to stop and reread sentences and skip backwards a few pages and even highlight things and such. But some books go well onto tape and jogging with them is nice.

 

[DetachedRetina]

@snafupants Yeah, social anxiety. I'm anxious the moment I'm out the front door, although it changes in severity depending on where exactly I go. Jogging draws too much attention, or at least would feel like it. Same with the gym, there's no way in hell I can do any of that in front of other people unless I know all of them.

Yes I used to have a lot of trouble with this. A good thing to do if you're going to indulge your social anxiety (which sometimes you can't help but do) is a crossfit style workout in your room. You can get a lot of results just by basically jumping around for 15 minutes (squat thrusts, burpees, push-ups, sit-ups etc.)

Another thing I used to do, though this works a lot better if you live alone, is put on really loud music and dance like a madman for 30 minutes or so until I just can't move anymore. It's really fun and cathartic and a good workout.

 

[Urraco]

Yes I used to have a lot of trouble with this.

Used to? If you don't mind, how did you accomplish that? I'd love any advice, so far nothing has really worked. I figured I just had to learn how to deal with it.

Another thing I used to do, though this works a lot better if you live alone, is put on really loud music and dance like a madman for 30 minutes or so until I just can't move anymore. It's really fun and cathartic and a good workout.

That actually would be amazing. I'm in a 2nd floor apartment though.

 

[DetachedRetina]

First of all, I don't know how severe your social anxiety is, but I for one needed help to get through it. I would see a professional who knows what they are talking about because what worked for me may not work for you at all.

I think there is a thread somewhere around this forum about social anxiety with some helpful stuff on it too.

Well I saw a therapist for a couple years and worked through some personal crap blah blah.

Also the thing that helped mainly was that I would take a Xanax and then go to a party. Or take a Xanax and then go work out in front of people, or something like that. Whatever was the biggest challenge for me I would expose myself to it first on the meds. Then eventually I just forced myself to start doing those things without the meds. (which would have probably caused a panic attack or at least been very very unpleasant before) After a while I guess I sort of just got used to making myself do these things. Maybe I just got used to being uncomfortable or maybe I'm more comfortable around people now.

 

[Urraco]

Yeah, I've seen a good chunk of therapists, been on Paxil and Zoloft, done biofeedback, tried just forcing myself out of my comfort zone, etc. No real significant progress. All the professionals could do for me was help with mostly unrelated issues.

I would try the med thing you talked about but I'm still really bitter about my Paxil experience. Not habit-forming my butt!

Still, even just being used to being uncomfortable sounds..awesome. I will definitely look for that thread.

 

[DetachedRetina]

yeah antidepressants did little for me, and they certainly cause withdrawal symptoms. I guess they are sometimes supposed to treat the "root" of the anxiety, but I think sometimes you need the heavy guns. Benzodiazepines.

I guess my social anxiety wasn't too severe. I mostly just had a lot of panic attacks and was suicidal and couldn't talk to people even if I had to. Like university guidance counselors and stuff, I almost couldn't register for classes because I was too afraid to go to the meeting and sit around the waiting room where I would have to make small talk with my classmates.

But that was the worst of it, I have heard of people not leaving their houses for years.

I kind of think exposure therapy is better for treating specific phobias and social anxiety is viewed as more of a symptom of underlying depression/anxiety issues nowadays. But exposure therapy worked pretty well for me at least, though I still have the depression my anxiety is generally much quieter.

Heh heh I still think I'm a worthless disgusting piece of shit, but now I'm not too worried about other people noticing it.

 

[snafupants]

@snafupants Yeah, social anxiety. I'm anxious the moment I'm out the front door, although it changes in severity depending on where exactly I go. Jogging draws too much attention, or at least would feel like it. Same with the gym, there's no way in hell I can do any of that in front of other people unless I know all of them.

Would you bullet point your three most prominent, intractable and frightening worst case scenarios of exiting through your front door for me?

Overall we tend to be disproportionately more critical of ourselves than other folks are of us. I mean, jogging is a pretty normal activity, so there's little rational reason to be self-conscious about doing it. I wouldn't think twice if I saw a jogger going at it in the park.

As an example, imagine that you're in class and some guy next to you sincerely answers a teacher's question. The natural propensity isn't for everyone to make fun of that kid or analyze every phoneme of his spiel. In all likelihood what actually takes place is four students ponder providing some clever rejoinder (only one delivers), two students continue fantasizing about boning their girlfriends after school and the others continue daydreaming.

From my experience people simply are neither as mean spirited nor critical as our anxieties demand that they'll be. Let's say you're uptight about speaking in public. Once you're done with the speech, ask some people in the audience, maybe a friend, how it went. Their answers may differ markedly from your own perception of your performance.

Taking baby steps towards your ultimate goal (e.g., jogging at the gym's indoor track) is usually a solid plan. I'd still like to hear your three worst case scenarios though, if you wouldn't mind.

As an aside, I really wouldn't condone wholesale and manic drug use, but I think some substances have value in spotlighting this ontological verity that everything will basically be all right.

 

[Darby]

Wow, and now that social anxiety has been brought up this whole hating exercise outside thing makes way more sense to me. I will admit that it isn't that bad, and most days that I actually go, I just have to say "fuck it" and go. But those days are few and far between.

the 15-30 minute thing Detachedretina recommended for just going solo in your room sounds good, it's the primary workout I do anyways, although it's mostly just push-ups/sit-ups, and not for nearly as long.

 

[Shadowtree]

I bike and am taking kickboxing... Every time I go to kickboxing I'm so nervous and stressed out. I'm not one for other people. However, once the class actually starts then I'm suddenly calm. Everything is so stressful until you actually do it.
I imagine that even if I was to get really good at kickboxing that having to switch gyms would still freak the hell out of me. It takes me forever just to get used to a new place.

 

[Urraco]

Would you bullet point your three most prominent, intractable and frightening worst case scenarios of exiting through your front door for me?

Overall we tend to be disproportionately more critical of ourselves than other folks are of us. I mean, jogging is a pretty normal activity, so there's little rational reason to be self-conscious about doing it. I wouldn't think twice if I saw a jogger going at it in the park.

Herein lies the most maddeningly frustrating aspect of anxiety, at least the social variety. I understand jogging is a normal thing. I understand judgments will be much less frequent and severe than I imagine. No matter how irrational/unrealistic my fears are, however, my body still reacts as if it is in danger. It is physiological response I have no control over, so far. The part of my mind I directly identify with says "you're fine. Calm down. This is normal stuff." The back of my mind is saying "Don't listen to him. Everyone is judging you. Look at your awkward gait. Your outfit is dumb. What if someone talks to you? You'll be soooo awkward. Remember that one time you messed up? That will happen every time." In response my body says "Hell no son, you're in danger. Fight or flight! Fight or flight! Ahhhhh!"

I can't really separate into 3 specific instances because the anxiety is all-encompassing whenever other people are around. I guess it ultimately boils down to being judged against a million different standards.

If I could undo it by rationalizing, I would've "fixed" it a million times over by now. :/

 

[Mello]

Herein lies the most maddeningly frustrating aspect of anxiety, at least the social variety. I understand jogging is a normal thing. I understand judgments will be much less frequent and severe than I imagine. No matter how irrational/unrealistic my fears are, however, my body still reacts as if it is in danger. It is physiological response I have no control over, so far. The part of my mind I directly identify with says "you're fine. Calm down. This is normal stuff." The back of my mind is saying "Don't listen to him. Everyone is judging you. Look at your awkward gait. Your outfit is dumb. What if someone talks to you? You'll be soooo awkward. Remember that one time you messed up? That will happen every time." In response my body says "Hell no son, you're in danger. Fight or flight! Fight or flight! Ahhhhh!"

I can't really separate into 3 specific instances because the anxiety is all-encompassing whenever other people are around. I guess it ultimately boils down to being judged against a million different standards.

If I could undo it by rationalizing, I would've "fixed" it a million times over by now. :/

Why does it bother you if you're judged?

You also judge people.

What happened when you messed up?

 

[Urraco]

Why does it bother you if you're judged?

You also judge people.

What happened when you messed up?

Again, if it were that simple I would be fine by now. It is an irrational disorder. This means it isn't something that can be reasoned out of like that. It's a reaction that occurs no matter what I do or do not think while it happens.

I wasn't thinking of a specific incident in the example up there, and I can't really recall any until I'm in an anxious state - then the examples flood my head like there's no tomorrow.

I feel bad now, I didn't mean to derail the original topic.

 

[DetachedRetina]

Typically sufferers of anxiety are aware that they're being irrational but that offers little solace.

 

[Mello]

Again, if it were that simple I would be fine by now. It is an irrational disorder. This means it isn't something that can be reasoned out of like that. It's a reaction that occurs no matter what I do or do not think while it happens.

I wasn't thinking of a specific incident in the example up there, and I can't really recall any until I'm in an anxious state - then the examples flood my head like there's no tomorrow.

I feel bad now, I didn't mean to derail the original topic.

No reason to feel bad. ;p

 

[WARchitect]

In response my body says "Hell no son, you're in danger. Fight or flight! Fight or flight! Ahhhhh!"

Theres your answer. Even your body is telling you what exercise you should do!

You just have to create this character in your head, a WW1 general pointing a gun at you saying "Run!". You are in flight mode! Then you start running inside your apartment, run downstairs and then you'll be running down the street. And every person you encounter on the way will put you in a constant flight mode, so you'll be running like Forest Gump for awhile untill you get tired kilometers away. But then you gonna have so much endorphin in your body that you gonna feel good walking back home, lookin at these sedentary ordinary people faces. In a few weeks you should be ok.

Or...

You can fight! And I suspect this is what you really need. You just have to watch Fight Club five times in a row in the afternoon, then you go outside and have some dangerous fun.
We can even help you here writing some tasks/missions you have to do every week.

And you didnt derail the thread, stop feeling bad! Theres nothing wrong in writing these things here as theres nothing wrong when you go outside.

 

[snafupants]

Again, if it were that simple I would be fine by now. It is an irrational disorder. This means it isn't something that can be reasoned out of like that. It's a reaction that occurs no matter what I do or do not think while it happens.

I wasn't thinking of a specific incident in the example up there, and I can't really recall any until I'm in an anxious state - then the examples flood my head like there's no tomorrow.

I feel bad now, I didn't mean to derail the original topic.

Well, thinking obviously isn't working. I would, therefore, move onto de facto immersion therapy. I would do three things. Firstly, create a hierarchy of stuff you'd reasonably like to accomplish (step one), from easiest to personally toughest. Accomplish each of these things sequentially (step three), perhaps meditating beforehand to dampen any possible stress response (step two). So, in this order, list, meditate and execute the stipulated activity. You just have to dive in otherwise your fears and anxieties will remain theoretically and therefore impervious to change.

 

[Urraco]

Theres your answer. Even your body is telling you what exercise you should do!

You just have to create this character in your head, a WW1 general pointing a gun at you saying "Run!". You are in flight mode! Then you start running inside your apartment, run downstairs and then you'll be running down the street. And every person you encounter on the way will put you in a constant flight mode, so you'll be running like Forest Gump for awhile untill you get tired kilometers away. But then you gonna have so much endorphin in your body that you gonna feel good walking back home, lookin at these sedentary ordinary people faces. In a few weeks you should be ok.

Or...

You can fight! And I suspect this is what you really need. You just have to watch Fight Club five times in a row in the afternoon, then you go outside and have some dangerous fun.
We can even help you here writing some tasks/missions you have to do every week.

LOL. Oh my god. You are awesome. I'll just go jogging anyway, and if anyone so much as looks at me, I'll be all "What? WHAT?! Come at me bro!"

Well, thinking obviously isn't working. I would, therefore, move onto de facto immersion therapy. I would do three things. Firstly, create a hierarchy of stuff you'd reasonably like to accomplish (step one), from easiest to personally toughest. Accomplish each of these things sequentially (step three), perhaps meditating beforehand to dampen any possible stress response (step two). So, in this order, list, meditate and execute the stipulated activity. You just have to dive in otherwise your fears and anxieties will remain theoretically and therefore impervious to change.

Yeah, immersion/'just diving in' haven't done much, but I haven't tried to prioritize before so I will definitely try that. I would just kind of..plunge. Like force myself to go the mall or something. But it's always torture. Your approach makes sense, it's possible my reactions are "trained" to be acceptable. Maybe if I do the easy to hard way I can prove to my damned limbic system that I'm gonna be okay.

 

[snafupants]

LOL. Oh my god. You are awesome. I'll just go jogging anyway, and if anyone so much as looks at me, I'll be all "What? WHAT?! Come at me bro!"



Yeah, immersion/'just diving in' haven't done much, but I haven't tried to prioritize before so I will definitely try that. I would just kind of..plunge. Like force myself to go the mall or something. But it's always torture. Your approach makes sense, it's possible my reactions are "trained" to be acceptable. Maybe if I do the easy to hard way I can prove to my damned limbic system that I'm gonna be okay.

In a nutshell, that's exactly what I was hoping these hierarchical exercises would induce.

 

[eagor]

exorcise is for people who care

 

[snafupants]

exorcise is for people who care

Can correct spelling be classified the same way?

 

[Synthetix]

Vagina

 

[dokuro]

Walking or swimming, but i hate walking in my neighbourhood because cars are always driving by and it feels like they're all staring at me.

 

[Meer]

These days I bike around 17 km every day.

 

[Smooch]

The brain is nice and all, but what about the rest of your body?

Balance between the mind and body.

I'm not talking about working out your right hand either.

Do you exercise? Why or why not?

What exercises do you do?

I generally bike every day.

Spoiler

Pffft.. sensors.

edit: And sex.

I don't exercise unless it's fun. I like long bike rides, also hiking and walking. I also like dancing but I can't dance O__O

I know there was a thread a while ago about dancing and the general consensus was that we all like it but generally don't know what we're doing and have fun anyway

I forgot about swimming.

I'm not big on sports at all. Maybe a little B-Ball.