[HN Gopher] Working Out Only on Weekends Is Equal as Daily Exercise
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Working Out Only on Weekends Is Equal as Daily Exercise
Author : AlejoTeran
Score : 16 points
Date : 2022-08-08 20:59 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.prevention.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.prevention.com)
| sudden_dystopia wrote:
| Strictly for mortality, ok, it makes sense they are similar. But
| that's really just because the drop off from getting any exercise
| to no exercise is so huge.
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Why did this take a headline with correct grammar and turn it
| into one without?
| farnsworth wrote:
| Looking at overall mortality seems pretty limited. In my 20s I
| would sit at my desk all week, then go all-out on the weekend.
| Long bike rides, hikes, backpacking trips, etc. I had pretty good
| base-level fitness, but ended up with knee pain and minor
| injuries from strain and lack of flexibility. A near-daily gym
| habit has solved all of that for me. Seems like maintaining
| flexibility requires somewhat regular practice, and that's how
| you avoid injury.
| anothernewdude wrote:
| Recovery time is king.
| analog31 wrote:
| Strength helps too. One of my few regrets of my youth is
| neglecting my upper body strength. It's harder to get at 58
| what you could've gotten at 20.
| wyre wrote:
| Have you thought about pursuing TRT? If you're pursuing
| strength at 58 it will surely help with that.
| dragontamer wrote:
| Ish. I'm a weekend exerciser. But my strength is incomparable to
| someone who exercises every 3 days.
|
| I can run a 7.5 minute mile for example. But the people around me
| who exercise more frequently can run 6.5 minute miles. I can lift
| maybe 100lbs, but they can lift their bodyweight. Etc. etc.
|
| Its pretty obvious to me that weekend exercise has health
| benefits. But not so much strength / endurance benefits (which is
| and should be, your primary health goal).
|
| -----------
|
| I think people need to calibrate their health expectations. Being
| stronger, feeling stronger, being faster, running longer... these
| are good attributes and clearly defined goals. They're easy and
| obvious to recognize as you exercise... more so than weight-loss
| or abstract goals like "better health".
|
| At least, that kind of thinking works for me. Maybe not for
| everyone, but I recommend people give it a try. Still, weekend-
| warriors will only reach weekend-levels of strength and
| endurance. That's okay for me, but I'd never consider myself
| equal to those who are obviously stronger than me.
|
| In either case, reaching 100lbs lift strength or 5 pullups or
| aiming for a sub-8 minute mile or whatever... while less good
| than a good and proper exerciser is still a great goal to work
| towards. Yes, feel good about your goals, even if you know
| stronger people than you. But also be humble and recognize where
| you stand in the world.
|
| And who knows? Maybe you'll get hooked on self improvement. Once
| you lift 100lbs or run sub-8 minute mile, then maybe you will
| gain the inspiration to lift 120lbs or 140lbs (reaching closer
| and closer to bodyweight lifting)... or drop down to 7-minute
| mile or sub-6 minutes. I mean, I didn't, but some other people do
| like the feeling. It honestly is one of the better motivations,
| seeing your own progress.
|
| -----
|
| In any case, that extra +1 day (from 2-exercises per week to
| 3-exercises per week) adds a lot to your strength/endurance
| overall. Its really obvious and probably one of the easier ways
| to reach your fitness goal, whatever it is.
|
| And there's nothing stopping you from being a "visitor" to a more
| frequent exercise routine if you want to "try it out" for a few
| months and see how it affects your body. Try 3 exercise sessions
| per week, or 4, and then drop back down to 2 or whatever works
| better long term. Consistency is really the key, but visiting
| higher-levels and seeing if its "worth it" to your brain / psyche
| is important.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _I can run a 7.5 minute mile for example. But the people
| around me who exercise more frequently can run 6.5 minute
| miles. I can lift maybe 100lbs, but they can lift their
| bodyweight. Etc. etc._
|
| If that extra strength/endurance doesn't translate to much
| better health outcomes, but only marginally better, then it's
| kind of moot. And we do know that there are diminishing returns
| after some point (and even inverse returns: pro athletes and
| people training too hard often have health issues because of
| their extreme training).
|
| > _Its pretty obvious to me that weekend exercise has health
| benefits. But not so much strength / endurance benefits (which
| is and should be, your primary health goal)._
|
| Sorry, but health should be the primary exercize goal, not
| stength/endurance.
| dragontamer wrote:
| The main issue with "health as a goal" is that its very ill-
| defined and hard to measure.
|
| Instead, if your goal is "run a 5k without stopping", then
| its really much more obvious if you're hitting or missing
| that goal. Or 10 pullups (or 5 pullups or whatever).
|
| You can ask yourself: what can a healthy-person do? There's a
| bit of wiggleroom and interpretation over it. I think run a
| mile, lift 100lbs, and do some pullups and a handstand /
| cartwheel. Yeah, its a bit silly but... they are defined
| goals that I was unable to do before I practiced, and am now
| able to do.
|
| > If that extra strength/endurance doesn't translate to much
| better health outcomes
|
| That extra strength/endurance translates into my ability to
| walk around cities and other locations I visit.
|
| I think the "run a mile" and "run/jog a 5k" benchmarks are
| useful, because when you're visiting other cities, you want
| to have enough leg strength and endurance to like, walk
| around and not take an Uber all the time?
|
| Cartwheel / handstand / pullup is largely for fun. I can't
| say that its ever been useful, but playing with my nieces and
| keeping up with them is important to me in some respects. I
| think I use some of that strength when lifting my nieces and
| carrying them around when they get tired in the city.
|
| "Lift 100 lbs" is just officework, strangely enough. Every
| now and then, you gotta move a UPS unit or whatever, and
| having the strength to move lead-acid batteries around the
| racks is helpful (even if you nominally have a 2nd person
| supposed to be helping you).
|
| I'm no power-lifter, but its a level of strength that
| apparently a lot of my other officemates don't have.
|
| ---------
|
| The flexibility to "slav-squat" / "3rd world squat" is useful
| when changing tires / working on my car. Also quickly sitting
| / resting in front of a store in a city without touching the
| ground.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| > That extra strength/endurance translates into my ability
| to walk around cities and other locations I visit.
|
| But you're the weekend exerciser. The question is whether
| there'd be any use to matching the strength/endurance of
| those other people around you.
| dragontamer wrote:
| Being the weekend exerciser means that I'm able to keep
| up with the athletes when they want to walk to the next
| restaurant / location... rather than taking an Uber with
| the non-exercisers.
|
| I'm not strong enough to beat the athletes in a footrace.
| But they're not racing me, they're just walking at their
| normal pace / jogging pace to make travel a bit quicker.
|
| -----------
|
| Being the weekend-exerciser means that I can lift one of
| my nieces and throw her around safely as I play with her.
| (Ex: pick her up, throw her onto the monkey bars at the
| playground and whatnot).
|
| But I'm not as strong as the athlete who can lift _TWO_
| of my nieces (one in each hand) and toss them both around
| safely and at the same time. As such, my nieces swarm the
| athlete of the group and ask to be picked up / moved
| around / etc. etc when we go to playgrounds. Because
| having fun with her sister is twice the fun.
|
| You know, little things that stronger people can do that
| weaker people cannot do.
| swatcoder wrote:
| >> (which is and should be, your primary health goal)
|
| > Sorry, but health should be the primary exercize goal, not
| stength/endurance.
|
| Hey guys, do you mind if the rest of us just set our own
| goals?
| wyre wrote:
| This headline isn't accurate with the findings of the study.
| Working out 3+ days a week is not "daily" and hazard ratios of
| .95 and .85 are not equal.
|
| The hazard ratio for cardiovascular disease comparing those
| working out 3+ days and 2 days is 1.14. This wasn't even
| mentioned isn't in TFA but strikes me as significant, or at least
| considerable.
|
| Maybe a better headline could be "working out only on weekends
| nearly as good as working out more often"
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